Commonwealth v. Read — Trial ArchiveHannah Knowles - Cross/Redirect
247 linesCOURT CLERK: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. All persons having anything to do before the honorable Beverly Cannone, the justice of the superior court holden in Dedham within and for the county of Norfolk. Draw near. Give your attendance and you shall be heard. God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This court is in session. Please be seated.
JUDGE CANNONE: Good morning again, counsel. Good morning, Miss Read. Good morning, jurors. I have to ask you those same three questions. Were you all able to follow my instructions and refrain from discussing this case with anyone since we left here on Friday? Everyone said yes affirmatively. Were you also able to follow the instruction and refrain from doing any independent research or investigation into this case? Everyone said yes affirmatively. Did anyone happen to see, hear, or read anything about this case since we left here on Friday? Everyone said no or shook their heads. Thank you very much. All right, Mr. Brennan, your next witness, please.
MR. BRENNAN: I understood that the defense informed they were still on cross-examination. I'm sorry. I got nervous. Okay. I thought that we were done with that witness. I had said to cut me off so that we could end early, but no — I hadn't worked. Okay.
JUDGE CANNONE: I didn't know that. I'm glad — I'm glad Mr. Brennan knew that. All right. Come back in, Miss Knowles, please. Just — I'll remind you you're still under oath. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Miss Knowles. Good morning.
MS. KNOWLES: Good morning.
MR. YANNETTI: Ma'am, on Friday you testified to this jury about the fact that the Mass State Police Crime Lab is accredited as a forensic lab. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes, I did.
MR. YANNETTI: And you discussed the fact that as a forensic chemist 4, you help to ensure compliance with the lab's administrative policies, quality assurance and control requirements, and making sure that you're complying with accreditation standards. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes. That's one of my job duties and responsibilities.
MR. YANNETTI: You also acknowledge that in contrast to the accreditation standards of your forensic lab, the standards of a hospital lab may be different. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: I have no direct knowledge of what the standards at a hospital are. And so I can't say whether they're the same or if they're different. I'm just unfamiliar with them.
MR. YANNETTI: Okay. And you're unfamiliar with the standards at Good Samaritan Hospital. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Correct. I have no direct knowledge of their accreditation status or requirements or body.
MR. YANNETTI: And you know that they were the ones to do the blood draw in this case. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: That's consistent with the medical records I had available for review prior to preparing my report.
MR. YANNETTI: And you cannot vouch for that ethanol testing. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Correct. I have no direct knowledge of the accuracy or reliability. My calculations are solely based on the results of the Good Samaritan lab.
MR. YANNETTI: For instance, you don't know how the arm was prepared when the blood was drawn. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: I was not present and I have no knowledge of the policies and procedures of blood draw at Good Samaritan Hospital or this case specifically. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off.
MR. YANNETTI: Excuse me. You can't vouch for the tubes and vials that Good Samaritan uses. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Correct. I cannot.
MR. YANNETTI: Are you aware that there was a recall on certain tubes and vials because there was a contamination determined by the manufacturer?
JUDGE CANNONE: Sustained.
MR. YANNETTI: You can't vouch for how Good Samaritan stores, preserves, and assures the integrity of its equipment. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Correct. I have no direct knowledge of those topics.
MR. YANNETTI: Now, excuse me. At your lab, you do both a screening test and a confirmatory test, correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes, that's accurate.
MR. YANNETTI: The confirmatory test is a second and separate test. You rerun the same sample again. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Depending on the type of samples that are submitted and the facts of the case, we will either use the same sample that screened positive or that sample as well as another to run duplicate analysis and compare them. It depends on the materials available and the nature of the case.
MR. YANNETTI: Understood. So you do that to ensure that there's no error in the testing. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: It's part of many of the steps involved to ensure accuracy and reliability of the results that are reported.
MR. YANNETTI: And you realize that when you're doing this testing, because you're a forensic lab, you may ultimately be testifying in court and you want to make sure you get it right. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: And the confirmatory test acts as a fail safe against false positives, for example. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: The — screening and the confirmatory test are typically using different methodologies or different techniques to ensure that a false positive under one technique would not have similar issues with the other or the confirmatory technique.
