Ch. 5 Drugs: Assignment #1

Key Terms: (pg. 149)

·      Drug

·      Anabolic steroids

·      Chromatography

·      Analgesic

·      Confirmation test

·      Depressant

·      Fluoresce

·      Hallucinogen

·      Narcotic

·      Physical Dependence

·      Psychological Dependence

·      Screening test

·      Spectrophotometry

·      Stimulant

Case Study:  Pablo Escobar, Drug Lord (pg. 148)

1. Who was Pablo Escobar?

2. What social and economic conditions were prevalent in Columbia during

    Escobar’s reign that led to his cocaine empire?

3. Compare and contrast the 1990’s prison system in Columbia to that of the United

    States?

4. How was Escobar able to appease the general population?

5. Describe how Escobar’s reign was finally ended.

Ballistic review pt2

Anthony Semedo 10/29
advanced Forensics

Ballistic Review Questions (pt.2)



11.The greater the speed the greater the energy in a projectile.
12.Many factors could affect the damage done to a body from a bullet,one of these factors being bullet fragmentation.When fragments of the bullet get stuck in your body,which can cause more issue and damage to your body.
13.Cavitation:the radial dispersion of energy created by a projectile.
14.The differences of Permanent and Temporary cavitation are pretty simple.Permanent cavitation being tissue crush and excavation and Temporary cavitation being the blast effect due to tissue stretch.
15.Fragmented bullets cause lots of damage to the tissue in skin, causing damage as soon as coming in contact with the tissue to solid and dense organs.
16.uhhh this is a google doc
17.Bullets to the abdomen have 10% mortality rate.
18.Bullets to the abdomen are highly susceptible to injury and hemorrhage.
19.Bullets to the head and neck are both very lethal but there are different impacts.A neck shot damaging trachea and blood vessels causing neurological problems.A head shot causing cavitational energy to be trapped in the skull which can cause very serious lethal bleeding.
20.The thorax is a very lethal part of the body to get shot in, any large wound compressing breathing.Causing extensive damage to the heart and great vessels in the body due to lack of fluid compression.

JFK video questions

JFK questions 

Kenzie 

1.)what I learned from today's video?

I learned a couple of things from today's video. One thing I learned today is its not that easy to track down shooting spot . The second thing I learned is it takes a lot of critical thinking and estimating to figure out what the weapon is and where it was shot

2) To reconstruct the assassination, they used ballistics gel and soap. Also 46  wood boards to analyze how the bullet supposedly traveled through the president and the governor. Also this was to prove if the bullet can travel trough two people and come out in perfect shape

 

3.) based on the information given in the video, my opinion is that their was one shooter, and shot a bullet that went through 2 people . But the only thing that is really has no proof of evidence is the autopsy. 

Ballistic Review Questions

Anthony Semedo              10/27
Ballistics Review Questions

1.Ballistics is the science of mechanics that deals with the launching, flight, behavior, and effects of projectiles.
2.The difference between interior and exterior ballistics are pretty simple.Exterior ballistics is the study of projectiles in flight after the barrel & interior ballistics is the study of the projectiles within the firearm.
3.Terminal ballistics being the study of the projectiles interaction with a target & Wound ballistics the study of the terminals effect on a human or “target”.
4.The further the range of the shot the less energy to the projectile.
5.The position of how a firearm is fired affects many things, one being the terminal ballistics.How the gun is positioned affects where the bullet will hit and what it will do after getting its target.
6.It would be important to determine the sequence of shots because all bullets cause different amounts of damage and different wound ballistics.
7.Trajectory:The arched path that a bullet flows through flight.
Perforate:To pass all the way through a target.
Penetrate:To enter & stay into a target.
8.Factors that should be considered when shooting at a target are the 2 main forces acting on it, the forward force from gunpowder and downward force of gravity.
9.Dowels strings and lasers are used to find angles and a possible direct location of a shooter in a case.
10.The greater the mass of a projectile the greater the energy.

JFK Video Post Assignment

1. I learned that when you shot a bullet it can go through two people. I also learned that when a bullet is shot it can yaw which means it goes straight and then all of a sudden it starts to move and like tumble. I also learned that a gun called a Carcano has a full metal jacket and it also has a cylindrical shape, with straight sides and no taper or sharp point.
2. Some of the things they used to reconstruct the assassination was the pine board test, They shot a bullet to see how far it could go into the pine boards, this is one of the oldest ballistic tests around. Then to simulate human tissue they used ballistic gelatin and ballistic soap which both have the same density and resistance to penetration. When the gelatin is shot the bullet path opens and then collapses when the soap is shot it freezes the path of the bullet so you can see it. 
3. Based on science, I believe there was only one shooter and that the bullet went through both JFK and Governor Connally. I also don't believe that he was shot in the back of the head, how could someone be shot in the back of the head and then there head flies backwards it just doesn't make sense to me.

Link to Ballistics Review Questions

Ballistics Review Questions

Jfk

Paola Ginel

1. I learned that a bullet starts to tilt as it changes direction and hits air once again. From the case.itself, I learned that the shooting came a book store depository and 3 cartridge casings were found. One of the bullets were found almost in perfect condition despite it being predicted having hit seven different spots. Also the rifle used wasn't one.of the best choices and there were better choices available.

