As of Tuesday afternoon, the jury had heard all of the evidence in Kimberly Saenz’s capital murder case.

If convicted, the 38-year-old former DaVita Dialysis nurse faces the death penalty or life in prison unless the jury feels her defense attorney, Ryan Deaton, has raised reasonable doubt of her guilt. She is charged with killing five DaVita patients and injuring five others by injecting their dialysis lines with bleach.

On Tuesday, prosecutor Clyde Herrington called a series of rebuttal witnesses, including Houston-based nephrologist Charles Crumb. According to Crumb’s testimony, dialysis patients who go into cardiac arrest because of having too much fluid taken from their bodies have an onset of symptoms including clamminess, decrease in body temperature and cramps. He noted that after reviewing the alleged victims’ charts from the day in question, it doesn’t appear any of them had an onset of symptoms prior to their hearts stopping.

During the course of the trial, Deaton has said he believes the alleged victims could have gone into cardiac arrest because of having too much fluid drawn off in the dialysis process, putting DaVita — not his client — at fault.

In cross-examination, Deaton asked Crumb if he was aware he made the San Antonio paper last July.

“You were standing in the street arguing with people?” Deaton asked.

The statement got an immediate objection from prosecutor Chris Tortorice. State District Judge Barry Bryan then sent the jury out of the courtroom so Deaton could explain his line of questioning and its relevance.

“Were you arguing with the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty?” Deaton asked.

“No, I don’t argue,” Crumb said. “I had been up for about 24 hours and I was trying to get home. They were blocking my way.”

“Do you believe in the death penalty?” Deaton continued.

“Yes,” Crumb said.

At that, Deaton told the judge he believes Crumb’s feeling on the death penalty may have motivated his intent on testifying in the case.

Bryan ruled the jury would not hear Deaton’s line of questioning regarding the matter.

Just before resting for the day, Deaton recalled former DaVita employee Donya Hartsfield to ask her about an April 8, 2008, meeting in which another employee testified she heard regional manager Amy Clinton say, “If I’m going down, I’m not going down alone. I will take someone with me.”

Hartsfield took the stand outside the jury’s presence, testifying she heard someone make the statement but she wasn’t sure who it was.

Pushing to discredit Herrington’s six rebuttal witnesses who said they did not hear Clinton make the statement, Deaton tried to get the judge to allow Hartsfield to testify in front of the jury. Bryan concluded the testimony would not be heard because Hartsfield could not specify who made the statement.

The jury was then released for the day. The jurors will be taking a day off and are set to reappear at 9 a.m. Thursday morning, when the prosecution and defense will make closing arguments.

The jury is expected to begin deliberation by Thursday afternoon.

Jessica Cooley’s email address is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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