MR. YANNETTI: Okay. And in this case, your lab did not do any confirmatory testing, correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Um, my lab did not have samples submitted for this individual to perform testing on.
MR. YANNETTI: You know of no confirmatory testing that was done by Good Samaritan, correct?
MS. KNOWLES: I don't know what their policies and procedures are and if the results on the report were the results of confirmatory testing or otherwise.
MR. YANNETTI: You just have to assume the accuracy of the testing that they did do.
MS. KNOWLES: Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: I used the results that were reported on the medical records provided to perform calculations.
MR. YANNETTI: And you cannot testify that the testing done at Good Samaritan meets your accreditation standards.
MS. KNOWLES: Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: Correct. Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: Good Samaritan uses serum or plasma testing as opposed to whole blood testing.
MS. KNOWLES: I'm not familiar with their specific technique or methodology. I haven't undergone training for their methods, but it is my understanding that the type of sample used for their method is serum or plasma.
MR. YANNETTI: Now, whole blood includes plasma, but it also includes white blood cells, platelets, and red blood cells.
MS. KNOWLES: Correct. Correct. Typically we describe serum or plasma as the liquid portion of blood, and the other cellular components that you described typically are removed or separated before testing.
MR. YANNETTI: Correct. Now, your lab does whole blood testing, does it not?
MS. KNOWLES: If whole blood is submitted for a case, then we will test whole blood. If serum or plasma is the only available sample appropriate for testing, then we will proceed with testing on serum or plasma.
MR. YANNETTI: Whole blood testing leads to more accurate readings of the percentage of alcohol in somebody's blood.
MS. KNOWLES: Correct.
MR. YANNETTI: Correct. If you would like to know the percentage of alcohol in someone's blood, the best sample to test would be their blood.
MR. YANNETTI: And you've learned through your training and experience that many hospitals, including Good Samaritan, use a different method of testing than whole blood testing.
MR. YANNETTI: Plasma has a higher water content than red blood cells, white blood cells, or platelets, right?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes, it is.
MR. YANNETTI: Alcohol is highly soluble in water, is it not?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: So alcohol has a better affinity with water. Is that fair to say?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: That means that alcohol prefers to distribute into the more watery components of blood. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: Yes, that's accurate.
MR. YANNETTI: And that also means that alcohol is found in higher concentrations in serum and plasma testing than in whole blood testing. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: That's correct. That difference in water content is the basis of the serum conversion that I described on Friday.
MR. YANNETTI: Okay.
MS. KNOWLES: So a lab like Good Samaritan's that in this case did serum or plasma testing will therefore provide results of blood alcohol concentration that are higher than what the true blood alcohol concentrations are. Correct. The serum alcohol or plasma alcohol concentrations that they report on their medical records would be higher than the corresponding blood alcohol concentration. That's correct.
MR. YANNETTI: So to translate the Good Samaritan results into a more accurate reading of blood alcohol content, you need to convert the serum and plasma results to what those results would be in whole blood testing. Correct?
JUDGE CANNONE: I'll allow it. Can you answer it as stated?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes. Um, the accuracy of the value isn't changed by the reading. It's a different value. It's a serum or plasma alcohol concentration versus an estimated blood alcohol concentration. So, if it is helpful or relevant to know what the whole blood analysis would have been if the testing had been performed on whole blood, then that conversion starting with the serum alcohol or plasma alcohol concentration is helpful to do.
MR. YANNETTI: But to calculate a precise conversion rate, you'd first need to know precisely the amount of water in somebody's blood. Correct. The range of serum factors or serum conversion factors that are used in the preparation of my report and the calculations that I performed accounts for total body water variation from individual to individual.
MS. KNOWLES: The reason I use between 1.13 and 1.19 and not just one single value is because I don't know the specific conversion factor that would be appropriate for an individual when I have medical records to review.
MR. YANNETTI: I think that was a long way of saying yes to my question. My question was: to calculate a precise conversion rate for somebody, you'd first need to precisely know the amount of water in that person's blood. Correct?
