Errors, omissions and mistaken testimony in a shooting case

Abstract

The female victim died 17 h after the discharge of a.38 caliber unjacketed bullet into the temporal bone above her right ear. Her boyfriend was accused of homicide and convicted. The victim was able to affect coordinated movements for some seconds after her devastating head wound. Her post shooting movements were documented by bloodstains. Two forensic pathologists where mistaken in calling gunpowder stippling on the victim’s scalp as suture punctate wounds. The ruptured right meningeal artery was spurting. Blowback spatter transitioned into the arterial spurting spatter as the victim fell to the floor. The post-shooting movements of the victim created stains that confused two bloodstain experts who believed the victim could not move after her cranial wounding. The victim’s hair sample, taken by the emergency room doctor, lacked chain and was subsampled by an unknown party prior to chemical gunshot residue (GSR) testing. The tests were negative which led to the erroneous conclusion the shot was from a distance. The mishandling of the hair sample was not discovered until after trial. A GSR expert testified that the airborne GSR settles in seconds in an enclosed area. However, later publications concluded GSR remains airborne for many minutes. The GSR contamination of the defendant was instrumental in his conviction. The GSR expert never informed the DA or the Court of his error. The evidence indicates the victim’s gunshot wound was self inflicted.

Keywords

• Shooting scene reconstruction
• Bloodstain pattern analysis
• Uncontrolled neurological response
• Gunshot residue
• Mistaken testimony