LIPAWEN, AMY Y.

NOVEMBER 28,2018
CRIMIN 3 9:30-11:30

1. How to mark recovered pieces of evidence?

a. Bullet
After the scene is photographed, diagrammed and all evidence referenced,
the shell casings, bullet fragments, weapons and other evidence can be gathered,
preserved and catalogued for further study back at the lab. Bullets suspected to be
drilled into soft plaster or furniture will not be pried out. The area around and
containing the bullet will be cut out so that the bullet can be removed c arefully at
the lab, and thereby preserve the channel that the bullet made.
If agency protocols mandate the direct marking of evidence, a metal scribe should be used
to mark the base of the projectile. Marking the nose area may disturb or cause the loss of
trace evidence. Thebearing surface of an evidence bullet should never be marked as this is
the area critical to the identification process. It may not be possible to properly mark mutilated
bullets.
To limit damage and to preserve the unique microscopic marks that they bear, fired
bullets should be placed in separate pasteboard boxes or plastic containers along with any
apparently related fragments. Within the container, the bullet should be wrapped in a small
amount of unused wrapping paper to preserve any trace evidence that may be present.
Other materials, such as envelopes, may be used to package fired bullet evidence.

1. Striations on a fired bullet

Once a bullet is recovered, either from an impact point in a soft wall or pulled out
of flesh by a medical examiner or a physician, that bullet will become a primary
piece of evidence. Every gun barrel is rifled during manufacture, or finished inside
the barrel with rotating grooves to impart spin to a bullet in order to improve
accuracy during flight. The resulting spiralling grooves and lands (the flat parts
between the grooves) leave mirrored markings on the bullet itself.
If you are able to fire another bullet from the same gun, an investigator can match
the grooves under a special microscope which displays both bullets side by side,
comparing the strata. Since there are sev eral processes involved in rifling a barrel,
each barrel is unique. Just like fingerprints, a bullet can be paired to a weapon
with nearly perfect accuracy.
Further, even without a weapon, the striations can identify a type and model of
firearm, so detectives will know what to look for.

2. Gunpowder residue leaves expected patterns

When a gun is fired, the bullet is not the only thing that comes out of the barrel.
Burning powder particles also expectorate and will create a pattern on the object
closest to the barrel. This pattern varies by how far the weapon is from the target.
By knowing the patterns of a particular firearm, a consensus can be reached about
how close or how far away the gun was. If there are no powder marks on the hand
holding the gun or the forehead around the bullet hole, it is unlikely that the victim
shot himself, so suicide can be ruled out no matter how convincing the pose looks
to the untrained eye.

3. Trajectory, ricochet and bullet holes

Sticks carefully inserted in bullet holes can indicate direction of the bullet, and, if
many holes are found in a scene, these sticks can help triangulate: where the
shooter was standing; how tall he (or she) might have been; and many more
details. Bullets that ricochet will collect trace evidenc e from where they bounce,
and add further detail for the investigator.

4. Hidden fingerprints
A gunman will finger bullets as he loads them into a cylinder or magazine, and
leave tiny quantities of salty sweat with each touch. When a bullet is fired away
from its casing, tremendous heat is instantly transferred to that metal, vaporising
the moisture and setting the salts from those prints. The salts become molten and
a chemical reaction with the metal etches the fingerprints permanently into the
casing.

5. Firing pin impressions

Firing pins leave individual marks on the primer (the explosive cap t hat ignites the
gunpowder when struck by the pin on the tip of the hammer) at the very bottom of
each bullet. The alignment, size of impression, and age of the firearm also
contribute to individualised marks as the hard metal (the pin) make impressions on
the soft metal (the primer).

6. Bullet damage to tissue

Wounds can provide an incredible amount of information about sequence of hits,
distance, velocity, bullet type, caliber, and more – whether a bullet fragment is
recovered or not. Bevelling around an entrance wound holds clues, fracture lines in
dense bone such as skulls can identify distance, velocity and direction of fire.
Grazing bullets leave skin tags – little flags of ragged skin that are pulled up and
torn as a projectile passes by at high spee d. All of these indications help validate
the opinions of a medical examiner.
Every one of these indicators can become a comprehensive study in itself. While
we only have room for a highlight from each factor, there have been: books
written about each subject; experts have spent decades studying only trajectory,
for example; and hundreds of thousands of tests repeated over and over again
verify the science and validate the findings.

