Welcome to Forensics
Mr. Rizzo
What is forensics Science?
 Use of the scientific method in the legal arena.
 The transfer of scientific techniques to aid the legal
process.
 The use of science and technology to provide evidence.
When is forensics Science used?
?
 To solve any problem whether criminal or historical in
nature.
What is Evidence?
 Must be relevant to the case at hand.
 Must be more probative than prejudicial on the issue.
 Probative evidence: tending to prove a particular proposition or to
persuade you of the truth of an allegation
Forensic Evidence?
 IT IS NOT CSI….
 Is used to establish whether a particular person or thing
COULD be at a particular place at a specific time.
The Powers of Observation
Video:
Know your brain awareness test
Test your Brain!
#1
#2
#3.
Answering Histories
Conundrums
St. Valentines Day massacre
Kurt Cobain
Salem witch trials
St Valentines Day Massacre February
14th,1929.
What we know




Seven men are killed in a garage on the North side of Chicago.
Ordered by Al Capone (in Miami at the time)
Planned by members of the Circus gang
Were sent to warehouse to kill George "Bugs“ Moran
– Rival who also has possession of the lucrative North side booze
business and as well as other rackets.
 Moran not present
February 14th,1929.
Victims and facts
 6 Moran gangsters,1 Optometrist
 A dog tied to a truck.
 Multiple tire tracks leaving the area
– But it was a garage
 The killers weapons:
– two Thompson submachine guns
• one with a 20 round clip
• one with a 50 round drum
– Two shotguns are also part of the arsenal.
 First carload of killers arrive at the back of 2122 North Clark
obtain access to the garage.
 Once inside they line up the Moran gang and relieve them of their weapons.
 One of the fake cops then goes to the front and lets in the other set of non uniformed killers to
unleash their hail of .45 bullets into the Northside boys.
Reenactments
Video reenactment Correct?
http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi1237843993/
Reenactments
Frank Gusenberg handgun problem?
Problem?
Sgt. Thomas J. Loftus
 Loftus knew the Gusenbergs real well.
 Loftus arrived first at the scene and questioned Frank Gusenberg who was still alive in the
garage.
 Loftus asked "Do you know me Frank?'
 Frank replied 'Yes, you are Tom Loftus'
 Loftus then asks 'Who did it or what happened?'
 Frank replies 'I won't talk'
 The officer then replies 'You are in bad shape'
 Frank says 'For God's sake get me to a hospital.'
 Loftus tells Frank 'Pete is here too'
 He said 'Yes' Loftus asks Frank if they were lined up against the wall, to this Frank answers
again 'I won't talk.'
Once transferred to Alexian Brothers Hospital,
 Loftus asks Gusenberg another time and he refuses
 Loftus asked Frank if three of the men wore police uniforms.
 To this Frank answers 'Yes' and then dies.
Kurt Cobain
Facts about Kurt Cobain's death
 Found April 8th 1994 dead in his home in Seattle Washington on the
second story of his garage (green house)
 Barricaded in
 Shotgun wound to the head.
– face was still intact contrary to populure belief
– 3 times the lethal dose of heroin in his blood stream
– no finger prints on the gun, suicide note, or shell casing [as if they had bin wiped
clean]
Excerpt from the Follow Up Report
 Obvious trauma to his head. There is a Remington m-11 20 gauge shotgun
between the victim’s legs with the barrel pointed towards his head and his
left hand wrapped around the barrel. The shotgun is inverted with the
trigger and magazine trap door pointing up. The barrel end is just above
his beltline. There is a sent 20 gauge shell casing on top of a brown
corduroy jacket which is on top of a beige nylon shotgun case. These are
just to the left of the victim and under one of the stainless steel garden
trays.
The
Crime
Scene
Excerpt from the Follow Up Report
The
Crime
Scene
Greenhouse door
Inside the Greenhouse
 The stool police claim Kurt used to "barricade" himself in the
room
 greenhouse lock used to back up the story that Kurt "barricaded"
himself in the Greenhouse
Remington m-11 20 gauge shotgun
 The inverted shotgun distinguishing the orientation that
relates to the scene diagram
Suicide Note
Hieronymus Bosch
1450-1516
an eccentric Dutch painter of
religious visions who dealt in
particular with the torments of
hell.