2. They test fired rifles that matched the kind of rifle used at the crime. They tested the single bullet theory to see if it was possible for a bullet to be in almost perfect condition after traveling through to two people. They used pine.board and soap/jelly to test the bullets travel. They reconstructed his skull since.they didn't have access to his body of course.

3. It looks like it could be a conspiracy. What are the odds that a single bullet went through two people twice and against other things and still be almost so.perfect in condition. Also, the alleged shooter was killed by a random person afterwatds. In addition, the proper steps weren't taken by the proper people either so the evidence wasn't reliable or incomplete.

JFK Assignment

1) I learned in this video how they use ballistic gel and ballistic soap to re create how someone or a group of people were shot and how the bullet travels through the body and the clothes as well. I also learned how his head could have supposedly swung back after getting shot in the back of the head.

2) To reconstruct the assassination, they used ballistics gel and soap and wood boards to analyze how the bullet supposedly traveled through the president and the governor.

3) Based upon the science and the evidence given, I do believe that 2 person shot Kennedy. I do not understand however how his head would have swung back after being shot in the front of the head as it appeared in the video released.

Jared Paquin JFK Qiestions

JFK Video Questions

1.) What did you learn from watching today's video

1.) I learned that a bullet has a yaw which means it loses its stability but still travels in the same direction. I also learned that Kennedy was shot in the throat and it cause seven wounds between him and another person with one rounded bullet. I learned that the shot to the head, the one that was the fatal blow made a force that blew his head back and shattered his skull.

2.) Explain some of the ballistics used to reconstruct the assassination.

2.) Some ballistics that were used to reconstruct the assassination were the use of ballistics gel and ballistics glue. This helped determine if a bullet could go through to people as it was observed during the assassination. Another experiment that was conducted was the use of 46 pine wood planks that were shot with the same bullet and rifle to determine if the gun had enough power to go through two people.

3.) Based not the science, what is your opinion about the assassination.

3.) My opinion about the assassination is that there were two shooters and a lot more bullets fired than what was said. I base this decision on the events that unfolded after Lee Harvey Oswald was caught. When he was moved to prison and was fatally shot by a strip club owner. Also I believe that a single bullet could have gone through two people at once especially at the velocity and all the consistent injuries.

Jfk Questions

1. In today's video I learned that one single bullet can go through two people, that a bullet may seem like it cant do much but in reality it can do more than we think. Also I learned that its really hard to try and created a crime scene after years have past due to the fact that not everything may be the same there could be multiple changes.
2. In this assassination there were some very interesting ways of testing the bullets that were fired at JFK. The examiner and specialist were shooting bullets from different guns and distances at a gel thing, and what thid did was that it let them see how the bullet impacted the object as it passed through.
3. My opinion on this cases is just that the forensics, police, etc could of took more care of it and find out every detail of it but instead they just worked with what they had to find out years later that the shooting had happened a whole different way of what they thought back then.

JFK Video- LKW

Today's video taught me a few new things. I learned about different guns and how specific guns work. I also learned that bullets make noises when fired, two different ones to be exact. Another thing I learned was that bullets are able to go through multiple barriers such as people even though they can go from straight to sideways. One more important thing I learned was that ballistics is key to figuring out cases where firearms are involved.

Ballistics was used in the JFK case. Both ballistics soap and gel were used to show what happens to a bullet when a bullet travels through human muscle and tissue, just like what happened in the case. Wood blocks were also used to see what happens to the bullet as is travels through something (was it defected, etc.).

Based on the information the video tells me, I believe that there are two shooters responsible for this. I find it very hard to believe JFK arched his back. The case still seems a little off to me for the simple fact the autopsy wasn't really done right. I'm caught between there being two shooters and the bullet traveling both people. I would really enjoy observing and investigating this case further.

Leiandra Wilson

JFK Questions

1. From the video, I was able to see just how important the finding of bullets/casings are to cases including firearms. 2 out of the 3 bullets fired were located along with the weapon were found, yet so much more information was later found just from close examination. I learned that even without all of the evidence, alot of information can be determined about a specific crime. However I also learned that although information may be found, in some cases there are key pieces of evidence and information that will never be found due to different restrictions such as death or conspiracies.
2. In this video one of the techniques they used was a specific gel and soap to shoot test bullets from the specific weapon found to have been used in this case to see exactly how it would have worked when fired into a human body. By doing this the investigators were able to see that when inside the soap & gel the bullet traveled perfectly straight by began to spin around and become unstable once leaving the soap & gel. This was later decided to be a main reason that both the president and one of the governors were hit, and the governor in such random spots.
3. Based off the science that was shown in the video, I would believe that the whole entire case wasnt approached correctly the entire time so it caused the investigators to have to go retrace their footsteps on more then one occasion. Although the shooter may have been very smart in the way that he/she did the shooting they still left enough evidence that if examined correctly right off the bat instead of years later could have proven their guilt.

JFK Video Questions

Brian Rego                                   JFK video questions
1. From watching today's video I learned that when a bullet is fired it can make two sounds when it passes the sound barrier. I also learned that when a bullet goes through something it starts to spin upward when it comes out.
2. Some of the ballistics used to reconstruct the assassination of JFK was they used ballistic gel and soap to see how that type of bullet reacts when shot through human flesh. They also used a laser thing that got all of the measurements of the area and could create the area in a computerized model.
3. Based on the science in the video I believe that their was only one shooter. The first shot that hit went through the president and into the other guy and then the second shot that hit killed the president.

