A Bridgton Hospital nurse testified this morning that Robert LaPointe suggested she substitute her blood for his when she took a sample for a blood alcohol analysis.

That test, taken three hours after a fatal boat crash on Long Lake in Harrison last summer, showed LaPointe had a level of 0.11 percent, above the state's legal limit of 0.08 for operating a car or boat.

Today is the fourth day of the trial of LaPointe, 39, of Medford, Mass. The jury will be asked to decide whether LaPointe is guilty of manslaughter and aggravated drunk driving, or if the crash was a tragic accident. LaPointe's boat collided with a boat owned by Terry Raye Trott of Harrison.

LaPointe wiped away tears earlier in the morning as a state medical examiner
described how boat propellers killed Trott and his passenger during a boat crash on Long Lake in Harrison last summer.

Dr. Marguerite DeWitt, deputy state medical examiner, detailed for the jury the results of her autopsies of Trott, 55, and Suzanne Groetzinger, 44, of
Berwick.

Dewitt testified that a boat propellor struck Groetzinger in a pattern on her back side, including a blow to her neck that nearly decapitated her, causing instant death.

Dewitt said a propellor severed Trott's buttocks and lower back. His cause
of death was a combination of that injury and drowning.

Copyright 2008 Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.