St. John on Patmos,
approx. 1485
Make three observations:
St. Christopher Carrying
the Christ Child through a Sinful World,
Bosch, c1520
Temptation of
St Anthony
Temptation of
St Anthony
(Detail)
Hieronymus Bosch
Madman or Medical Analyst
• So we dig deeper and find that amputated limbs were saved during
Bosch's time so they might be rejoined to their owners at the last
judgment.
• Amputation is a gangrenous prevention
• The odd vegetable creature is painted in the shape of a mandrake
root. Mandrake was the herb used to stanch the feverish pains of St.
Anthony's Fire.
• The distillery used to reduce medicinal herbs.
As a Forensic Scientist what are some questions
you would ask?
• Does he have any diagnosis medical or psychological
conditions?
• Apocalyptic personality?
• What was also happening at that time?
Historians Know:
What can be going on at that time?
• St. Anthony's Fire was rampant.
• fiery pain, hallucinations, disorientation, muscle cramps,
convulsions, miscarriages, *gangrene
• Today we know that St. Anthony's Fire was caused by a form of
Rye/grain fungus called ergot.
St. Anthony’s Fire: Ergot
*Ergot of rye is produced by a lower fungus (Claviceps
purpurea) that grows parasitically on rye, other grains and
wild grasses.
Structural Analysis
O
ergotamine
OH
Lysergic Acid
Serotonin Blocker?
Serotonin (on the left) and Lysergic Acid ( on the right)
*Serotonin is known to control mood, emotion, sleep
and appetite
Structural Analysis
O
OH
Lysergic Acid
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
(LSD)
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
(LSD)
 LSD is one of the most powerful known
hallucinogenic drugs.
 It was invented in 1938, derived from mushrooms.
 SO WHO CARES?
Hieronymus Bosch
Madman or Medical Analyst
• Bosch's Paintings actually documented beliefs and medical
procedures used to assist with St. Anthony’s Fire.
• Amputation is a gangrenous prevention
• odd vegetable creatures= mandrake root
• The distillery used to reduce medicinal herbs.
Ergot in history
 Furthermore, since ergot baked in bread dough forms
LSD, the disease also led to terrifying hallucinations
 Indeed there is the belief that the Salem witchhangings that went on in Salem, Massachusetts (1692)
occurred during an outbreak of rye ergot.
Salem Witch trials(June -September of 1692)
 19 men and women were convicted of witchcraft and hung
 100s of others faced accusations of witchcraft.
 Dozens languished in jails.
 1 man was pressed to death under heavy stones
Salem witch trials (1692)
According to historian Mary Matossian in her book Poisons of the Past, she
noted symptoms of the people to be sensations of:
– Prickling or ants crawling on the skin
– Distortions of the face
– Paralysis
– Hallucinations
– Convulsive violent seizures
– Dementia
 All these symptoms were consistent with those suffering from ergotism.
Forensics
 from L. forensis "of a forum, place of assembly," from
forum.
 Used in sense of "pertaining to legal trials," as in forensic
medicine (1845).
I. Introduction
What is forensics Science?
 Use of the scientific method in the legal arena.
 The transfer of scientific techniques to aid the legal
process.
 The use of science and technology to provide evidence.
Is Forensics a Sciences?
 Biology
• Physiology, Odontology, Pathology
 Chemistry
• Spectrophotometry, Thin layer Chromatography
 Physics
• Friction, Ballistics, trajectory and motion
 Geology
• Archeology, Mineralogy
Evidence?
 Must be relevant to the case at hand
 Must be more probative than prejudicial on the issue
 Probative evidence: tending to prove a particular proposition or to
persuade you of the truth of an allegation
History Of Detection
 1879 Alphonse Bertillon: father of Criminal Identification developed
Anthropometry
– portrait parle
 1892 Francis Galton: the first finger printer
 1910 Edmond Locard: one of the first site based forensic labs
– Locard’s Exchange Principle
 1932, the FBI under J. Edger Hoover organized a national laboratory that
aimed to offer forensic services to all law enforcement agencies in the
country.
