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Nurse Testifies Boater Wanted to Falsify Test

September 17, 2008 - PORTLAND -- Robert LaPointe peeked twice around a nurse at Bridgton Hospital, then gestured to her as she prepared to draw his blood for an alcohol test, Marlene Fillebrown recalled for jurors at LaPointe's manslaughter trial Friday.

"He gestured to me, in my understanding, that he wanted me to draw my blood instead of his," Fillebrown said.

"He appeared scared and anxious," the nurse said. She told him, "That's not going to happen."

Fillebrown said LaPointe told her "he had been drinking all day, and that he had stopped for about an hour and then drank six more beers."

At another point, LaPointe described a different scenario, which Fillebrown jotted in her notes: "He told me that he had started drinking at 8 o'clock at night, and he had resumed drinking at 9 o'clock and had three more beers."

The nurse's testimony, along with a test result showing that LaPointe's blood alcohol content was above the legal limit three hours after a fatal boat crash, were key pieces of evidence introduced by the state on the trial's fourth day.

LaPointe's defense team will get its chance next week, after the state rests on Monday or Tuesday, to call witnesses at Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland.

LaPointe, 39, of Medway, Mass., faces charges of manslaughter, aggravated drunken driving and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon stemming from the boat crash on Long Lake in Harrison last summer.

Around 9 p.m. on Aug. 11, 2007, LaPointe's 32-foot Sunsation Dominator collided with a 14-foot Glasspar runabout. The two people in the smaller boat, 55-year-old Terry Raye Trott of Harrison and 44-year-old Suzanne Groetzinger of Berwick, were killed.

Prosecutors say LaPointe was drunk at the time and that his speed, at least 45 mph, was too fast for night boating.

Defense lawyers have described the crash as a tragic accident. They say LaPointe was not intoxicated and that he operated his boat carefully at all times.

They also contend that the blood alcohol test was not reliable for a number of reasons, including the fact that the blood sample was stored in a warden's pickup truck for 34 hours before being delivered to the state Health and Environmental Testing Lab.

Chris Montagna, supervisor of the lab, testified Friday that law enforcement officials can submit blood samples through the U.S. mail, by hand delivery or at a drop box at the Augusta Police Department. He said most samples are received within a week of the time they were drawn, and there is no requirement to refrigerate them.

"There's a preservative in the blood tubes that should preserve a blood sample," Montagna said.

The lab is not open to receive blood samples on weekends. Warden Jason Luce delivered LaPointe's sample at 10:26 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 13, 2007, one hour after the lab's reception area opened.

The lab determined that LaPointe's blood alcohol content was 0.11 percent when it was taken three hours after the crash. The legal limit for operating a car or boat is 0.08 percent.

Dawn Bickford, the state chemist who tested LaPointe's blood, said that given the range of reliability of such tests, LaPointe's blood alcohol content could have been as low as 0.106 or as high as 0.116 when the blood was drawn – exceeding the legal limit regardless.

J. Albert Johnson, LaPointe's lead defense lawyer, raised a series of questions about the test's reliability when he cross-examined Bickford. She agreed with Johnson that errors in the process – a mistake by the kit manufacturer or the person who drew the blood, for example – could result in an inaccurate result.

Stephen Pierce, a state chemist who conducted further analysis of LaPointe's blood, was just beginning to testify when court was adjourned at 4:15 p.m. He will take the stand again on Monday.

Justice Robert Crowley has told jurors that the trial likely will take all of next week.

Earlier Friday, jurors heard testimony from Dr. Marguerite DeWitt, the deputy state medical examiner who performed the autopsies on Trott and Groetzinger. Using diagrams projected on a screen, DeWitt explained how a boat propeller struck Groetzinger several times on her back side, including the fatal blow to the head and neck. A propeller severed Trott's lower back and buttocks, and his cause of death was a combination of that injury and drowning, DeWitt said.

As DeWitt spoke, LaPointe wiped away tears. It was a glimpse of emotion from a defendant who has otherwise remained stoic during four days of testimony.

Johnson intends to call to the stand at least a dozen witnesses who saw LaPointe at various times on the day of the crash, from 7 a.m. to just moments before it happened. Those witnesses, Johnson said in his opening statement Tuesday, will testify that LaPointe was not intoxicated and that he obeyed boating safety rules.

Jurors have heard conflicting testimony about whether Trott was operating his boat with the lights on, and that dispute is expected to continue into next week. The jurors also have heard some conflicting testimony about whether LaPointe showed any signs of intoxication, both before and after the crash.

By TREVOR MAXWELL Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, September 13, 2008


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