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Alcohol Test Allowed For Boater's Trial

August 13, 2008 - PORTLAND -- A blood test showing Robert LaPointe's blood alcohol level after a fatal boat crash last summer will be allowed as evidence in his upcoming manslaughter trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.

LaPointe's reading was 0.11 percent three hours after the crash, prosecutors say. A state chemist used a formula to estimate that LaPointe's blood alcohol content was as high as 0.15 percent at the time of impact -- nearly twice the legal limit to operate a boat or a car in Maine.

LaPointe's lawyers had asked Superior Court Justice Robert Crowley to keep that testimony out of the trial, which is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8. They argued that the results were not scientifically reliable because the sample sat in a game warden's truck, it was not refrigerated, and it was not delivered to the state lab until 34 hours after the crash.

But District Attorney Stephanie Anderson, citing a series of scientific reports on the topic, said delays and lack of refrigeration are common in the field, and they do not make the test in this case unreliable.

After a four-hour hearing on the motion Wednesday in Cumberland County Superior Court, Crowley sided with Anderson. He said the defense lawyers will have their chance at trial to argue about the quality of the test.

"That's a factual matter for the jury to decide," Crowley said. "The test result will be admitted at trial."

Also on Wednesday, Crowley said he will wait to rule on a change-of-venue motion filed by the defense. LaPointe's lawyers claim that the publicity surrounding the crash has made it impossible for LaPointe to get a fair trial.

Crowley said that any decision on changing the venue would likely happen at the start of jury selection in September. At that point, he would be able to gauge the impact of publicity on potential jurors, and to review the extent of media coverage.

LaPointe, who has been free on $100,000 cash bail, attended the hearing along with several family members.

He is represented by a Portland lawyer, Neale Duffett, and two Boston lawyers George Hassett and J. Albert Johnson.

Johnson is a former colleague of the noted defense attorney F. Lee Bailey, and has represented high-profile clients such as Patricia Hearst and Pamela Smart.

LaPointe and Johnson declined comment on Wednesday.

LaPointe, 39, of Medway, Mass., and of Bridgton, faces manslaughter and other charges stemming from the fatal crash on Aug. 11, 2007, on Long Lake in Harrison.

Prosecutors say LaPointe was driving his 32-foot Sunsation Dominator between 45 and 50 mph around 9 p.m., when his boat ran over a smaller boat. The two people in that boat -- Terry Raye Trott and Suzanne Groetzinger -- were killed.

Anderson and Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Norbert had hoped to take jury members to Harrison to look at the spot on Long Lake where the crash happened.

But they withdrew that request because Justice Crowley had indicated that kind of trip would not be allowed.

Instead, the prosecutors want the jury to watch a video of a boat similar to LaPointe's, travelling at the same speed alleged in this case.

LaPointe's defense team did succeed in getting the blood alcohol levels of Trott and Groetzinger admitted into evidence.

Prosecutors wanted that information kept out of the trial, arguing that both levels were below the legal limit and were not relevant to the case.

By TREVOR MAXWELL, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, August 7, 2008


Lakes: Long Lake
Regions: Sebago


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