Opinion ID: 1632489
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Expert Testimony Regarding Intoxication

Text: At trial, DOTD presented the expert testimony of Dr. Gary Wimbish (Dr. Wimbish), a forensic toxicologist, in order to establish Mr. Cockerham's level of intoxication at 8:00 p.m. on the night of March 19, 1994. Dr. Wimbish testified that in formulating his opinions he reviewed Mr. Cockerham's medical records compiled in connection with his treatment at the hospital emergency room on the night of the accident. Dr. Wimbish further reviewed the deposition testimony of Mr. Cockerham, Keith Cockerham, Toby Scott and Shane Blankenship. Dr. Wimbish also interviewed the hospital's laboratory director and the hospital technician who performed the hospital tests on Mr. Cockerham's blood as ordered by the hospital emergency room doctor on the night of March 19, 1994. Dr. Wimbish further reviewed all the data at the Louisiana State Police laboratory in connection with the testing of Mr. Cockerham's blood drawn on the night of the accident for alcohol concentration analysis at the request of Trooper Lanoux. Dr. Wimbish testified that Mr. Cockerham's medical records indicated that Mr. Cockerham had been administered Ringer's Lactate, an IV solution, prior to his blood being drawn at the hospital. Dr. Wimbish indicated that while this fluid could effect testing outcomes in other ways, the fluid did not dilute the actual concentration of alcohol in the blood. Dr. Wimbish further testified that the medical records revealed that Mr. Cockerham's blood was drawn at 9:48 p.m. on the night of the accident for the hospital ordered serum blood alcohol concentration analysis and, again, at 12:10 a.m. that same night for Trooper Lanoux's whole blood alcohol concentration analysis. Dr. Wimbish testified that Mr. Cockerham's serum blood alcohol concentration, drawn at 9:48 p.m., was 130 milligrams per deciliter. Dr. Wimbish converted this serum blood alcohol result to reflect the corresponding value of this result if reported in the form of a whole blood alcohol concentration. Dr. Wimbish calculated that Mr. Cockerham had a blood alcohol level of .11 one hour and forty-eight minutes following the accident. Dr. Wimbish further testified that the Louisiana State Police laboratory report indicated that Mr. Cockerham had a blood alcohol level of .06 at ten minutes past midnight, four hours and ten minutes after the accident. Using these two results, Dr. Wimbish extrapolated the data backwards to determine Mr. Cockerham's alcohol toxicity at the time of the accident. In doing so, Dr. Wimbish considered Mr. Cockerham's age, height and weight, as well as Mr. Cockerham's deposition testimony that he was not a binge drinker, that he only drank socially with friends and usually only on weekends. Dr. Wimbish also took into account the four scientifically-accepted parameters of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion which must be considered in making this calculation. Dr. Wimbish testified at trial that based on calculations that [he] performed, considering absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination, [Mr. Cockerham's] concentration at the time of the accident was a .12 grams percent. [13] In further testimony, Dr. Wimbish stated that at a .1% concentration, alcohol affects a person's perception and reaction time resulting in a release of inhibitions and the oversteering of a curve. Dr. Wimbish testified that Mr. Cockerham's alcohol intoxication was a major contributing factor in causing the accident because alcohol interfered with the central nervous system's ability to integrate information and create a response. Dr. Wimbish stated that facts were spare concerning Mr. Cockerham's drinking of alcoholic beverages on March 19, 1994 leading up to the time the accident occurred. Dr. Wimbish testified that the two beers Mr. Cockerham admitted to drinking in the afternoon of the day of the accident had no bearing on Mr. Cockerham's alcohol toxicity at the time of the accident. Dr. Wimbish was of the opinion that to match the blood alcohol concentration levels reported for Mr. Cockerham's blood drawn at 9:48 p.m. and 12:10 a.m., Mr. Cockerham would have had to drink twelve beers over the course of the day or at least six beers in the twenty-five minutes prior to the accident. Dr. Wimbish testified that the scientific facts don't agree with that's [the two beers] all the alcohol he consumed. There had to be more alcohol consumed to reach the concentrations found. [14] Dr. Wimbish admitted that if Mr. Cockerham had consumed five beers quickly right before he left the convenience store parking lot, Mr. Cockerham's blood alcohol concentration could have been between.08% and .09% and, if he had eaten and then consumed the same five beers quickly on a full stomach, Mr. Cockerham's blood alcohol concentration may have been lower. However, there was no evidence to support this hypothesis.