Introduction to Forensic Science and Criminalistics, Second Edition

Howard A. Harris, Henry C. Lee

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781498758017
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Derecho
• Subtopic: Derecho penal

This Second Edition of the best-selling Introduction to Forensic Science and Criminalistics presents the practice of forensic science from a broad viewpoint. The book has been developed to serve as an introductory textbook for courses at the undergraduate level—for both majors and non-majors—to provide students with a working understanding of forensic science.

The Second Edition is fully updated to cover the latest scientific methods of evidence collection, evidence analytic techniques, and the application of the analysis results to an investigation and use in court. This includes coverage of physical evidence, evidence collection, crime scene processing, pattern evidence, fingerprint evidence, questioned documents, DNA and biological evidence, drug evidence, toolmarks and fireams, arson and explosives, chemical testing, and a new chapter of computer and digital forensic evidence. Chapters address crime scene evidence, laboratory procedures, emergency technologies, as well as an adjudication of both criminal and civil cases utilizing the evidence. All coverage has been fully updated in all areas that have advanced since the publication of the last edition.

Features include:

• Progresses from introductory concepts—of the legal system and crime scene concepts—to DNA, forensic biology, chemistry, and laboratory principles

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• Introduces students to the scientific method and the application of it to the analysis to various types, and classifications, of forensic evidence

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• The authors' 90-plus years of real-world police, investigative, and forensic science laboratory experience is brought to bear on the application of forensic science to the investigation and prosecution of cases

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• Addresses the latest developments and advances in forensic sciences, particularly in evidence collection

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• Offers a full complement of instructor's resources to qualifying professors

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• Includes full pedagogy—including learning objectives, key terms, end-of-chapter questions, and boxed case examples—to encourage classroom learning and retention

Introduction to Forensic Science and Criminalistics, Second Edition, will serve as an invaluable resource for students in their quest to understand the application of science, and the scientific method, to various forensic disciplines in the pursuit of law and justice through the court system.

An Instructor's Manual with Test Bank and Chapter PowerPoint® slides are available upon qualified course adoption.

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Lead Case: State v. Richard Crafts

This case is popularly known as the “Wood Chipper Case.” In November of 1986, a flight attendant for Pan American World Airways named Helle Crafts returned to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport from a routine international flight. She and another flight attendant, both of whom lived in Newtown, Connecticut, and were friends, took a limousine to their homes. The limousine dropped Mrs. Crafts off at her home, and there she and her flight attendant friend agreed to call one another later. Helle Crafts was never seen or heard from again.

Later, after the limousine ride and into early December, the flight attendant friend continued trying to contact Helle without success. Independent of this, a private investigator named Oliver Mayo, who had been hired by Mrs. Crafts to investigate possible extramarital activities of her husband, Richard, was also trying to find Helle. Mr. Mayo had gathered unequivocal, incriminating evidence against Richard of an extramarital affair. He wanted to inform his client, Mrs. Crafts, and collect his fee.

The local police did not show much interest in the case, after Helle’s colleague’s initial inquiries, stating that Mrs. Crafts was an adult, she hadn’t been missing that long, and that she would probably turn up. Ultimately, the state’s attorney’s office was contacted and an investigation by the state police was initiated.

Richard Crafts was a pilot for Eastern Airlines and flew a regular New York to Miami run. He was also a part-time officer in the local police department. The couple had three children, and, because they were in the airline industry and needed to travel so much, they had a live-in nanny.

The investigation by the state police showed that the morning after Helle returned from the international trip, Richard had risen early and told the nanny to take the children to their grandparents’ home. Further investigation revealed that he had rented a large, diesel powered wood chipper from a dealership a week earlier. This large model wood chipper was one of only two in the state, and the only one in the southwestern area of Connecticut. The agent at the dealership remembered Richard because he had come to rent the machine driving a small passenger vehicle. The agent had told him the car was not powerful enough to pull the wood chipper, so Richard had then gone out and rented a U-Haul truck to use to pull the wood chipper. The agent also remembered that the wood chipper had been returned in the cleanest condition that he could ever remember. Richard did own a wooded lot in Newtown. It was not, therefore, illogical for him to go and rent the chipper, except that all this activity was taking place during a major snowstorm in that part of the state. The storm had most people off the roads and at home, and many institutions were temporarily closed. A state highway snow plow driver reported seeing a U-Haul truck towing a large wood chipper headed toward Lake Zoar, a man-made lake (reservoir)—but he could not see who was driving. This activity took place the next night after Helle Crafts had returned home and gone missing.

The state police were very suspicious that Helle might have met with foul play, and that Richard might be involved, but the evidence was very sketchy. Thinking the wood chipper might somehow be involved, an extensive search of the area along Lake Zoar was conducted. Thinking the worst—that maybe Helle had been killed and the wood chipper used to dispose of her remains—the state police, with the help of criminalists from the forensic laboratory and a forensic odontologist, searched for skeletal or other remains. It was winter, and heavy snow covered the leaves that had fallen to the ground. The investigators and forensic scientists melted away the snow inch-by-inch as they searched. The leaves and debris had to be separated from things underneath them. Large quantities of leaves, debris, and anything else on the ground were placed in oil drums filled with water to float off the leaves and light plant material. The water was then emptied through narrow mesh sieves to capture any small items that might have been present on the ground.

