Proceedings resumed for a second day in Courtroom 410 at the Richard J. Daley Center in the bench trial of Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele. The misdemeanor DUI charge dates back to a November 10, 2024, single-vehicle crash near 5028 N. Ashland Avenue in Chicago’s Uptown/Ravenswood neighborhood, where officers reported finding Steele with slurred speech, an odor of alcohol on her breath, and difficulty standing.

The first day of Samantha Steele’s high-profile DUI trial got underway Monday morning in Chicago before Cook County Judge Donald Suriano. Because this is a bench trial, Judge Suriano will decide the verdict without a jury.

Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Samantha Steele is facing scrutiny over a nexus of ethics violations involving her lucrative, undisclosed network of Indiana government consulting contracts. An investigative report by the Cook County Office of the Independent Inspector General (OIIG) exposed the ethical lapses of Samantha Steele, there identified as "BOR Official A." Subsequent reporting from the Chicago Tribune explicitly identified Commissioner Samantha Steele as th

Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Steele’s LinkedIn profile and official Cook County Board of Review biography list a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Kent Institute of Art & Design, a UK-based institution that closed in 2005. However, FOIA-released emails, show that Steele reported only a high school diploma to the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) when verifying her credentials.