A Denver judge revoked bond for Sandra Lee Jacobson on Tuesday, sending the woman accused of causing a traffic crash that killed two librarians back to jail because she may have consumed alcohol after being ordered not to.
Judge Andrew Armatas made the move just after ruling that enough evidence existed to try Jacobson on multiple charges in the Jan. 28 deaths of Kate McClelland, 71, and Kathy Krasniewicz, 54.
Jacobson had been ordered to wear a monitor that measures alcohol secreted through the skin. The monitor registered an alcohol spike that lasted more than nine hours beginning Sunday afternoon, the day after she was released from jail in another case. Although that spike may have been caused by floor cleaner, as Jacobson’s attorney claimed, Armatas had previously ordered her not to have any contact with alcohol of any kind.
Armatas noted that at a March 31 hearing there was testimony about problems with her alcohol monitor, including evidence that something had been lodged between it and her skin.
That day, Armatas told her if the monitor showed any more problems, he would consider sending her back to jail.
“I just think she is not listening to anybody; therefore I am revoking her bond,” Armatas said.
Jacobson, dressed in a tan suit, slumped and put her head down. She said nothing as two Denver sheriff’s deputies led her from the courtroom.
Armatas set her new bond at $250,000.
Jacobson is accused of losing control of her pickup on Peña Boulevard and hitting a Freedom cab, which then skidded off the road and rolled over.
McClelland and Krasniewicz, who were not wearing seat belts, were thrown from the cab and killed. The cabdriver, Nejmudean Abdusalam, 27, was wearing a seat belt and was not seriously injured.
Jacobson, who did not stop at the crash scene, was taken into custody a short time later at Denver International Airport.
In testimony Tuesday, a Denver police detective said it was likely that at the time of the crash Jacobson had a blood-alcohol level that was more than three times the legal limit for intoxication in Colorado.
Detective Henry Gonzales said that a blood test conducted nearly 5 1/2 hours after the crash showed that Jacobson had a blood-alcohol level of 0.164 percent — more than double the 0.08 percent limit at which a motorist is considered intoxicated under Colorado law. Two other blood draws, taken over the next two hours, showed blood-alcohol levels of 0.143 and 0.121.
Based on that, Gonzales testified, a scientific extrapolation would have estimated a blood-alcohol level of 0.274 percent at the time of the crash, which occurred about 10:30 a.m.
Jacobson told investigators that she consumed cold medicine before and after the crash. She also said that she briefly lost control of the pickup after two dogs tried to jump over the seat and grab food, distracting her.
However, Detective Tilo Voitel testified, Jacobson said she was not aware she had collided with another vehicle.
Her attorney, Charles Elliott, raised the possibility that cold medicine consumed after the crash could have affected the blood-test results.
He also noted that seven Denver police officers who encountered Jacobson after she was detained made no mention in their reports of suspecting that she was intoxicated.
Kevin Vaughan: 303-954-5019 or kvaughan@denverpost.com
