| Chiefnj2 |
02-10-2016 02:35 PM |
According to Jessica McBride at OnMilwaukee, a nurse “who originally drew Steven Avery’s blood and put it into the vial” was originally scheduled to appear at the Avery trial to testify that she had put the hole in the rubber stopper when she originally put the blood in the vial. In fact, it was very common for these vials to have needle holes because that’s how the blood was added into the vials.
Furthermore, two national experts - including the chair of the committee that writes the industry standards on drawing blood samples - told OnMilwaukee that such blood vials are supposed to have holes pierced in their rubber stoppers. According to the experts, that’s how the blood gets into the vial.
Not only is it not uncommon, but it’s the way the vials - in this case, according to court records, a purple-stopped Vacutainer - are supposed to work.
Moreover, an expert “said that the only way such a blood vial would not have a hole is if the medical professional violated standards and did not properly insert the blood in the tube and instead just ‘dumped it in there.’”
The prosecution ultimately didn’t call the nurse because they felt it was unnecessary, that they had a strong enough case without her (the nurse has since passed away).
And what about the broken seal? That can be explained, too.
A review of court records in the case shows that the court was told by the defense that then Manitowoc County DA E. James Fitzgerald and members of Avery’s defense team met and opened packages of evidence in the 1985 court file with the court’s approval to determine what to send out for additional tests. On June 19, 2002 at 12:25 p.m., Fitzgerald opened the box with the blood vial in it and closed it again two minutes later. It was believed the evidence tape seal was broken at that time, the court records say.
In other words, the blood vial wasn’t as big a smoking gun as depicted in the documentary, and there’s some question about whether the blood needed to be tested for EDTA at all, if evidence that it had been tampered with could so easily be explained away.
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