9.Alicia Zimmerman — Direct
98 linesMS. BUCKINGHAM: Thank you. The Commonwealth would call Alicia Zimmerman.
THE COURT: All right. Well, good afternoon.
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Good afternoon.
THE COURT: All right. Commonwealth.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Thank you. Could you please tell the jurors your first and last name?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Alicia Zimmerman.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Would you mind spelling your last name for the record?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Z-I-M-M-E-R-M-A-N-N.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And where do you work?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: I work at the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And where do you work at the Crime Lab?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: I'm in the Toxicology Unit.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And what's your role there?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: I'm a forensic scientist two.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: How long have you been with the Crime Lab?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Since August 2014.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And in order to work in the Toxicology Unit, did you receive some specialized training and education?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes. I have a Bachelor's of Science in Forensic Science from the Pennsylvania State University, a Master's of Science in Forensic Science from the Virginia Commonwealth University. I also completed the toxicology—sorry, Toxicology Unit's training program, which included wet lab work, literature review, competency exams, and written exams.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And in your role as a forensic scientist two at the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab Toxicology Unit, you're familiar with the batch review testing?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And as part of that process of working, the workflow being in batches, is it fair to say at various points, different members of the unit are assigned to different tasks within the Toxicology Unit?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And at some point, you might be doing work on a case where you're actually asked to author a report at the end of the testing. Is that fair to say?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes, if you're authorized.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And are you authorized to issue reports?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And what kind of forensic—or excuse me, toxicology testing are you authorized to issue reports for?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: I'm authorized for postmortem investigation.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Now, as it pertains to postmortem investigation in the Toxicology Unit, where does the sample—where do samples come from?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: So the samples are submitted from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to the Evidence Control Unit in Sudbury. They then assign a unique LIMS number. That's a Laboratory Information Management System number, and a corresponding barcode to the evidence. They then transport the evidence to our unit in Maynard, and then we put the evidence into our custody, sample—sorry, sample the evidence, and assign testing to it.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so when a sample comes to you in a postmortem situation, that's because somebody has passed away, correct?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And there doesn't always have to be a corresponding state police crime lab investigation?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: No, our cases are separate.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: So your case comes to you and gets a separate lab number from the crime lab.
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And it also is tracked by a lab number or a case number from the medical examiner's office, correct?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so when you receive in the postmortem toxicology samples, do you sometimes receive blood?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: At times do you also receive urine samples?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: What types of screening test does the postmortem toxicology testing—what are the screening tests used in those instances, or those cases, I should say?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: So every case that we receive gets three preliminary screening tests. The first one is a volatile analysis. The second one is an eight-panel of commonly abused drugs by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, also known as ELISA. And then the third thing we do is a general unknown screen by gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and that looks for illicit and pharmaceutical drugs.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Now, in a circumstance where the decedent or the person who died is a child, are there additional screens that can be done?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And what's the additional screen in a child case?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: If the decedent is equal to or less than... Or, sorry. Equal to, sorry. Less than or equal to 11 years old, we also perform an ELISA pediatric panel, a general unknown screen for acidic and neutral drugs, and a vitreous chemistry analysis.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Now, in cases where your unit receives these samples from the medical examiner, and a screening test is done, if no substance is detected in either of those three screens, or if in a pediatric case, that fourth screen, what happens?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: No further testing is performed.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so if you are the reporting analyst in those cases, you would simply note none detected?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. I'm gonna draw your attention to
MS. BUCKINGHAM: A case that was submitted by the medical examiner in January of 2023. I think your unit might have reviewed the evidence in February of 2023. Are you familiar with the case involving three different postmortem toxicology testing, but all related?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: They are three separate reports.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Right. But you're aware that the children that were the subjects were related.
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Okay. So just referring to first what's identified as the state police lab number, 23-2141, involving the decedent Callan Clancy. You recall receiving several items in the postmortem toxicology unit to test?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And it included toxicology blood that was taken from the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth, right? Is that correct?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: As well as blood that was collected from the Children's Hospital in Boston.
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And urine also collected from the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth.
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And were screens done on the samples, namely the blood from BID Plymouth, the urine from BID Plymouth, and the blood from Children's Hospital?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Were any substances detected on those three screens and the pediatric screen that you've just described to the jury?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: No, they were not.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And as far as the next case, which would be laboratory number 23-01875, the decedent being Cora Clancy, you received some heart blood from the medical examiner's office postmortem, correct?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And as far as that, were those screening tests conducted in this case for Cora?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And were there any substances detected?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: No, we did not detect anything.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And as far as laboratory number 23-01874, which is the decedent Dawson Clancy, your unit received an item, 1-101 of heart blood from Dawson Clancy, correct?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And that was also postmortem?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And were those screening tests, those same three tests plus the pediatric test, run for Dawson?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Correct.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Were any substances detected?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: No, they were not.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And so where in each one of these three separate cases there was no detection of any substances, did you do anything further other than issue a report saying none detected?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: No. We—yeah, I reviewed the data, and then I issued the report with the none detected results.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: If there had been any positive findings, additional testing would have been conducted, correct?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes, if we receive a positive screen, we will either perform confirmatory analysis or quantitative analysis depending on the testing.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And just as it pertains to these three cases, the samples received for Callan Clancy, why did they come from a different source than the other two?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: So the medical examiner sends us the samples. If the decedent is in the hospital prior to the autopsy, they will typically send us those hospital samples as well. They prefer to have the hospital samples tested because that date and time is usually prior to the decedent's death, and we can sometimes determine what sort of drugs or poisons may have been in that decedent's body prior to their death and before drugs may have been given at the hospital.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: And once these tests are conducted in the postmortem toxicology unit, the results, where are they sent to?
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: They are sent to the medical examiner to go with their report.
MS. BUCKINGHAM: Thank you. Nothing further.
THE COURT: All right. Attorney Reddington.
MR. REDDINGTON: No further questions. Thank you.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you, ma'am.
ALICIA ZIMMERMAN: Thank you.
THE COURT: You may step down. Thank you.
THE COURT: Attorney Sprague?