B. Cartridge case

If agency protocols mandate the direct marking of evidence, a metal scribe should be used

to mark inside the mouth of the cartridge case or on the side of the case, near the mouth. Fired

shotshell cases should be marked at the metallic base, where the base joins the plastic or fiber

body. Plastic shotshells can be scribed in the thick plastic area near the base. Markings made

with permanent markers tend to fade after normal handling in the laboratory. Agency protocol

should always be followed, and evidence should not be marked directly unless specifically

mandated.
 Recommended packaging for fired cartridge cases and shotshells is similar to bullets. To

protect the microscopic marks on these fired components, the cartridge cases and shotshells

should be packaged separately to prevent them from striking each other

1.EXAMINATION Fill out, as completely as possible, the current Cartridge Case Form
(FA04) or Shotshell Form (FA26). Draw, photograph or describe the headstamp and other
observations on the form. For shotshells, record the shotshell load information, if present.
Resources such as laboratory reference material and the online AFTE Headstamp Gallery
may be used to assist in the determination of caliber/manufacturer.
2. Class Characteristics
Classify the firing pin shape and breech face marks. If present, the locations of the
extractor mark, the ejector mark, and any distinctive marks on the cartridge case/shotshell (i.e.
magazine lip marks, loading marks, chamber marks, ejection port deformation, etc.) may be
noted. Record any markings (resizing, primer seating, mouth cutting, crimp fraying, etc.) or
features (sealant on case head but not on primer, etc.) present that may indicate that the
cartridge case/shotshell has been reloaded.
3. PROTOCOL
Single cartridge case/shotshell submission (without a suspect firearm): Complete the
examination of the item as outlined above. The cartridge case/shotshell will be imaged into the
NIBIN database in accordance with the NIBIN protocol (see the NIBIN SOP). If the analyst
determines that the cartridge case/shotshell is unsuitable for imaging into the NIBIN database,
documentation of the reason for not imaging the breech face marks and/or firing pin impression
must be included in the notes. Multiple cartridge cases/shotshells (without a suspect firearm):
Complete the examination of the items as outlined above. Microscopically inter-compare the
cartridge cases/shotshells to each other to determine if they were fired in the same firearm.
Firearm and one or more fired cartridge cases/shotshells with similar class
characteristics: Compare a test fired cartridge case/shotshell to the evidence cartridge
case(s)/shotshell(s) in accordance with the Microscopic Comparison and Range of Conclusions
SOP. Alternatively, a representative sample cartridge cases/shotshells can be compared to test
fires after inter-comparison of the evidence cartridge cases/shotshells.
c. Shotgun Shell
Scratch a part of the shell with ink or an inelible pencil
2.How to mark suspected fire arm
These rifling characteristics are then imparted onto a projectile as it spins down the barrel,
leaving land and groove impressions on the fired bullet (bottom).

Manufacturers use various cutting, swaging and electrolytic processes to introduce rifling into a
barrel, and these processes, as well as others used in the finishing of a firearm, make each
barrel unique. A barrel will produce individual markings in addition to a bullet's land and groove
impressions as the bullet passes through, and it is these unique markings that an examiner
evaluates to determine whether a given bullet was fired from a particular firearm.
The rifling characteristics alone can reveal what brand and/or model of firearm could have fired
a specific projectile. To figure out if a bullet could have originated from a specific firearm,
however, a forensic firearm and toolmark examiner uses an instrument called a comparison
microscope to compare a questioned bullet (one recovered from a crime scene, for example) to
bullets test fired from a suspect firearm. Examiners generally test fire into a water recovery
tank to obtain comparison bullets for evaluation under the microscope.
A comparison microscope comprises two compound microscopes joined by an optical bridge and
one set of eyepieces, or oculars. The configuration is such that the examiner can evaluate items
on each of the microscope stages at the same time. A dividing line separates the two items in
the field of view, and allows the examiner to vary how much of each item is observed
simultaneously.

a.Shotgun
b.CaL. 38
Matching of bullets to gun barrels is somewhat overrated, but it is done, so keeping any gun
after criminal use would be unwise. Revolvers don’t eject their spent brass, and brass cases are
actually easier to match to a specific gun because the tool marks made by the chamber and
breach face don’t change as fast. Plus some models purposefully leave the breach face roughly
finished to enhance the ejected brass’ uniqueness. So revolvers would be more preferred as
crime guns, if criminals actually thought that deeply about their trade, which most don’t.
C.Cal. 45
d. M16/ Rifle
3.What is Juxta Position?
JUXTAPOSITION – Two object s is evidence bullet and test bullet are examined
and compared under the bullet comparison microscope. Includes also the
examination of fired shells.

4.What is intermarriage in forensic ballistics?