JFK QUES.

Anthony Semedo                        10/22

JFK video questions


1.What did you learn from watching todays video?
I had learned that a bullet can go threw two different people,this being proven in a test when firearm examiners had shot a rifle bullet through 46 pieces of plywood.I had also learned that when exiting a body a bullet begins to yaw and turn but maintains its speed.
2.Explain some of the ballistics used to reconstruct the assassination.
One of the ballistics used to reconstruct this assassination had been the lazer map,a lazer set up to electronically reconstruct an area down to every detail.There had also been a computer that reconstructed a skull to show what happens as a bullet goes through the skull.
3.Based on the science, what is your opinion about the assassination?
I believe this whole assassination is a little iffy,there was never any correct autopsy done on his body and even after the test and science put behind this case, no one can figure out how this was done.

JFK Video Post

1) What did you learn from watching today's video?
        After watching today's video I learned that its not easy to look for a killer when the scene of the crime is busy and are a lot of people. Other people around in the area might not be paying attention to details around them because of whats going on.
2)Explain some of the ballistics used to reconstruct the assassination.
        Some of the ballistics used to reconstruct the assassination was blocks of wood, the soda block, and the weapon or replica of the weapon.
3) Based on the science, what is your opinion about the assassination? 
         My opinion on the assassination was it was dramatically sad, but also I believe that the assassination was  not very taken care of as it should of been. It should have been more organized and more prepared. I also believe that the assassination could have been prevented if there was more security. 

Video Questions

1. Today, from the video, I learned that its very hard to go back to a crime and figure out the angle and entry point of the bullet when everyone involved was pronounced dead and when JFK had been buried right away in honor.
2.Some of the ballistics used to reconstruct the assassination was a lazor map to make on electric map of the area. They also used a computer to reconstruct the skull and show the entry and exit of the bullet.
3. Based on the science, my opinion on the assassination is that they was only one person and that there was many shots fired.

JFK Video Post Assignment

After viewing the video in class, answer the following questions:
1. What did you learn from watching today's video?
2. Explain some of the ballistics used to reconstruct the assassination.
3. Based on the science, what is your opinion about the assassination?

Firearms evidence -Kenzie

The murder of John Orner

In 1961 in South Carolina, a taxi driver was shot in the head and thrown over clift. The victim’s name was John Orner.  When the case just started the detectives thought it was robbery. Three weeks into the case a guy was arrested by the name  Edward Freiburger, an 18-year-old soldier who had gone AWOL from Fort. Jackson in South Carolina, by a state trooper in  Tennessee. Freiburger was arrested and was caught holding a loaded  .32 caliber revolver. the same exact gun to kill the victim John Orner.

Forensic scientist test the gun to the bullet that killed Mr. Orner.  the test turned to be inconclusive  and they couldn't prove that the gun killed Orner. the case became a cold case. In 1997 was reopen by a new department just for cold cases.  the new detectives know that as the years past science developed and would be able to prove if it the gun was the murder weapon or not.. So the ran ballistics again and comparing to the forensics evidence at the murder scenes.  they were able to prove that the gun did infact kill John Orner back in 1961.  Edward Freiburger was later found guilty by a trial and sentenced to death.

Case File: Firearms Evidence

Dickinson Texas:  Sheriff investigators will examine a gun found in a field to see whether it belonged to a man who was shot and accused of fleeing arrest, authorities said.

Maceo Downey was set to be released Monday from Ben Taub General Hospital in Houston. He had not been charged with any crime as of Monday afternoon, Sheriff s Capt. Barry Cook said.
Downey was accused of running from Sgt. Mike Barry on Saturday night in the 3200 block of Lobit Drive in Dickinson.
Downey also was accused of reaching for his waist as he ran, Cook said. Barry feared for his life and fired a shot, Cook said.
Downey was found by a resident nearby, suffering from a bullet wound to his left ankle, Cook said.
Two other Dickinson men were arrested on felony drug charges, Cook said.
On Sunday, sheriff s investigators returned to the scene and found a small-caliber handgun wrapped in a sock, Cook said. The gun wasn't in the field long, he said.
The sock was fresh, bright white, and was 25 to 30 feet from the clothes we found, Cook said of additional evidence discovered in the case.
We re going to check for DNA and fingerprints and see what comes back, Cook said.
In this case the sheriff in Texas found a gun in a field that connected to a shooting of a cop.  A man named Downey was accused of shooting a man and they found dna and clothes he used in the shooting, with fresh blood.  He was announced guilty.

Leiandra Wilson

In January of 2009, 3 loud explosions were heard from people who lived in an upscale boulder, colorado neighborhood. A light colored sedan was saw speeding away from the area. Investigators arrived and found the victim who had been shot 3 times up close with a 12 gauge shotgun. The 3 shell casings were found surrounding the victims body. Crime scene reconstruction later helped show that the victim was shot in the chest two times while he was still seated in the car. The victim was then dragged out if the car and shot a third time in between his eyes. A few days later suspect Joseph Carlos abeyta was arrested and charged with first degree murder of his friend William d Andrews.

Investigators later concluded that all 3 bullets were fired from the same gun. More shell casings were also found near the scene that were proven to have been fired from the same weapon. Investigator higashi preformed tests that later proved the distance the weapon was fired at. Ballistic data was also entered into the NIBIN about this firearm. Although investigators never found the weapon, they were able to use the shell casings and other information to convict Joseph of first degree murder of his friend William.