– *at no expense
Placing the person there?
1. Anthropometry,
2.
3.
4.
5.
portrait parle
Fingerprinting
Locard’s Exchange Principle
DNA Data bases
Brain Scans
II. History and Development Major
Scientists:
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
(1859-1893) influences?
Sherlock Holmes 1887:
*Used fingerprinting, firearms identification,
serology,
*Used a scientific method of detection
II. History
 Locard’s Exchange Principle:
The exchange of materials between
two objects that occurs whenever
two objects come into contact with
one another.
II. History
 Locard’s Exchange Principle:
 The exchange of materials between two
objects that occurs whenever two
objects come into contact with one
another.
First major case: Counterfeit coins
Analyzed metallic particles found
in clothing, same as the counterfeit
coins
II. History
 Calvin Goddard: analyzed
Firearms and refined bullet
Identification by using a
Comparison microscope.
III. Organization of a Crime Laboratory
 Why are their so many new lab?
Increase in Drug analysis and
DNA profiling:
Bloodstains, semen
stains, hair and saliva
residue, bite marks,
III. Organization of a Crime Laboratory
 Rapid growth yet lack of national and
regional planning?
 320 Public crime labs
Federal, state, county, municipal
Most placed under police dep.
Prosecutors/district attorney
Medical examiner or coroner
III. Organization of a Crime Laboratory
 NO single law enforcement or
investigative agency with unlimited
jurisdiction so four major labs were
set up:
 FBI
 Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and
Explosives
 US Postal Inspection Service
Senator Daschle
New York Post
 Identify at least six specific forensic units used to
examine Senator Daschle’s letter.
III. Organization
 Some states have developed a
comprehensive STATEWIDE system of
regional/satellites laboratories.
 Alabama,
California
 Illinois
Michigan
 New Jersey Texas
 Washington Oregon
 Virginia
Florida
 Many of the larger cities also have their
own crime labs. New York
IV. Services of the Crime Lab
 Basic services
IV. Services of the Crime Lab
 Basic Full service
 Optional Services
– Physical Science Unit
– Toxicology Unit
– Biology Unit
– Latent Fingerprint Unit
– Firearms Unit
– Polygraph Unit
– Document Examination Unit
– Voiceprint Analysis Unit
– Photography Unit
– Evidence-Collection Unit
IV. Services of the Crime Lab
 Basic Full service
– *Physical Science Unit
– *Biology Unit
– Firearms Unit
– *Document Examination Unit
– Photography Unit
 Optional Services
– *Toxicology Unit
– *Latent Fingerprint Unit
– Polygraph Unit
– Voiceprint Analysis Unit
– *Evidence-Collection Unit
Basic
Services: Physical Science Unit
 Uses chemistry, physics and geology for:
– Drug identification
– Soil and mineral Identification
– Examination of physical evidence
Basic Services: Biology Unit
 Biologists and Biochemists are used for:
– DNA identification and profiling of dried blood and other
body fluids
– The comparison of hairs and fibers
– The comparison of Botanicals
Basic Services: Firearms Unit
 Examination of:
– Firearms and their discharged bullets
– cartridge cases and shotgun shells
 Garments and objects examined to determine type of gun
and position of shooter.
 And the comparison of marks made by tools
Firearms Unit
 Close Contact Gunshot Wound - .380
ACP close range wound with powder
burns.
 Close Contact Gunshot Wound - muzzle
flash injury from a M14 fitted with a
flash suppressor
Firearms Unit
 position of the shooter!! Historical case
Basic
Services: Document Examination Unit
 Ascertain documents authenticity
 Analysis of: handwriting and typewriting
– ink and paper
– Visible depressions
– Obliterations
– Erasures
– Burned and charred documents
Basic
Services: Photography Unit
 A complete photographic laboratory is maintained to
examine and record physical evidence.
