AUBURN – The results of a blood-alcohol test showing a Turner man was legally drunk when his truck crashed into an ambulance, killing a paramedic, might be allowed at trial.

A judge ruled this week that law enforcement authorities had probable cause to draw blood from 30-year-old Christopher Boutin. He was unconscious at the hospital when his blood was drawn about 2 hours after the July 5, 2007, accident.

He is charged with manslaughter and aggravated operating under the influence.

Androscoggin County Superior Court Justice Thomas Delahanty II said Boutin could challenge the reliability of the test results, but not the legality of the blood draw, before a jury would be allowed to see the results at his trial.

Boutin would be allowed to present to the judge witnesses who would argue the results didn’t accurately reflect Boutin’s alcohol levels at the time of the crash. Boutin also would be allowed to argue that a jury shouldn’t see evidence of beer cans at the scene of the crash.

A jury trial is scheduled for Aug. 13.

The test challenged by Boutin showed he had at least twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood at the time his blood was drawn.

Prosecutors called about 10 witnesses at a court hearing last week in an effort to bolster their argument that police had probable cause to draw Boutin’s blood without his permission.

An ambulance was transporting a patient from Rumford to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston about 3 a.m. when Boutin’s truck pulled out of a side road in Turner and slammed into the side of the ambulance, which was southbound on Route 4.

Allan Parsons, 47, of Wilton was tending to the patient in the back of the ambulance. He died at the scene.

The ambulance was forced into a ditch. Boutin’s pickup truck landed on its side on the other side of the road. Thrown from the vehicle, Boutin was pinned under it.