Fire Arm Case (Jermar Swilley)

Jermar Swilley, was arrested on the night of October 7th in Saginaw, MI, as a jury was in the middle of deliberating a first degree murder that his brother had committed. He has 3 firearm offenses being charged against him, after police responded to a call that shots had been fired near Saginaw's east side.He was charged exactly for having a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent, also for carrying a concealed weapon, and lastly for having a firearm during the commission of a felony.

He was charged on late Thursday afternoon, just a few hours after his brother had been convicted for the murder of a 16 year old boy, DaVarion Glavin. A major piece of evidence in this case was a gun collected, a Glock 17 9mm semi automatic. This was called in on Christmas day 2012 after shots had been fired outside the Swilley's grandmothers house, where both brothers lived together, thus possibly leading to the later shots that were fired.

Neither of these boys were arrested that day, as neither was Terrance Thomas. However, Thomas' DNA was actually found on the firearm, Which police officials later found out that this was in fact one of the 3 fire arms fired in the murder of Galvin. Thomas would too be convicted for the murder of Galvin, along with Jermar's brother. It is said, that Thomas and Swilley, were in a gang with the other two people involved in the murder, The East Side Gang. As it turns out, part of their "territory" is where Jermar was arrested.

Jermar was connected to this crime mainly by the area he lives in and the people he associates with. He can face a sentence up to consecutive 2 year sentences. He plead not guilty to the charges on 10/10, and he is being held on a $30,000 or 10 % bond. His preliminary hearing is on 10/21.

The DNA found on the gun, was a key and major part of solving the mystery of who had killed Galvin, and who was connected in the murder. Had his DNA not been recovered off the fire arm, then Jermar, Kareem, and Thomas may never have been approached or arrested in connection to the murder. If they didn't find this evidence, they might not have ever learned how many, and which specific guns were used in the crime, and who they were connected to as well. 

- Zack Hamel

Forensic Firearm Case

Alexys Bergeron

October 13, 2014

Forensic Firearm Case

                One still night in an upscale boulder, Colo. Neighborhood of January 2009, residents heard three loud and shocking explosions. Some of the curious neighbors flew to the window and saw a light-colored sedan speeding away and then a few moments later someone found a not so great scene. Officers and detectives flew to the scene and concluded rather quickly that the victim had been shot three times at close range with a 12-gauge shotgun. Three of the shell casings were around the victim’s bloody body. Later on the reconstruction of the crime scene had shown that two of the shots were delivered most likely when the victim was still seated in the car. One of the shots were fatal, the other wasn’t. Then the victim was dragged out of the car, laid on the icy and cold road, had the shotgun muzzle placed between the victims eyes and for the third and final time the trigger was pulled. A few days later, Joseph Carlos Abeyta was arrested and was charged with and later found guilty with first degree murder of his once friend, William D. Andrews.  The days and months following, the detectives looked for the murder weapon, they knew they were looking for a sawed-off, pump action 12-gauge shotgun with a pistol grip. Of course, the weapon used in the murder was never found.

                In order to solve this case, an agent named Dale Higashi used ballistic physical evidence. He testified that a fired 12-gauge shell had been recovered from another location was fired from the same weapon that killed William Andrews. This is important because an hour before the actual murder, the gun was given to Abeyta who of course went and killed William Andrews which led the police to discover the fire casings left behind. To complete the reconstruction of the murder, Higashi fired the same kind of ammunition from shotgun barrels of different lengths.  He did these from the approximate distances between the victim and the shotgun muzzle at the time these were shot. This ballistic data was entered into NIBIN (the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network). If this information led to a rifle used in another crime, it could be an easy way out. But of course the information didn’t match in this case, but it could help a case in the future.

Fire Arms Case

     In November of 2007 a man known as Samuel James Cooper was arrested for bank robbery and later murder when his gun was linked to the previous killings of 5 innocent people. The bullets from the killings of Ossama Haj-Hussein and Leroy Jernigan were found identical. Later, testing linked fired projectiles and cartridge casings were all matched up and found to have been fired from the 9mm Ruger P89DC  handgun Cooper gad dropped running from the bank robbery. The ballistic evidence and Coopers confession were all key evidence to the trial.
     Ballistics helped solve this crime and hopefully help make the conviction of Cooper easier by being able to have the bullets and cartridges from the crime scenes and having the same type of gun match up to each other. Knowing that a certain gun cab only fire a certain bullet and having those two match up to be identical the jury should hopefully see that Cooper is guilty of all 5 murders.

