Intro to Forensics Review

Vocabulary Each term has a definition (D) and an example (E). Sort the definitions and examples with the correct term. There will be one definition (D) and one example (E) for each vocabulary term. CSI Effect D: Trend in which TV shows increase the expectations of the jurors E: Watching NCIS, CSI Criminal Minds makes you believe that DNA is available in ALL trials. Crime Scene Team D: Members of this team participate at the crime scene during the investigation E: Includes the first responding officer, investigator, district attorney and medical examiner Forensics Team D: Members of this team study evidence in a laboratory setting E: Includes entomologists, DNA analysts, forensics photographers, and ballistics experts Testimonial Evidence D: What is said in court by a competent witness under oath. E: "I saw a woman leaving the house at 10 PM with a bloody knife." Observation D: Something determined by the use of your 5 senses E: The man was wearing a blue shirt and black pants Inference D: Something predicted or assumed based on observations E: I think it is raining outside because I saw someone come into the building with an umbrella Physical Evidence D: Tangible items that tend to prove some material fact E: ALL of the following: DNA, blood, hair, fiber, saliva Locard's Exchange Principle D: A theory that states that there is always a cross transfer of evidence between a suspect and a victim E: When you sit at your desk, you leave fingerprints, hair and clothing fibers behind Individual Evidence D: Evidence that can only be related to a single source E: A person's DNA Fingerprints are unique to them Class Evidence D: Materials that can be associated with a group of items that share characteristics E: Blond hair, white t-shirt, black Nikes, blood type. What type of evidence do jurors expect to be shown during trials as a result of the CSI Effect? Physical evidence (DNA Class Evidence Testimonial evidence The is an expectation for less evidence in general Observations and Inferences Sort each of the following into the OBSERVATION category or the INFERENCE category Observations There is a knife at the crime scence The temperature outside is 37 degrees Celsius There are only four fingerprints left on the table where the jewels were stored A grey, 4 door sedan sped past the scene of the crime Inferences There must have been a murder because the knife is bloody It is cold outside because that girl is wearing a long, thick jacket The person who stole the jewelry must have lost a thumb because there were only 4 fingerprints on the table where the jewels were stored The thief was a 6 ft tall man wearing a grey hoodie because a person fitting that description was seen running past the scene of the crime at 11 PM last night Eyewitness Perceptual Errors Label each term in the diagram below. Type "Yes" if it is something that causes an error in eyewitness testimony or "No" if it does not. Yes No No Yes No Yes no no Yes yes Eyewitness Observations Sort the following into either "difficult" for eyewitnesses to get correct, or "not difficult" for eyewitnesses to get correct. Difficult Age Weight Height Eye Color (if distanced) Not Difficult Hair Color Gender Type of clothing Facial Hair or No Facial Hair Causes of Wrongful Conviction Sort the following into 6 categories. For each category, there will be a description AND a possible solution. Eyewitness Misidentification Leading cause (75%) - Errors made because of fear, darkness, etc. Double Blind Lineup administration, line up composition, show only one photo at a time. Improper Forensic Science Bite marks Analysis - Not enough information known about these False Confessions Why? Threats, Didn't understand, Intoxication, Young, Mentally Ill Government Misconduct Failing to turn over evidence, Fraudulent experts Harsh consequences for convicting the innocent Inadequate Defense Attorney falls asleep on job, Fail to call alibi witness More money for public defenders Incentivized Witnesses Someone gets a "deal" in exchange for their testimony No hidden deals Select the correct cause of wrongful conviction for each scenario below. On August 17, 1988, at around 3:00 AM, a 22-year-old McDonald’s night manager in Duquesne was finishing her shift when she was confronted by a man with a nylon mask over hisface demanding money. The assailant chased her to her car, pistol-whipped her, and shot her in the back and killed her. The police collected a trench coat, hat, and a 12-inch long nylon stocking from the parking lot. At trial, an Allegheny County Crime Laboratory technician testified that tiny hairs in the mask were similarto Whitley’s hairs. The prosecutor, however, argued in his closing arguments that the hairs were positively Whitley’s. He spent over 16 years in prison for this crime that he didn’t commit.Cause of wrongful conviction: Improper Forensic ScienceOn January 3, 1996, in Rochester, New York, police found the victim lying on his back with puncture wounds to his neck and chest. He had been stabbed 19 times and exhibited defensive wounds on his left hand. A bloodstained knife, a bloodstained towel, and several bloody tissues were in the clothing hamper in his bathroom. Douglas