Lisa Hill

Witness for the People:  Guilt Phase

June 15, 2004

Direct Examination by David Harris
HARRIS: Ma'am, can you tell us where you work at?
HILL: I work for Hera OB-GYN Medical Group.
HARRIS: And what do you do there?
HILL: Medical assistant.
HARRIS: And as part of being a medical assistant, do you have any kind of medical training or background?
HILL: Actually I was on-the-job trained by Dr. Yip.
HARRIS: Dr. Yip, is that one of the doctors at that particular medical group?
HILL: Correct.
HARRIS: I'd like to show you what's been marked as People's number 56 for identification, ask you to look at these records and tell me if you recognize those.
HILL: Yes, I do.
HARRIS: Can you tell us what that, those records are?
HILL: These are prenatal records.
HARRIS: Is that for a patient by the name of Laci Peterson?
HILL: Yes, it is.
HARRIS: From looking at those particular records, can you tell or do you see any handwriting on there that shows that you have had any contact with that patient, Ms. Peterson?
HILL: Yes, I do.
HARRIS: Directing your attention to December 23rd, the year 2002, did you have contact with Ms. Peterson?
HILL: Yes, I did.
HARRIS: Can you tell us what that was?
HILL: I was the nurse that brought her back that day, so I would have called her back into the office, weighed her sent her to the restroom to relieve urine, and also done her blood pressure.
HARRIS: And from what you recall at this point in time on that visit on 12/23 of 2002, did Ms. Peterson have any complaints or any problems about the baby that she was talking about?
HILL: I do not recall anything.
HARRIS: Was she seen by the doctor on that day?
HILL: According to the records, yes.
HARRIS: And does the record indicate which doctor saw her?
HILL: Esther Tow.
HARRIS: And then
GERAGOS: I'm sorry?
HILL: Esther Tow.
HARRIS: And that's one of the doctors there also at the medical group?
HILL: Correct.
HARRIS: Besides the contact that you had with her on the 23rd, did you have any other contact with Ms. Peterson?
HILL: I believe I also saw her on October 29th.
HARRIS: And on October 29th, what was the nature of that?
HILL: That was also just a routine prenatal visit.
HARRIS: When we're talking about routine natal, prenatal visits, when a woman is pregnant and going through the usual doctor's care, do they come see the doctor on a pretty regular basis?
HILL: Yes, they do.
HARRIS: And did Ms. Peterson do that?
HILL: According to the records, yes, she did.
HARRIS: And on the individual contacts that you had, that would have been somewhat limited to she comes to the door after you call her name, you take her weight, blood pressure, urine sample, and kind of set her up in a room for the doctor?
HILL: Correct.
HARRIS: The People have no other questions.

Cross Examination by Mark Geragos
GERAGOS: Do I get the impression you don't have a whole lot of memory about this?
HILL: Correct.
GERAGOS: Okay. You keep qualifying things with "according to the records." Is that,
HILL: Yes.
GERAGOS: Did you drive all the way from Modesto for this?
HILL: Yes.
GERAGOS: Okay. Are you going to be really upset if I don't ask a whole lot of questions?
HILL: No.
GERAGOS: But you notice I stood up anyway? The, the records you're looking at, are those the, I assume they're the same ones we were looking at before.
JUDGE: Yeah, it's People's 56.
GERAGOS: 56.
GERAGOS: I'm going to put them up. How is your eyesight.
HILL: Not too good.
GERAGOS: Okay. Well, I'll ask you some questions first and then I'll put it up.
HILL: Okay.
GERAGOS: On this last row, 12/23, how much of that is your handwriting?
HILL: The date, weight, blood pressure, and the negative/negative on the urine.
GERAGOS: Okay. Weight how much?
HILL: 153.
GERAGOS: And date?
HILL: 12/23.
GERAGOS: There's a number 32. What's that for?
HILL: That was how many weeks gestation she was, written by Dr. Tow.
GERAGOS: You recognize the handwriting?
HILL: Yes, I do.
GERAGOS: Okay. How does Dr. Tow come up with, are you privy to how they come up with the number of weeks?
HILL: They usually use a gestational wheel based on the last menstrual period, or ultrasound.
GERAGOS: Or the ultrasound?
HILL: Correct.
GERAGOS: Do they adjust, depending on when they take the ultrasound, from the gestational wheel?
HILL: The ultrasound is only adjusted from the last menstrual period dating if it's seven or more days.
GERAGOS: Okay. And who writes in the rest of the stuff?
HILL: The doctor does.
GERAGOS: That's the doctor's writing?
HILL: Correct.
GERAGOS: Okay. The, you don't have any independent memory of this particular patient, is that,
HILL: No, I do not.
GERAGOS: Okay. And you don't remember, I think you said there was another date you saw, saw her?
HILL: Looks like October 29. Yeah, October 29.
GERAGOS: Anything I ask you about on that date you're not going to have any independent memory on?
HILL: No, I don't.
GERAGOS: So I would just be sitting here and asking you to read the records?
HILL: Yes, you would.
GERAGOS: Okay. I have no further questions.
JUDGE: May Ms. Hill be excused?
HARRIS: No objection.
JUDGE: You don't have anymore questions?
HARRIS: No additional questions, no objection to her being excused.
JUDGE: Thank you very much. Just give those to me.
HILL: Okay.