Www.wral.com/news/local/story/730799
Justine Horton

Firearms Assignment

The Deadly Professor

   On and afternoon on February 12, 2010 Amy Bishop a neurologist opened fired on a faculty meeting leaving what people called a blood bath. Amy had already had a suspected record when in 1986 she allegedly killed her brother Seth Bishop in her childhood home with a shotgun that her father owned. She had shot him in the chest. When the cops showed up Amy had fled with the shotgun and 3 shells, they retrieved the shell that had killed Seth but in the end Amy was off the hook when they called in a accident. In 1994 Amy threatened a collage with a pipe bomb, Amy was now married and had four children when this occurred. When police went to question her she refused until they broke her window and found the items in her house that were used to create the pipe bomb as well. They searched Amy's computer to find a novel she had been written about a sister who killed her brother, then tries to gain herself back by becoming a scientist. Even though all this occurred the only incident on Amy's record was a food fight at a local pancake house. On the day of the shooting Amy had cut class short and a student claims to have seen a silver cylinder which could have been the barrel of a gun in Amy's bag. Amy was dropped off by her husband around 3pm at the school for the meeting after a half and hour Amy pulled out a gun and started shooting, once she was done she ditched her gun in the bathroom and called her husband James Anderson for a ride home. She never left the school and was arrested by the cops in the parking lot. Amy had shot three people in the head, two in the chest and one in the face. Police recovered a 9mm handgun in the bathroom.At Bishops trial the lawyers claimed that Amy had never heard of a shooting and kept Asking if she still had a job. In the end of the trial Amy Anderson was charged with one count of capital murder and three counts of attempted murder.

Fire Arm Case

            In Saginaw, MI, on October 10th, a jury was in the middle of deliberating a first-degree murder charge for his older brother, a 17-year-old earlier in the week was in possession of a pistol in the vicinity of where gunshots rang out.  

            Prosecutors have filed three firearm offenses, all against Jermar T. Swilley, whom Saginaw police arrested the evening of Tuesday, Oct. 7, after responding to a 911 call for shots fired on South Ninth near Burt on Saginaw's East Side. Swilley, the younger brother of Kareem A. Swilley Jr., is charged with carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent, carrying a concealed weapon, and possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Saginaw police arrested Jermar Swilley, also known as Jamar Swilley, on Tuesday evening after officers responded to the area for a report of shots fired. Officers arrested Swilley as they searched for possible suspects, authorities said.

            Prosecutors charged him late Thursday afternoon, hours after Kareem Swilley Jr. was convicted along with two others of first-degree premeditated murder for the Nov. 21, 2012, murder of 16-year-old DaVarion Galvin.

 

             The major evidence that the prosecutors' obtained in the Galvin trial was a Glock 17 9mm semi-automatic handgun that Saginaw police found late Christmas Day 2012 after responding to a 911 call regarding multiple men carrying guns on the city's North Side near the unofficial border with the city's East Side. That call came hours after somebody opened fire outside Swilley's grandmother's home, where both Swilley boys also lived.

Officers responded to the call and ultimately detained, but did not arrest, both Swilley boys as well as Terrance D. Thomas. Thomas' DNA was on the gun, which state police experts determined was one of three that was fired during the Galvin homicide. Thomas also was convicted in the Galvin murder.

             Prosecutors had said the four defendants, in the Galvin trial — Kareem Swilley; Thomas; John H. Granderson, who also was convicted are members of the East Side Gang, which claims the "numbered streets" section of the city's East Side.That territory includes South Ninth and Burt, where Jermar Swilley was arrested. Derell D. Martin, was the fourth defendant but was acquitted from all charges.  

               Due to Swilley's offenses some carry maximum penalties of five years in prison, while the felony firearm charge carries a mandatory, consecutive two-year prison sentence.

In arraigning Jermar Swilley on Friday, Oct. 10, Saginaw County District Judge M. Randall Jurrens entered a not guilty plea on his behalf and ordered him held on a $30,000.

               Swilley remains jailed and is scheduled for an Oct. 21 preliminary hearing before District Judge A.T. Frank.

The Call

           

             This is the case of a 29-year-old white female who was the alleged victim of an accidental shooting in her home on August 16, 1999. Three minutes after a 911 received a call, officer Ron Lehman was pulled away from his regular routine and was sent to a normally quiet neighborhood to investigate a report of an accidental shooting. When he arrived at the house there was a man, about 30 years old, wearing a green shirt. He was standing on the front lawn of the house smoking a cigar and talking on the phone. As Lehman opened the car and stood up, using the cruiser as a shield, the man ended the phone call and walked quickly toward him. Lehman's right hand instinctively dropped to his hip, ready to draw his 9 mm just in case there was need to but he realized that the man was unarmed. The man then told the officer what had happen and they both walked to the bedroom where the murder had took place. At the scene the officer seen the man wife. She was lying on her stomach on the floor, naked from the waist down. Her head was turned away from him and she seem as if she was looking for something under the bed. but this didn't really matter much anymore since a the young woman was now dead, Near her right hand was a 45-caliber Smith & Wesson automatic pistol. On the nightstand next to the bed was a loaded magazine and several bullets. The crime scene investigators came and searched everything but didn't find anything it was then when the police then started to investigate and talked to family member and they went through all the process. After the autopsy was done to the woman the forensic then  found out on the lateral aspect of the right side of the head is a circular wound measuring 11 millimeters across.... The use of firearms was analyzed and evaluated because when the forensic did the autopsy on the woman he saw that there was powder burns indicating that the shot was fired from about 18 inches away from her head and the bullet traveled in an almost horizontal path through her brain, instead of what her husband had told the police. This is how the court found out that it was a homicide and that her husband had killed her.

