WILLIAM DAVIS SENTENCING DAY 2: Agent says Davis researched serial killers on laptop

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - The second day of sentencing has begun for a former Tyler nurse found guilty of injecting air into his patients’ bloodstreams.

William Davis, 37, of Hallsville, has been convicted on a charge of capital murder. A jury is hearing testimony to determine whether he will get the death penalty or serve life in prison.

1:53 p.m. - The next witness was Investigator Jamie Turner with the Tyler Police Department.

He says on March 27, 2018 police executed a search warrant at Davis’ home in Hallsville. Police took some items (didn’t say or show what they were) back to the police station.

The next witness, Chris Ledbetter, is a former special agent with the Texas Dept. of Public Safety.

Ledbetter discussed the process to extract data from a cell phone once a search warrant is executed.

Upon pulling Davis’ search history from his phone, it showed the phone accessed multiple websites discussing air bubbles.

The next witness was Agent John Day, a special agent with the United States Secret Service.

He says Tyler police reached out about getting two laptops, two phones, and two USB thumb drives processed and examined.

He said web search history from one of Davis’ laptops showed he researched “list of serial killers by number of victims” and searched whether or not Mother Frances was investigating a serial killer.

Judge Jackson says they could end the sentencing phase by the middle of next week.

11:28 a.m. - In the case of Mr. Sanders, Yarbrough says his review of his medical records indicated that insulin was intentionally injected into him. He says, in his opinion, this was his cause of death.

Yarbrough says all 12 patient incidents were the result of an intentional injection.

10:57 a.m. - In the case of James Blanks, Dr. Yarbrough says he suffered a significant event on Jan. 6, 2017. He underwent heart surgery on Jan. 5, 2017. Similar to Perry Frank, Yarbrough says his review brought him to the conclusion that air was injected into Blanks’ venous system, which caused his death.

10:29 a.m. - The next witness was Wendy Stone, a former nurse at CHRISTUS.

On June 15, 2017, she was the charge nurse on the CVICU floor. Stone says she was called to Sanders’ room by William Davis as Sanders’ glucose level was low after midnight on the 15th. When she got to the room, she says William Davis was trying to get Sanders to respond. Sanders wasn’t breathing, they started chest compressions.

The next witness was Wyley McCoy, the former director of pharmacy at CHRISTUS Mother Frances.

In June 2017, Teresa Meeks asked McCoy to review Sanders’ insulin bag. Around 1 a.m, McCoy says Sanders’ blood glucose level fell to dangerous levels. It fell from 140 to 23. He says it could be caused by a rapid increase of insulin to be given in the pump.

Records from the pump showed that that isn’t what happened in Sanders’ case. The other option is for insulin to be injected. (Not through the pump)

The next witness was Dr. William Yarbrough, a pulmonologist with the Dallas VA hospital. He’s served as an expert witness for the prosecution and has no affiliation with CHRISTUS.

In the case of James Wages, he says his review of records led him to the conclusion that air was injected into Wages’ arterial line on August 7, 2017.

In the case of Mr. Glenn, 57, Yarbrough says he had risk factors, such as diabetes, ahead of his surgery.

In a review of Glenn’s medical records, Yarbrough says Glenn had air injected into his arterial line on Oct. 26, 2017.

In the case of Gary Parker, 58, Yarbrough says he suffered a significant event on July 14, 2017. He showed signs of having a seizure during the event. Yarbrough says after reviewing Parker’s medical records, he came to the conclusion that air was injected intentionally into his arterial line.

In the case of Perry Frank, Yarbrough says Frank is different. He says the other victims had air injected into their artery, but in Frank’s case, air was injected into a vein.

Yarbrough says Frank’s cause of death was the injection of a large amount of air into the venous system, not the arterial system.

9:31 a.m. - In the case of Rickie Glenn, Dr. Caccitolo says he was also doing well after his surgery. He got another early morning call that he had crashed. He says the patient crashes created a lot of angst and trust issues between the doctors and nurses. There was no questions from the defense for Dr. Caccitolo.

The next witness was Amy Landrum, James Sanders’ granddaughter.

She says her grandfather was a veteran, influential in the community, and friendly to all. His surgery was on June 13, 2017.

Landrum says he was doing “really well” following his surgery. She says she got a phone call in the early morning hours of June 14, 2017 saying he had “coded.” On the 16th, Sanders was taken off life support.

No questions from the defense for Landrum.

9:20 a.m. - Dr. James Caccitolo is the first witness of the day. He is a cardiovascular surgery doctor at CHRISTUS Mother Frances. In the case of Perry Frank, Caccitolo was his surgeon. Caccitolo said Frank was recovering well from heart surgery, but got an early morning phone call from a nurse, who said Frank’s condition had deteriorated. Frank died June 22, 2017, at the hospital. Caccitolo said it is not typical to order an autopsy after a hospital death, but he ordered one here. Caccitolo also testified that James Wages unexpectedly crashed on Aug. 7, 2017. Caccitolo was also his heart surgery. Caccitolo said they sought an outside review to help explain what was causing all of the patients to crash. But August 2017, Caccitolo said they were very aware of the trend.

Previous report: Witnesses describe Davis’ past, other alleged victims as punishment phase gets underway