JUDGE CANNONE: Sustained. Ask it differently, Mr. name inaudible.
MR. YANNETTI: Is it scientifically possible to predict with accuracy a precise conversion rate for one individual person?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: Everybody has a different amount of water in his or her blood. Correct. There is a normal variation between individuals. I'm sorry. I just — I'm going to do my best to ask yes or no questions. And then if there's an explanation, Mr. Lally can stand up afterward and have you explain, but this will go more quickly.
JUDGE CANNONE: No, no comments. Just go ahead and ask a question.
MR. YANNETTI: Sure. Everybody has a different amount of water in his or her blood. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MS. KNOWLES: And there are a number of factors that influence the amount of water in somebody's blood.
MR. YANNETTI: Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: What is hematocrit?
MS. KNOWLES: I don't know.
MR. YANNETTI: Hematocrit is the percentage of red blood cells in whole blood. Do you know that?
JUDGE CANNONE: Sustained.
MR. YANNETTI: Are you aware that individual hematocrit can vary and that it affects the water content in blood? Sustained. Would somebody's age be a factor in determining the amount of water in their blood?
MS. KNOWLES: I don't know.
MR. YANNETTI: Could somebody's gender affect the amount of water in their blood?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: Could — when somebody had eaten and what somebody had eaten before the blood was drawn affect the amount of water in their blood?
MS. KNOWLES: It's possible, but I'm not aware of those factors being considered when performing total body water calculations.
MR. YANNETTI: Would how frequently a person uses the restroom affect the amount of water in their blood?
MS. KNOWLES: As it would relate to their state of hydration, it's possible, but again, I'm not familiar with performing precise calculations on individuals. It's not a routine part of my job, and it's not in the scope of my expertise.
MR. YANNETTI: Would medications — some medications — potentially affect the amount of water in somebody's blood?
MS. KNOWLES: It's possible. Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: And conversion factors vary significantly between individuals, but they can also vary within the same individual over time, can they not?
MS. KNOWLES: I believe so. Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: And all of the factors that we've discussed that you've adopted can impact the conversion factor that is used. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: And there is no one universally agreed-upon conversion factor.
MS. KNOWLES: Correct. Correct. There is a range that is agreed upon, but not a singular conversion factor.
MR. YANNETTI: Right. And the range that you used was — I'm sorry — 1.13 to 1.19. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: You recognize, however, that with all the factors affecting the amount of water in somebody's blood from person to person and even within one person over time, some people can fall outside the range that you used. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: And you recognize that some studies have shown a conversion rate from serum to whole blood can be higher than 1.19. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: Are you aware of a study by Rainey (R-A-I-N-E-Y) reporting conversion rates as high as 1.59?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: And if the conversion rate is higher, that would mean that the actual blood alcohol concentration would be lower. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: So if you're using a range of conversion factors that does not capture what the conversion factor should be for the individual that you're testing, you can't have confidence in the result. Correct. Correct. The range that is utilized is looking at studies of large groups of people to try to capture as accurately as possible most individuals in the population, but it would not cover 100% of scenarios with all the factors that you described. Okay. And you'd agree that your conversion of serum to whole blood here is imprecise. Correct. The conversion was performed within the policies and procedures of the laboratory and the best practice recommendations for my field, but it is imprecise. Can you repeat the question? Let's move on.
MS. KNOWLES: The conversion from serum to whole blood did not end the calculations that you needed to do in order to testify here today. Correct. Correct.
MR. YANNETTI: The conversion from serum to whole blood only translated what Ms. Read's blood alcohol supposedly would have been — or was, I'm sorry — at the hospital at 9:08 a.m. on January 29th of 2022. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: You were asked to try to find out what her blood alcohol level would have been 7 or 8 hours earlier, closer to midnight or sometime between midnight and 1:00 a.m. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: The time utilized for my calculations was 12:45 a.m.
MR. YANNETTI: So you started with the results that you obtained from your serum to whole blood conversion, right?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: Which was an imprecise calculation?
