Uncle on Trial: Nurse Examiner Called to Paitin Fields' ICU Bed, Jessica McAlear's Full Testimony

Jessica McAlear is the nurse examiner who was called to Paitin Fields' bed in the pediatric ICU the morning she was brought in, and she is the one who documented what was found. This is her entire testimony: direct, cross and redirect. David Wesley Prevatte, the uncle on trial, is charged with first-degree murder and other charges in the November 2017 death of his five-year-old niece, Paitin Fields, in Pender County, North Carolina. The State named him a suspect in 2018 and charged him in 2022. He has said he found her unresponsive and tried to save her. He is presumed innocent, and the jury decides whether the evidence places him in that room. The State's sixth witness on Day 1, she has been a nurse for 25 years, 20 of them at Novant New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, with 300 to 500 of these examinations behind her, 50 to 100 on children. She was working in the emergency department when the call came around 7:30 a.m. She examined Paitin head to toe, photographed what she found and collected evidence. Because of the extent of the injuries and the breathing tube, she called in a colleague, Colleen Mistovich, which she calls unusual. She steps down to walk the jury through her diagrams, and twelve of her photographs are shown to the jury, kept off the broadcast by the judge's order. Asked whether the injuries were healing or fresh, she cannot say exactly when they happened, but calls them acute: within hours, up to a day or two. Under the black light she ran over Paitin, both ears lit up, so she swabbed them. After the break the State closes on hospital equipment: in 25 years, has she seen a catheter or a thermometer cause injuries like these? "No, I have not." On cross, defense attorney Luther Johnson Britt III asks how many times she had examined a child Paitin's age (about ten) and how many of those children were intubated and unconscious. "She was the only one." He learns she used no specialized magnifying scope, only an iPhone for the photographs, that she took most of the swabs alone before her assistant arrived, and that the area had not been cleaned at New Hanover before her exam. On the black light, she tells him she has no way to know what was on those ear swabs. On redirect: the iPhone sees as well as the scope, and did in 2017. Here is what I want you to sit with. The defense never disputed what she saw. It went after how she saw it and what she cannot know: the scope she did not use, the swabs taken alone, the timing she cannot pin closer than a day or two. That window matters in a case about who was with Paitin, and when. Watch whether anyone comes back to those ear swabs, because on this record the jury has the light and not the answer. --- KEY MOMENTS 0:00 What this video is, and a preview 0:16 Intro 1:16 Video starts 6:56 - The morning she was called to Paitin's bedside 18:28 - She steps down to walk the jury through her diagrams 27:56 - The photographs the judge kept off the broadcast 40:46 - How fresh were the injuries? 43:35 - The evidence she collected from Paitin 49:56 - After the afternoon break, the State picks back up 1:03:48 - Has she ever seen hospital equipment cause this? 1:05:30 - The defense cross-examines her 1:15:14 - Redirect: what the iPhone could see CASE BACKGROUND REPORT: https://justiceisaprocess.com/nc-v-da... Complete case overview including the charges, the timeline, the key players, and the legal questions this trial raises. State of North Carolina v. David Wesley Prevatte. Pender County Superior Court in Burgaw, North Carolina. Prevatte is charged with first-degree murder in the 2017 death of his five-year-old niece, along with other charges. Jury selection began on September 28, 2026. He is presumed innocent unless and until the State proves each charge beyond a reasonable doubt. PLAYLISTS AND RESOURCES Website: https://justiceisaprocess.com/coverag... Full Trial Live Broadcasts:    • NC v. David Prevatte: Full Trial Live Broa...   No Breaks Edition:    • NC v. David Prevatte: No Breaks Edition   Trial Analysis Podcast:    • NC v. David Prevatte: Case Story Trial Pod...   Key Moments and Testimony:    • NC v. David Prevatte: Key Moments & Testimony   Commentary:    • NC v. David Prevatte: Commentary   Subscribe for Daily Coverage:    / @justiceisaprocess   FAIR USE AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSE This content is produced under Fair Use (17 U.S.C. 107) for news reporting, criticism, and educational purposes. We provide transformative commentary on public court proceedings, advancing public understanding of the judicial process through timestamps, analysis, and educational context. #JusticeIsAProcess #DavidPrevatte #PrevatteTrial