– May use: digital imaging, infrared, Ultraviolet and x-ray
photography techniques
 Aids in court case photographic exhibits for court
presentations
Optional
Services: Toxicology Unit
 Studies bodily fluids and organs to determine presence or
absence of drugs and poisons.
– Blood -alcohol
COURT TV
In your notes, Briefly discuss how and why a “Psychic
Detective”
– Could be justified,
– Should be excluded as an expert witness in a court of
law
Optional
Services:Latent Fingerprint Unit
 Processing and examining evidence for *latent fingerprints.
– Prints made by the deposit of oils and/perspiration/ It is
invisible to the naked eye.
Optional
Services: Polygraph Unit
 AKA lie detector :an instrument that simultaneously records
changes in physiological processes such as heartbeat, blood
pressure, and respiration.
 The underlying theory of the polygraph is that when people lie they
also get measurably nervous about lying. The heartbeat increases,
blood pressure goes up, breathing rhythms change, perspiration
increases, etc.
Optional
Services: Voice Print Analysis Unit
 Use sound *spectrograph to identify voices
– Telephoned threats
– Taped recorded messages
– Even basic identity
• *transforms speech into a visual graphic display, called a voiceprint.
Voice SCREAM Analysis Unit????
Optional
Services: Evidence-collection Unit
 Collects and preserves physical evidence that will later be
processed at the crime lab.
 Many officers also being train in the proper collection of
evidence.
Other Forensic Services:
Forensic Pathology
 Investigation of sudden, violent or unexplained deaths
 Usually preformed by a coroner
 Questions sought to answer:
–
–
–
–
Who is the victim
What injuries are present
When did the injuries occur
Why and how were the injuries produced
Forensic Pathology
*A trajectory analysis of JFK's
inshoot/outshoot head wounds,
*Shows an inconsistency with the
HSCA trajectory conclusions.
Forensic Pathology
Autopsy performed to establish cause of death.
Classifications of Death
*Natural
*Homicide
*Suicide
*Accident
*Undetermined

HW: Research and Identify
How investigators estimate
time of death..
Forensic Pathology
9 Ways of Estimating Actual Time of Death:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Rigor mortis
Livor mortis: (Lividity)
Algor mortis: Body Core Temperature
Potassium levels in vitreous humor + Clouding
of the cornea
Stomach Contents
Evidence of Decompositional Process
Presence/absence of purge fluids
Drying of the tissue
Larval Instars
www.dundee.ac.uk/forensicmedicine/llb/timedeath.htm#Time%20of%20De
Forensic Pathology
Estimating Time of Death
1. Rigor
mortis: (L: rig- stiff; mortis—death)
* Muscles become rigid
** W/I 24 hours but gone after 36 hours
“The biochemical cause of rigor mortis is hydrolysis of
ATP in the muscle tissue, the chemical energy source required
for movement. Myosin molecules devoid of ATP become
permanently adherent to actin filaments and muscles become
rigid.”
•With the aid of an electron microscope it can be seen that
each muscle fiber is made up of many smaller units, the
myofibrils. Each myofibril consists of small protein
filaments, known as actin and myosin filaments. The
myosin filaments are slightly thicker and make up the
dark band (or A-band). The actin filaments make up the
light bands (I-bands) which are situated on either side of
the dark band. The actin filaments are attached to the Zline. This arrangement of actin and myosin filaments is
known as a sacromere.
•With the aid of an electron microscope it can be seen that each muscle fibre is
made up of many smaller units, the myofibrils. Each myofibril consists of
small protein filaments, known as actin and myosin filaments. The myosin
filaments are slightly thicker and make up the dark band (or A-band). The
actin filaments make up the light bands (I-bands) which are situated on either
side of the dark band. The actin filaments are attached to the Z-line. This
arrangement of actin and myosin filaments is known as a sacromere.
2. Livor mortis
or (postmortem lividity) :
(L: liv-bluish)
* Is a settling of the blood in the lower portion of the
body
** Causing a purplish red discoloration of the skin.
*** Discoloration does not occur in the areas of the body
that are in contact with the ground or another object,
3. Algor mortis (L: algor—coolness; ath)
* the reduction in body temperature following death.
