Elizabeth A. Butler

Elizabeth A. Butler testified for the prosecution on Day 16 about Camila's and Daniela's medical records and the clinical purpose of sexual-history and abuse screening. A retired women's health nurse practitioner and former office manager, she explained medical-abortion protocols and patient counseling. The court admitted the records over a defense objection. Butler identified Pam's appointment scheduling in Camila's records, interpreted a notation of five years with the same partner, and described Daniela's three abortion-care appointments.

Butler also recounted Pam Cafritz's complaint that screening questions were putting ideas about abuse into patients' heads. Butler said she explained that the questions were routine and refused to disclose patient-specific information without signed consent. She believed the call concerned Camila but was unsure. The court instructed jurors to consider the conversation only regarding the charged enterprise's means and methods, not for the truth of its statements.

On cross-examination, Butler confirmed that Camila's May 2008 records documented negative screening responses and a stated wish to terminate the pregnancy before Butler's May 21 conversation with Cafritz. She acknowledged that Ms. Fuller, not Butler, made the five-years-with-partner notation and that she had not asked the underlying questions. She also read Daniela's October 3, 2006 history, which recorded residence in Mexico, a two-to-three-month visit, consideration of college in the United States, and one lifetime partner. The government declined redirect, and Butler was excused.