After some days of searching, the forensic investigation team recovered:

• A human tooth

• A dental restoration

• 56 small pieces of bone and 2660 strands of human hair

• A portion of a human finger with some friction ridge skin

• A toenail painted with red nail polish

Now convinced they were handling a probable homicide case, the state police and the forensic laboratory set about to assemble a forensic team to try and establish what had happened.

A state police dive team’s search in the waters of Lake Zoar resulted in the recovery of a gasoline powered chain saw. It was not very old, and its fuel tank was still half full. However, the serial number had been filed down to prevent ready identification. Serial number restoration in the laboratory revealed “E59266.” Company records showed that this chain saw had been purchased by Richard Crafts a few years previous. He had used a Visa card, and the purchase record was still available. There was no question that Richard had rented the U-Haul truck and the wood chipper. Both were extensively searched for evidence. Wood chips were recovered from the back end of the U-Haul truck. The chain saw blade was carefully examined, and yielded bits of blood, tissue, fragments of head hair, and some bluish-green fibers. There was blood on some of the fibers.

The forensic issues in the case can be summarized with the following questions:

• Were the skeletal remains recovered those of Helle Crafts?

• Could a cause and manner of death be established? Was this a homicidal death?

• If the remains are of Helle Crafts, and if the death is homicidal, could Richard be implicated?

The forensic aspects of the investigation of this case involved many specialties: pathology, odontology, bone identification (physical anthropology), criminalistics, trace and materials evidence comparisons (such as the nail polish), wood chip comparisons, biological evidence, and comparisons of hair, fiber, toolmarks, and handwriting.

The evidence gathered is shown in Table 1.1, along with the forensic testing used for its examination and the conclusions reached. Note that some of the findings are conclusive but others are circumstantial. The tooth and restoration identity were definite, so the remains recovered on the shoreline were confirmed to be those of Helle Crafts. The pathologist ultimately ruled the death a homicide based in part on the considerable fragmentation of the body; however, there was no way to ascertain a cause of death. The bone chips and wood chips had consistent toolmarks. The wood chipper in the case had a single cutting blade, but it had been discarded before anyone knew it might be useful as evidence. The hairs were consistent with having come from the same person and with hairs from Helle’s hair brush, but hair comparison is not a means of positive identification. The defense could and did argue that the hair brush was not a true “known,” because its use by someone else could not be rigorously excluded. The nanny, the children, and Richard, were all excluded as sources of the questioned hairs. The fibers were consistent with a nightgown Helle had owned and worn, but no “known” was recovered or available. The polish on the recovered toenail was consistent with fingernail polish Helle owned, but it could not be proven to be the only possible source.

This is one of the most interesting cases from a forensic-science point of view, not only because of the involvement of so many different specialty areas and experts, but also because forensic scientists were directly involved in the crime scene search and in the subsequent investigation.

In 1987, the case came to trial in New London, Connecticut (the defense had asked that the venue be changed because of extensive pre-trial publicity). The trial lasted several months, and there was extensive testimony by forensic experts for both the state and for the defendant. Every finding and conclusion were challenged. The jury finally received the case in early 1988, but after many days of deliberations, one of them refused to deliberate further. The judge declared a mistrial.

Table 1.1 Evidence table—Wood Chipper case

Item	Examination	Findings/conclusion
Tooth—Lake Zoar shoreline	Odontological and radiological: identified as Helle Crafts by comparison with ante-mortem dental X-rays	Tooth belonged to Helle Crafts
Dental crown—Lake Zoar shoreline	Odontological: identification Criminalistics: trace metal analysis	Identified as belonging to Helle Crafts by the dentist; Trace metals linked to the laboratory that made the crown
Bone chips—Lake Zoar shoreline	Anthropological and biological	human, from the head, hands and feet only; blood type O [A match to Helle’s type?]
Sum of human remains—Lake Zoar shoreline	Pathology—Medical Examiner: cause and manner of death	Homicidal death based on the recovered bone chips; cause could not be determined
Wood chips—Lake Zoar shoreline	Toolmark: compare with U-Haul wood chips and bone chips Wood identification: link type of wood	Chips consistent with one another (as having been made by the same cutting blade); consistent with having been made by the wood chipper; Linked type of wood to the wood lot (scene)
Wood chips—U-Haul truck bed	Toolmark: compare with Lake Zoar wood chips and bone chips Wood identification: link type of wood
Hairs—Lake Zoar shoreline	Hair comparison: compare with hairs from chain saw and hair brush	Hairs consistent with one another, and inconsistent with Richard, the nanny, or any of the children
Hairs—chain saw	Hair comparison: compare with hairs from chain saw and hair brush
Hairs—hair brush from Helle Crafts’ dressing table	Hair comparison: compare with hairs from chain saw and Lake Zoar shoreline
Tissue—chain saw	Biological	human, blood type O, PGM 1-1
Blood—chain saw	Biological	human, blood type O
Blood—medium velocity spatter, from box spring in bedroom	Biological	human, blood type O, and yielded a PGM isoenzyme type 1-1, same as the tissue
Blue-gr...