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player ready...Joseph Scime, former superintendent of Carpentersville-based School District 300, was found guilty Wednesday night of a charge of drunken driving by a McHenry County jury.
But Scime, who was demoted from his position as superintendent following his arrest last December, was acquitted on a second charge of driving with a blood alcohol level exceeding the legal limit of .10.
It took the jury almost six hours to reach its verdict. Post-trial motions were scheduled for Oct. 23. Sentencing could follow two weeks after that, the prosecution said.
Scime faces a $1,000 fine and/or one year in jail.
Scime`s trial stretched out over two days and included testimony from an expert witness who was flown in from Minnesota.
The trial took on a somewhat bizarre twist as the jurors were asked to decide whether Scime was wearing one set of dentures or two sets during his Breathalyzer tests. According to expert witnesses, dentures could have elevated the blood alcohol measurement to artificially high levels.
Scime, 55, who lives in West Dundee, was arrested after a minor traffic accident. He was charged with driving with a blood alcohol level exceeding the legal limit of .10.
His arrest sparked protests from parents, residents and drunken-driving activists who demanded that Scime resign immediately or be fired.
At first, school board members said they would stand by Scime until after he had his day in court. The board later did an about-face and accepted Scime`s offer of early retirement and reassigned him to a position as general administrator. He will retire in 1994.
Scime`s demotion didn`t please anyone. His detractors argued that he should have been fired, while his supporters charged that Scime had been treated too harshly and blamed the media for blowing the case out of proportion.
The accident occurred one afternoon when Scime allegedly rear-ended a car driven by Yvette Simes, of Wonder Lake. Scime then continued to drive his Lincoln Town Car until he was stopped by police a short while later, police said.
During the trial, McHenry County Circuit Court Associate Judge Conrad Floeter dropped additional charges of failure to reduce speed after an accident and failure to give aid or information after an accident.
According to court testimony, a Breathalyzer test showed that Scime`s blood alcohol was .16, well above the legal intoxication limit.
But defense witness Thomas Burr, a Minnesota-based forensic science consultant, testified that the former superintendent`s blood alcohol levels may have been artificially high because he wore dentures.