Expert Testifies Crowder May Have Been ‘Stumbling’ Drunk : Trial: Witness extrapolates to estimate defendant’s blood-alcohol level at time of prom-night fatal shooting in Anaheim.

A forensic toxicologist testified Thursday that Paul M. Crowder may have been “stumbling, staggering” drunk at the time he is accused of shooting Crescenta Valley High School basketball star Berlyn F. Cosman at a prom night party in Anaheim.

Jay B. Williams, who served with law enforcement agencies in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties before going into private practice, estimated that Crowder’s blood-alcohol content was 0.196 at 6 a.m. on June 1, when Cosman was shot in the head as she slept in a darkened room of the Crown-Stirling Suites Hotel.

Crowder, 19, who is charged with murder in connection with the slaying, recorded a blood-alcohol level of 0.05 when tested by Orange County Sheriff’s deputies at 3:45 p.m. that day. They found no other evidence of drug use, Williams said.

Williams extrapolated Crowder’s blood-alcohol level at the time of the shooting based on the defendant’s weight, the amount of alcohol he said he consumed and the period of time he said he consumed it, along with various accepted formulas for metabolism.

The state of California has set 0.08 as the level for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Williams testified that an individual with a blood-alcohol level of 0.19 could have problems with depth perception, peripheral vision and impaired judgment.

Crowder, he said, could have been “stumbling, staggering” after consuming 10 beers and two glasses of champagne, the amount Crowder said he drank that night.

Crowder’s attorney, E. Bonnie Marshall, has told the jury that the shooting was “a tragic accident,” that Crowder fired a .357-magnum revolver after stumbling into the darkened room.

Under cross-examination by Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans, Williams said a seasoned alcoholic might be less affected at that level of intoxication. Williams also testified that he knew of no way to determine whether or to what extent intoxication could impair a person’s ability to form the intent to kill.

Jill Caballero, who was asleep in the suite’s adjoining room when Cosman was shot, said she had five or six beers and half a bottle of wine, and was “not drunk” just “buzzed.”

Before retiring for the night, she told Crowder and a male friend, Javier Pimentel, that she and Cosman were tired and wanted to go to sleep and asked the pair to go to “the party room” down the hall if they wanted to stay up any later.

Crowder left without saying anything, she said, followed by Caballero’s and Cosman’s dates. Later, Caballero decided to leave. But as she opened the door to the party room, her boyfriend, Bryan Girroir, who was talking to Crowder, told her not to worry about Crowder’s hurt feelings.

Caballero said she did not hear the shot that killed Cosman but was awakened by the shouts of Cosman’s date. After the shooting but before police arrived, Caballero testified, she removed two guns, neither of which was used in the shooting. She said she placed them in a car parked outside.

Like numerous other young witnesses in the case, Caballero acknowledged under cross-examination that she has lied repeatedly to authorities about the case, saying she had been nervous, confused and scared.

In other testimony Thursday, the emphasis also shifted to events immediately following the shooting.

Laura Crowder, the defendant’s mother, testified that her son called her early in the morning and asked to be picked up at a phone booth. He told her only that he “heard a shot,” she said.

While a family friend went to pick up Crowder, his mother said, she called one of his friends who came to the house. At her request, the friend, Jonas Eneberg, found a short-barreled shotgun under Paul’s mattress and put it in his own car.

“All I knew is that I wanted it out of the house,” Laura Crowder said.

When her son arrived home, he said he needed to sleep before he could tell her what had happened at the hotel, she said.

Before she could talk to him, however, police arrived at their La Crescenta home and arrested him.