VA hospital staff members speculated that Gilbert may have been responsible for 80 or more deaths and more than 300 medical emergencies. The prosecutor in her case, Assistant U.S. Attorney William M. Welch II, asserted that Gilbert used these emergency situations to gain the attention of then-boyfriend Perrault,[16] a VA police officer—hospital rules required that hospital police be present at any medical emergency. Perrault testified against her, saying that she confessed at least one murder to him by phone while she was hospitalized in a psychiatric ward.[17] Defense attorney David P. Hoose claimed reasonable doubt based on a lack of direct evidence.