Dr. James Corasanti's vehicular manslaughter trial resumed for its fifth day Thursday afternoon in Erie County Court with the Prosecution calling registered nurse Hope Dalrymple.
Dalrymple is the RN at Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital who carried out the court-ordered DWI blood test on Dr. Corasanti five hours after the car he was driving struck and killed 18-year-old Alexandria Rice as she was skateboarding on Heim Road the night of July 8, 2011.
The RN testified to following all of the directions on the DWI test kit. But she said after getting only a few drops of blood on the first attempt she got a new needle, sterilized another area of Corasanti's arm, and then drew two tubes of blood.
Under cross examination, the defense wanted to know why the first attempt was unsuccessful and why the first tube went unfilled. The RN said sometimes a vein can roll out of the way or the needle could have passed through, which is not unusual.
The defense wasn't satisfied though and instead focused on trying to get the nurse to admit that the vacuum seal on the test tubes was defective. Attorney Joel Daniels said the two tubes submitted to the lab were not filled to the top. But the nurse said she drew blood until it stopped flowing into the tube, just as she's done "a thousand times before."