MS. KNOWLES: Which was intending to cover the majority of the population.
MR. YANNETTI: But was it imprecise?
MS. KNOWLES: It followed the policies and procedures of my laboratory.
MR. YANNETTI: What was the precise number then? Was there a precise number or was it imprecise?
MS. KNOWLES: The range.
MR. YANNETTI: I'm not talking about a range. I know that you'd like to say that. Was there a precise number?
MS. KNOWLES: Ma'am, the results of my report was not a single number. It is a range of numbers.
MR. YANNETTI: Let's move on. Miss Knowles.
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: Then once you get that range, you have to do an extrapolation on top of that to figure out what the blood alcohol concentration would have been at 12:45, 7 or 8 hours earlier. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: But in order — excuse me. In order to do that extrapolation, you need to make assumptions about things that you do not know. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: In terms of processing alcohol, there is an absorption phase, a plateau, and an elimination phase. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes, that's accurate and consistent with my understanding.
MR. YANNETTI: And during the absorption phase, blood alcohol concentration can be rising. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: And to determine whether somebody is in the absorption phase or the elimination phase, you need to know when their last drink was. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: Yes, if you're performing that type of calculation, or if you're trying to determine if they've reached their maximum, that would be helpful information to have.
MR. YANNETTI: The longer the time between the last drink and the test, the more variability and potential for error there is in the extrapolation. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Can you ask the question again, please?
MR. YANNETTI: In this case, you assumed that Ms. Read's last drink was at 12:45 a.m. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: No. The calculation assumed, for the maximum calculation, that no alcohol had been consumed between 1 and a half and 2 hours prior to that time interval start at 12:45 a.m.
MR. YANNETTI: Okay. And the test wasn't until 9:08 a.m.
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: The range that you came up with was .14 to .28%, correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: .14 to .28 g per — and that was a very wide range, was it not?
MS. KNOWLES: It certainly is. .28 is double .14.
MR. YANNETTI: Yep. And that range is so wide because there are a lot of unknowns about the way each person individually processes alcohol. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: There's a lot of interpersonal differences. That's correct.
MR. YANNETTI: There are a lot of different factors that would impact somebody's blood alcohol content. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: What somebody had to eat can impact their blood alcohol concentration. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: The contents of their stomach or what they had eaten recently does not impact the rates of elimination that I use for my calculation, but it can factor into the absorption part of the curve and can impact that maximum amount that's reached.
MR. YANNETTI: Okay. Their body weight can impact their blood alcohol concentration. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: Correct. Again, it would not necessarily — or it could be included in the rate of elimination range that I use for my calculations. The person's body weight has more to do with again the absorption, the maximum concentration, the first parts of the curve and not the elimination portion that we're discussing when we're doing retrograde extrapolation.
MR. YANNETTI: And the first word of your answer was correct, right?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: A person's metabolic rate can impact their blood alcohol concentration because different people metabolize alcohol at different rates. Correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. YANNETTI: In addition, regarding the timing of the last drink, you were not with Ms. Read on the late evening of January 28th or the early morning of January 29th of 2022. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: Correct. I was not.
MR. YANNETTI: You have no personal knowledge of when Ms. Read had her last drink. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: Correct.
MR. YANNETTI: Were you informed that Ms. Read was upset after 12:45 a.m. when you were doing these calculations?
MS. KNOWLES: I don't believe so.
MR. YANNETTI: Did you know — were you informed that she went to John O'Keefe's house in Canton and was the only adult in the house at that time after 12:45?
JUDGE CANNONE: Sustained.
MR. YANNETTI: Are you aware of what type of alcohol John O'Keefe had available in his house at that time?
JUDGE CANNONE: Sustained.
MR. YANNETTI: Were you aware that she was waiting for John O'Keefe to come home, but he never did? Do you have any personal knowledge of whether Ms. Read poured herself a drink during the hours of 12:45 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. on January 29th of 2022?
MS. KNOWLES: No, I do not.
MR. YANNETTI: And do you know whether she had more than one drink during those hours?