Fire Arms Assignment

Joseph Lyle Menendez and Erik Galen Menendez are brothers who in 1989 killed there parents Jose Menendez and his wife Mary "Kitty" Menendez with a shotgun. On August 20, 1989 Lyle and Erick Menendez came home and shot there parents in the den of there home. Jose Menendez was shot point-blank in the back of the head with a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun. Mary woke up from the sound of the shots and got up from the couch and ran for the hallway but was shot in the leg, causing it to break. She slipped in her own blood and fell. After she fell she was shot several times in the arm, chest, and face, leaving her unrecognizable. Lyle and Erick then left and dumped their shotguns on Mulholland Drive and went to a movie theater and seen the movie Licence to Kill so that way they could use that as an alibi. At 11:47 pm, when the brothers returned home, Lyle called  911 and said, "Somebody killed my parents"  The boys were then taken in for questioning, Because the brothers were not suspected of killing their parents, the police did not administer gunshot-residue tests. These tests can determine whether a person has recently fired a weapon.  Dr. Golden examined the body and the first wound that he looked at was the shotgun wound to Jose's head. Soot was found in the wound indicating that when the shot was fired, the gun had literally been placed against the back of Jose's head. Mary's autopsy showed that she had been shot in the left cheek. There were wounds to Mary's skull, fractures to her lower jaw, and pellet wounds to her tongue. Dr. Golden found birdshot in Mary's wounds which confirmed the investigator's suspicions that Mary's killers had reloaded their weapons. The final wound was to her left knee. The shot was from front to back and which was odd because it came from a different angle than the other shots in her leg. Investigators believe that this might have been the last shot fired at Mary and an attempt to make the murder appear to be a mob hit. There were many suspects in this case and  On November 17, investigators interviewed Erik's friend Craig Cignarelli. Cignarelli told the detectives that shortly after the murders had occurred, he visited Erik. Erik asked Craig if he wanted to know how it happened. Erik told Craig that on the night of the murders, he and Lyle had come home to get his fake ID. Lyle met Erik with their shotguns and said "Let's do it," According to Craig, the plan was that Lyle was to shoot Jose and Erik was to shoot Mary. Craig told the investigators that Erik told him he and Lyle went into the family room, Lyle pointed his gun at Jose and shot him. Lyle then went behind Jose and shot him in the head. Erik told Craig that he was unable to shoot his mother and that when she tried to get away, Lyle shot her. Craig said that Erik said, "after it looked like my mother was dead, I shot her twice with my gun." There was no physical evidence on this case so investigators started searching gun stores to see if they could find any records about guns being bought by Lyle and Erick. On March 14, the investigators found the sale of two Mossberg twelve-gauge shotguns for $199.95 each on August 18, 1989. During the trial a sheriff's weapons expert showed how to use a twelve-gauge Mossberg shotgun. The prosecution wanted to show that the murders were premeditated. To fire a Mossberg shotgun, an person must pull the trigger and go through a two step pumping process before re-firing the weapon.

This post is getting really long because there is so much information on this case so im just going to leave it at that :)

Cold Case solved with Ballistics

     The taxi driver John Orner was shot in the head and dumped over a cliff in 1961. This crime was unsolved for four decades. Three weeks after the murder a state trooper arrested 18 year old Edward Freiburger. He was carrying a loaded .32-caliber revolver when he was taken in to custody. That was the same type of gun that was used to murder John Orner. He bought the gun at a pawn shop the day before the killing.  With the technology of 1961 the ballistic tests were inconclusive so Edward Freiburger was released. Then the case became a cold case until 1997 when a special cold case squad was created. Then in 2001 with the new ballistic technology forensic scientists were able to tie Edward Freiburger to the murder almost 40 years after it was committed. He was then sentenced to life in prison. 

Firearms post

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

On February 14, 1929 seven men were waiting that morning around 10:30 A.M in a red brick warehouse. The building was located on Chicago's North side. Three men dressed in police uniforms and two dressed in civilians arrived in a police car. Witnesses say they heard gun shots made by an automatic weapon. When the police left neighbors went inside to check and found a bloody scene. Seven unarmed men laying on the floor shot multiple times. The shooters had left behind 70 cartridge casings that were identified as .45-caliber Thompson submachine guns. Calvin Goddard a cardiologist from New York came to investigate and went to the police station and compared all their machine guns with what they had and cleared the police. Ten months later the police raided the hit man All Capone and found two machine guns and gave them to Goddard who test fired the weapons into a cotton wad and analyzing them under magnification proved they were used in the massacre that sent at least one killer to prison. The story goes on to explain this incident was a gang war between Capone and George Moran. Moran's men had been lured there and Capone had hoped George would have been among them but wasn't.

Cooper murder trial

In a time span of over a year (2006-2007), Samuel James Cooper had shot and killed five different men. He had shot & killed Ossama Haj-Hussein; 43 years old (May 12, 2006), LeRoy Jernigan; 41 years old (June 3rd, 2006), Timothy Barnwell; 34 years old (April 27, 2007), Ricky High; 48 years old (October 12th, 2007) and Tariq Hussain; 52 years old (October 14th, 2007). At the crime scene for each of these shootings, after being examined by ballistic's experts, the fired projectiles and cartridge cases found when could all be linked to the same weapon; a 9mm Ruger P89DC handgun. This exact gun was also found by police when Samuel Cooper dropped it while fleeing from the police during a bank robbery in November 2007. The firearms evidence along with the confessions from Samuel Cooper for each of the 5 murders, were the key evidence in this case.On April 6th 2008 Samuel Cooper was found guilty for the murders of the five men and was sentenced to life imprisonment. 


http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/7307995/

Ant medos reflection

Anthony Semedo 10/7/2014

Forensic Entomology,the use of insects to find out a accurate time of death in any case dealing with death.Our forensics class testing how a forensic entomologist would do this on September 8th 2014.We had gone down to the Blackstone River and placed a freshly cut pork shoulder near the water, also setting up a cage around it to not allow any other animals from tampering with our experiment.The purpose of this being to get a accurate time of death with the insects collected from the pork shoulder over time, and finding out how a entomologist provides evidence to cases.