** a steady decline until matching ambient temperature
*** A measured rectal temperature can give some
indication of the time of death.
• The Glaister equation: 1-1 1/2 degree F per hour
•
Algor mortis is usually the first sign of death, beyond the obvious,
and is then followed by rigor mortis. As decomposition occurs the
internal body temperature tends to rise again.
• Newton's law of cooling states that the rate of cooling of a
body is determined by the difference between the
temperature of the body and that of its environment.
4. Potassium levels in vitreous humor (ocular fluid) –
after death, cells lining the inner surface of the eye
release potassium into the ocular fluid, by testing at
regular intervals, the forensic pathologist can determine
the rate of potassium release and use that to
approximate the time of death.
5. Amount of food found in the victim's stomach can be
used to determine when the last meal was consumed
and rates of digestion are known and are used to help
estimate time of death.
What is an Expert witness?
 An individual whom the court determines possesses
knowledge relevant to the trial that is not expected of the
average layperson
What MAKES an Expert witness?
 Competency may be established:
– Educational degrees
– Formal training/ specific course work
– Memberships
– publications
Court Cases involving use of forensics in Judicial
proceedings.

Frey v. United States
 Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical, inc
Frey v. United States
 Decision of admission of PROCEDURES,
TECHNIQUES AND PRINCIPLES.
 Depends on general acceptance by a
“meaningful segment” of the scientific
community
 In practice , this approach required the
proponent of a scientific test to present to the
court a collection of experts who can testify that
the procedure IS accepted by the relevant
members of the “community”.

Frey v. United States
 IS accepted by the relevant members of the
“community”.
Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical, inc
 Decision of admission of PROCEDURES,
TECHNIQUES AND PRINCIPLES.
 Frye standard not absolute!!
 Trial judges assume the must assume the ultimate
responsibility as the: Gatekeeper!!!!
 Principles must be
 Tested
 Peer reviewed
 Low Percent error
 Have a set techniques, maintenance and standard
controls
 Be Accepted
Kumko Tire v. Carmichael
 Supported Daubert decision of admission of
Procedures, techniques and principles, BUT also
extended gatekeeper responsibilities as to the
admissibility of EXPERT TESTOMONY.
Finis!
II. History and Development Major
Scientists:
Mathieu Orfila: 1814 father of forensic toxicology.
Alphonse Bertillon: 1879 father of Criminal
Identification -developed Anthropometry: a series of
body measurements as a means of distinguishing one
individual from another.
-Used for two decades and was later replaced by
fingerprinting.
Forensic Timeline
II. History and Development
 Francis Galton: 1892 the first finger printer
– Undertook the study, classification and filing of fingerprints.
 DR Karl Landsteiner: 1901 (4) blood types
 Leone Lattes: 1915 developed a method of determining a blood
type form a dried sample.
II. History and Development
 Albert Osborn: 1910 developed the reference text for
document examiners.
 Walter C. McCrone: applied analytical problem solving
techniques in solving forensic science cases by using
microscopy.
– Highly sought after and leading instructor that educated thousands
in application microscopy.
II. History and Development
 1893 Hans Gross: wrote one of the first comprehensive
forensics texts applying the uses of many scientific
disciplines.
II. History
 Edmond Locard:
– 1910: one of the first site based forensic labs.
– Founder of Institue of Crimminalistsics at the
universiy of Lyons
 Developed Locard’s Exchange Principle
FBI lab
 1932, the FBI under J. Edger Hoover
organized a national laboratory that aimed to
offer forensic services to all law enforcement
agencies in the country. *at no expense*
FBI lab
 One of the largest and most
comprehensive forensic
laboratories in the world.
 Formed the FBI’s
Forensics Science research
and Training Center in
1981 Formed the FBI’s
Forensics Science research
and Training Center in
1981
FBI lab
 Laboratory examiners provide expert witness
testimony:
In cases regarding the results of forensic
examination
Special Agent and support personnel assist
domestic and international law enforcement
agencies in large-scale investigations and
disasters