MS. KNOWLES: No, I do not.
MR. YANNETTI: Assume that Ms. Read did have something alcoholic to drink after 12:45 a.m. Would that affect your assumptions about whether she was in the absorption or the elimination phase?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes, it would.
MR. YANNETTI: And if she did have something to drink after 12:45 a.m., what would that do to your calculations?
MS. KNOWLES: The foundation of my calculations would be incorrect. I would need to perform different calculations or factor in the information as it would become available and issue a different report.
MR. YANNETTI: Okay. So if your assumption of when she had her last drink was incorrect, you would not have confidence that your conclusions about which you testified Friday and today are accurate. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: Correct. There are some parts of the calculation that are intended to accommodate for unknown drinking history, but with an eight-hour time span between the time of interest and the time that the blood sample was collected, that adjustment in the calculation — intending to avoid overshooting the blood alcohol concentration — may or may not be enough to address that. And if new, more accurate information was available, then I would need to incorporate that in the discussion and calculations.
MR. YANNETTI: Right. So in answer to my question — if your assumption about when the last drink was consumed was incorrect, you would not have confidence that your conclusions are accurate today. Correct.
MS. KNOWLES: Correct.
MR. YANNETTI: Now, were you ever asked to determine the blood alcohol level of Brian Albert?
MS. KNOWLES: No.
MR. YANNETTI: Were you ever asked to determine the blood alcohol level of Brian Higgins?
JUDGE CANNONE: Sustained.
MR. YANNETTI: Were you asked to determine the blood alcohol level of anyone except for Karen Read in this case?
JUDGE CANNONE: I'll allow that.
MS. KNOWLES: To the best of my knowledge, my only involvement with this case in my unit was the request to perform these calculations on this individual.
MR. YANNETTI: Thank you.
JUDGE CANNONE: All right, Mr. Lally. Morning, Miss Knowles.
MS. KNOWLES: Good morning.
MR. LALLY: Now, again, how many serum conversions have you performed over your years at the lab?
MS. KNOWLES: It's hard to know an exact number, but at least over a hundred.
MR. LALLY: And the ethanol reading, or the alcohol reading, within Miss Read's medical records that you testified to previously, last week — what was that reading again?
MS. KNOWLES: 93 milligrams per deciliter.
MR. LALLY: And that reading in milligrams per deciliter, is that typical for how you would see alcohol recorded in hospital records?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes, it is.
MR. LALLY: And specifically hospital records that you would then be asked to perform a serum conversion on?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes.
MR. LALLY: Now with respect to your calculations in this case, did you perform these calculations consistent with how you have done in each and every prior instance within your work at the lab?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes, the serum conversion factors have been adjusted since I first started doing these, but the same type of math was performed, and I used the approved conversion factors that are published in our protocols with each one that I did.
MR. LALLY: Now, what is the difference between whole blood and serum?
MS. KNOWLES: Whole blood is blood as we think of it, with both the liquid and the cellular components as it exists in our bodies. Serum is the liquid portion of blood after those cellular components have been removed.
MR. LALLY: And how does the difference between them impact your testing or your calculations?
MS. KNOWLES: Because of the different water content in whole blood versus serum, that means that if we would like to compare a serum alcohol concentration and a whole blood alcohol concentration, we have to apply a conversion factor to be able to compare those two. The serum alcohol concentration is always higher than the whole blood alcohol concentration.
MR. LALLY: And that difference — is that accounted for within the calculations or the conversion factors that you utilize?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes. The conversion factors, by dividing by 1.13 and 1.19, can adjust for the difference between the water content and therefore the serum and whole blood ratio that's observed in studies.
MR. LALLY: And that change in conversion factors — does that benefit the defendant in this case?
MR. YANNETTI: Objection.
JUDGE CANNONE: I'll allow it — or ask it differently.
MR. LALLY: Sure. The changing conversion factors recently implemented in your lab and your protocols — who does that benefit?