Following up on this experiment the class had gone down to the river every time we met to collect insects and check on visual differences on our pork shoulder.On the first day of checking up on the pork shoulder we had immediately noticed insects such as blowflies,hairy maggot flies,wasps and blue bottle flies.September 10th 2014 , the 2nd time we had gone to check on the pork shoulder we had noticed lots of changes in our pork shoulder.Things such as color change , the shoulder had become a dark purple color and there had noticeable wounds or even holes in the shoulder clearly displaying maggots that had been in the shoulder.September 17th 2014, our last day of this experiment.Going down to the river we had noticed that the smell of the shoulder had become stronger than what it had  ever been and large portions or chunks of our shoulder had been gone showing the bones in our shoulder.Collecting maggots and papaes from the shoulder to give us an accurate PMI(post mortem interval) or time of death of our shoulder.Also calculating things such as the ADD(accumulated degree day) & ADH(accumulated degree hour) to see if we would get a accurate or close time to when we had placed our pork shoulder by the river.

Our calculated time being very close to our published time or time that we had put the shoulder outside.This telling us the importance of Forensic Entomology and how insects can help solve cases.Wherever there is a dead body there is insects that are very reliable and that can help get unknown information which can lead to a conviction of the correct suspect in any case with a accurate PMI.

Firearms Blog Post Assignment

Find a case in forensics with firearms evidence.

•  Describe the case in detail
•  Explain how the firearms evidence was analyzed and evaluated to solve the case.

Post is due by Tuesday 10/14/14

The Forensics of Firearms

Lab reflection

Dakota desjarlais
Lab reflection

Over the course of the experiment, the fresh pork shoulder turned into a disgusting piece of meat. On the first day the pork shoulder was nice and fresh, they next time we went out 2 days later the pork shoulder looked leather and was covered in maggot larvae  and flies and other insects. As the days went on the pork shoulder got smaller and smaller because it was decomposing, eventually born started to smell and it really stunk.

Some of the specific changes we observed of the pork shoulder was that it went from fresh looking to a leathery texture, it also stunk. Another change we observed is that it was getting smaller because it was being consumed by insects like blow flies, wasps, and maggot larvae. We collected some maggots and other insects but we never got to look at them.

When I compare my results to the actually data it came out almost accurate. There were days were we didn't take down enough information so because of those days my results weren't completely accurate but very close. This data really helped us pinpoint what day we put the pork shoulder out, just like it would if it was a dead body.

Forensic entomology as a crime solving tool is very valuable. The information you can obtain just from bugs on a body could potentially pinpoint the exact date of death and it could also pinpoint a person to a crime science. Forensic entomology is very important when trying to solve a crime.

Justine's Reflection

This lab began simply with a fleshy pig shoulder but progressed into a great hands on lesson about decomposition. Day one held no surprising occurrences, while day two immediately showed signs of a decomposing change. Certain variables such as location and the temperature of the environment remained very similar if not the same. These constants ensured the data wasn't skewed. Physical changes such as size, color, and smell were collected and noted each day. The meat started off as a bloody red color and then obtained a green tinged look. Larvae and maggots began appearing and soon multiplied, using the deceased pig as their host.  
Entomology is a great tool to use when trying to determine how old a corpse is. Certain bugs and other organisms appear at different times. This forms a time frame for the investigators to figure out just when exactly the victim died.

Forensic Entomology Lab

   Over the course of a few weeks, our young forensic prodigies observed the decomposition rate of an average pig shoulder. During the observation we looked at changes in the skin, the scent it gave off, and the insects  it attracted. 

      Since it was warm outside we knew that the decomposition rate was going to be accelerated. Starting from September 8th we took the fresh pig shoulder and laid it under a cage so it wouldn't be disturbed by animals other than insects. Since it was only the first day we hadn't had much of a spectacle, aside from a single blowfly. The next day the pork had a slight odor and the texture of it had more of a dried and redder look. It had also gathered eggs, from a group of flies. 
      Over time the pork began to shrink and started to darken in color. The maggot mass was getting bigger and the eggs had developed into maggots. The scent was becoming more putrid by the day. We were finding pupa inches away from the shoulder. Eventually the maggots had eaten so much of the shoulder the flesh had collapsed and the flies and other insects had been done with it.
       The project was to observe the PMI of the pork shoulder. Our work was pretty inconsistent with the data from other published data. We had made errors like leaving it out without checking it along with some other variables. If everything had gone accordingly we should've been able to calculate the PMI and got the ADD and ADH. This information would have been applied to a real life scenario such as to figure out the time of death of a victim. 

Lab Reflection

Paola Ginel
October 3, 2014
Advanced Forensics

Lab Reflection

     On September 8, 2014 at 11:57 am we set up a pork shoulder in a cage outside of Tolman just before the river. The purpose of this experiment was to have a greater understanding of forensic entomology and to witness the development of maggots and decomposition. Over the course of two weeks we let nature take its course and went back to the site for collection and.observation. By the end of this course, we will have had our own mock experience as forensic entomologist.