MS. KNOWLES: The question of benefit depends on the context. Speaking to the math, dividing by a larger number means the resulting number would be smaller. So the whole blood alcohol concentration numbers would be smaller when using the current 1.13 to 1.19 conversion factors as opposed to the previously used 1.12 to 1.18 factors.
MR. LALLY: Now these conversion factors — where again do they come from?
MS. KNOWLES: The conversion factors come from published studies involving individuals that consumed alcohol, had samples collected from them, and their whole blood and their serum alcohol concentrations were compared. Those conversion factors are present in the protocols in use in the laboratory where I work and they're also consistent with best practice recommendations or consensus body documents in the field that I work.
MR. LALLY: Now you were asked on cross-examination about a number of different factors. Are those factors incorporated within the conversion factors and the published scientific literature supporting those conversion factors, by basing it on studies with a large number of people?
MS. KNOWLES: That's the intention — to capture the interpersonal differences and different factors within that range that's used.
MR. LALLY: Now, if you know how much, in the elimination phase — as far as the bladder is concerned — how much loss of alcohol is concerned in the elimination phase with reference to bladder loss?
MS. KNOWLES: I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question? I don't think I understood the question.
MR. LALLY: Let me rephrase. So, you were asked some questions on cross-examination about how frequently someone uses the restroom in the elimination phase, correct?
MS. KNOWLES: I believe I was. Yes.
MR. LALLY: And do you have any idea from your training and experience as far as how much alcohol is typically lost by an individual during the elimination phase through the bladder? Do you know that?
MS. KNOWLES: I do.
MR. LALLY: Okay, you can answer it.
MS. KNOWLES: Less than 5%. The vast majority of alcohol is eliminated from the body by an enzyme that breaks it down from alcohol into carbon dioxide and water. I can't remember exactly how much is generally eliminated, but I believe it's less than 5% of the total blood alcohol concentration.
MR. LALLY: Now, you were asked about whether or not the defendant had a drink after 12:45 a.m. Do you have any evidence that the defendant did in fact have any alcohol to drink after 12:45 a.m.?
MR. YANNETTI: Objection. If there was a drink at approximately 1:00 a.m., what kind of impact would that have on your calculations?
MS. KNOWLES: It would depend — it would depend on how much had been consumed. If any alcohol had been consumed, then it would adjust the calculations, depending on that information.
MR. LALLY: And what I'm asking, Miss Knowles, is if there is a slight differential in the time of incident or last drink, how much impact would that have on the range that you're able to calculate?
MS. KNOWLES: I'm not sure.
MR. LALLY: Now, you testified as far as the range in the retrograde analysis being between 0.14 and 0.28, correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes, I did.
MR. LALLY: Are you aware what the legal limit is in Massachusetts?
JUDGE CANNONE: I'm going to sustain that, actually.
MR. LALLY: Why is there such a varying range?
MS. KNOWLES: Because there is such variation between individuals with their rates of elimination. The calculation used both a sort of extreme low and extreme high rate of elimination. And because we don't know the individual's rate of elimination, that range is intentionally wide to ensure that the actual blood alcohol concentration lies somewhere between it. It's intending to account for a lot of the factors that we've been discussing. It's intentionally a wide range because there are so many unknown factors, and it was so much time that had elapsed between the time of interest and the time of collection.
MR. LALLY: And based on your calculations — as far as the 93 milligrams per deciliter — what does that convert to as far as the blood alcohol concentration for the defendant at 9:08 a.m. on January 29th?
MS. KNOWLES: 93 milligrams per deciliter in serum alcohol concentration would convert to between 0.078 and 0.082 g per
MR. LALLY: And from your calculations, in your retrograde analysis, what was the range that you were able to calculate for the defendant's blood alcohol concentration at 12:45 a.m. on January 29th?
MS. KNOWLES: Between 0.14 and 0.28 g%.
MR. LALLY: And 0.14, 0.28, and every number in between is higher than 0.08. Is that correct?
MS. KNOWLES: Yes, it is.
MR. LALLY: Nothing further.
JUDGE CANNONE: No further questions. All right, Miss Knowles, you are all set. Thank you very much. All right, Commonwealth's next witness, please.