     From day one the pork shoulder commenced its process of decomposition. As the weather and insects affected the shoulder, it began to change in color and smell. At first, the meat was fresh, odorless (aside fron the typical smell of raw meet) and red in color. The next time we visited the site the shoulder had developed a foul smell, that of spoiled meat, and the texture was more of a leather type. Each day we went the pork seemed to lose more color and get darker. The smell had increased incredibly, and was more than detectable.from.a good distance away. Towards.the last few days the smell was intense and the por shoulder had become in color and was completely decomposed and dry.

     Other changes observed were the insects that colonized on and inside the shoulder. As soon as we set the shoulder down, flies were attracted to it almost instantaneously.  Two days later on the 10th, there were still small flies around but there were also larvae on it. We identified some of the flies as Greenbottle and Sheep flies. There were also other insects further on such as news ans wasps.

     As the days progressed we collected the maggots from their maggot mass. They were slimy from the secretion of enzymes that helped break down the proteins in the meat. Each time we went, the maggots had transitioned from one instar to the other until they had migrated away from the body, into the soil and pupatate. The body was left dry, with some maggots still on board, but not as many as originally noted. This tells us, these maggots were laid at different times.

      After collecting all of our data, we then analyzed it and observed the preserved maggots from those couple of weeks. When looking at out data and comparing it to published data we could see that it was consistent. The maggots developed at an adequate rate in correlation to the temperature. They did grow at different time since they weren't all laid at the same time.

     Lastly, the life cycle of insects are always constant which makes entomology such a great tool for crime.solving. Once you identify a particular species, you can look at their life cycle and trace back to when they were colonized. When this is done, it Gives a time frame from the earliest the latest possible time of the crime. This could be the difference between a faulty alibi and someone walking out free.
Q

Maria Hernandez Entomology Lab Reflection

        During the past few weeks as a class we have worked on the decomposition of a pig shoulder. This was an experiment we did to see how a body decomposes and how Forensic Entomology helps police and other crimes scene investigators locate a criminal if their is no type of evidence.

        During the course of the experiment I observed many changes in decomposition. At first the shoulder was obviously fresh with no odor or anything that seem un-normal, then as soon as it was unpacked and placed down on the designated area we had for it, flies started to appear.  My class and I let it sit there until we had class again and when we came back there were very little eggs, few larvae, and blow flies as well. The shoulder was redder, and a little dry. As the shoulder stayed there longer it began to decompose, it was now smelling, dried out, and  it had many maggots all over. Few more days passed by and it just began to turn black and it smelled worse, than all there was left was a bone.

        My development data is kind of off compare to the published data, because I had some temperatures that were off and some minor errors that can probably be fixed. Also my data is not consist with the publish one at any point.

        Forensic Entomology is a very important tool to the crime solving because it helped me and my classmates calculate the time we place the pig shoulder outside. This was based on all the samples of maggots and other bugs that we collected from the shoulder. Sometimes entomology can be hard if there is nothing but bugs and/or maggots because there is a lot to calculate and search. There is a lot to discover as an entomologist.

      

Entomology Lab Reflection

Allison Alcantara

Ms. Connor

Advanced Forensics

October 2, 2014

Entomology Lab Reflection

        On September 8th 2014, my class and I started a lab in order to observe and study the decomposition of a pork shoulder. On the first day there was nothing unusual about the pork shoulder, it was fresh, so we placed it outside and covered it. That first day we only noticed a few flies showing up as soon as we placed it but nothing more. We went back two days later, the pork shoulder was covered with flies, specifically blue bottle flies, bees, and wasps. When we got closer the shoulder seemed dried up and more like leather. No larvae was present. Two days after that, we returned to a foul smell and a lot more flies. The shoulder still looked like leather but was now filled with maggots and flies. When we moved the shoulder you could see the small maggot mass inside it and a saliva looking substance. That day we collected maggots. Three days after that when we returned the smell had gotten a lot worse but there were less flies. We uncovered the shoulder and noticed that most maggots had now moved under it. We also collected maggots that day. Two days later, the smell wasn't as strong and there were barely any flies. The shoulder still looked dried up and leather like but you could now see some of the bone. The maggots still remained under the shoulder and that was the last day we saw it.

The results from my developmental data were very consistent with the published data. We searched the maximum and minimum temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit for the dates we observed the lab. Then we found the average of that and turned it into degrees Celsius. Six degrees were subtracted from the degrees afterwards. For the ADD, or accumulated degree day, we added up the temperatures from the previous days for every day. The results were a bit different due to the fact that we didn't record observations every single day but were very close.

It is amazing to see how similar lab observations can be to published data.

Forensic entomology has helped solve many important cases throughout time. Insects used to be an inconvenience to police offices who were examining bodies. They didn't realize how important these insects actually were until later in time. The life of a blowfly is very predictable and can be used to determine a time of death. Every stage of the insect takes a certain amount of time. When a time of death is determined, it becomes easier to place a suspect or victim on the crime scene. Entomology has helped solve famous cases such as the ken and Barbie killers and the Kevin Neal case. One of the most famous entomologists responsible for spreading awareness about the use of bugs in determining a time of death has been Dr. Neal Haskell. He runs a bug school during the  summer where he teaches law enforcement officials from all over the country about insects and how important they can be. The use of forensic entomology has become a very valuable tool for solving crimes.