Warney, a man with a history of mental health issues, and an eighth-grade education, called the police stating that he had information about a homicide. He knew the victim: he had cleaned the victim’s house and shoveled snow from his driveway just two years before the murder. Warney was interrogated for 12 hours by police, he confessed and provided details that only the killer could know - that the victim was wearing a nightgown, that he had been cooking chicken, and that the killer cut himself with a knife and wiped it with a tissue in the bathroom. He was convicted and spent 9 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.Cause of wrongful conviction: False ConfessionOn the night of April 17, 1994, Tina Heins was brutally stabbed to death in the Mayport, Florida, apartment she shared with her husband, Jeremy Heins, and Jeremy’s brother Chad Heins. Jeremy, who was in the Navy, was on board his ship that night. Nineteen-year-old Chad, who had recently moved to Jacksonville and was waiting for his fiancée in Wisconsin to join him, slept on the living room sofa. Chad had returned home at 12:30 a.m. that night, two hours before his sister-in-law, and was asleep during the crime. He woke up around 5:45 a.m. to find three small fires burning in the living room and kitchen, one on the very sofa where he slept. After putting out the fires and disarming the smoke alarm, he discovered Tina Heins in her bedroom; she had been stabbed 27 times. During the appeals process, attorneys for Heins learned that a fingerprint had been discovered before trial on the faucet of the blood-stained sink in the Heins’ bathroom, where it was undisputed that the perpetrator attempted to clean up after the murder. Police and prosecutors apparently knew before trial that this print came from someone other than Chad Heins, the victim or this victim’s husband, but the jury never learned of the print.Cause of wrongful conviction: Government MisconductOn January 7th, 2003, Sally Hammerly entered into a trial by jury for the murder of her ex-husband Joe Hammerly. Joe was found stabbed in his bedroom with a knife from the couples own kitchen. On the night of the death of Joe Hammerly, Sally claimed to have been shopping for Christmas presents for their two sons who happened to be spending the night at their grandparents house. In an attempt to appeal the ruling, Sally's new lawyer discovered that Sally's original lawyer didn't enter any timed receipts from her shopping, or request any security videos from the stores she visited that would have verified her location at the time of Joe's death.Cause of wrongful conviction: Inadequate DefenseTrevor McEwing was sentenced to 25 years to life based on an eyewitness testimony of Sammy Fortune who was discovered to have violated his parole and was scheduled to return to prison. During the trial, it was not made known that Sammy received a lighter sentence for his parole violation in exchange for his testimony against Trevor.Cause of wrongful conviction: Incentivized WitnessDetective Fred Fulmer had been assigned the case of Willie Moore, whom Fulmer suspected of committing a series of grand larceny auto heists in the West Fredricksberg suberbs over the last two years. Fulmer brought eyewitnesses to the auto garage where Moore worked and asked if anyone of the auto technicians looked like the person they saw stealing the cars in their neighborhood. Soon after this event, Moore was taken into custody, arrested and later convicted of grand larceny.Cause of wrongful conviction: Eyewitness Misidentification Triangulation Use the information provided below and the process of triangulation, recreate the crime scene by drawing the evidence into the correct location of the sketch below. Class vs. Individual Evidence Sort each of the following into one of three categories: Class Evidence, Individual Evidence or Both Class Individual Evidence Class Evidence Has characteristics in common with a group of objects Blood Type Not specific to one source Brown Curly Hair Certain type of gun at the scene Individual Evidence DNA Fingerprints Broken Vase - pieces fit exactly together Unique to single source Both Class Individual Evidence Use to eliminate suspects Used to convict suspects Types of Evidence Match the type of evidence to the description. Trace evidence small evidence - viewed only with microscope or with chemicals that make visible Biological Evidence evidence left behind by living organisms Transient Evidence Evidence that changes on its own Conditional Evidence Evidence at a crime scene that can be changed by a person's actions Pattern Evidence Evidence created when one object leaves a mark on another object Fingerprints at a crime scene. Pattern Biological Trace Transient Windows open at a crime scene Transient Biological Trace Conditional Blood found on a knife. Trace Transient Pattern Biological Bullet casing left behind with imprints from firing pin on the gun. Pattern Trace Conditional Transient Temperature of the bath water in which a drowning victim is found. Conditional Transient Trace Biological Gunshot residue found on sleeve of a suspect. Pattern Trace Conditional Biological Smell of cigarette smoke at the scene of a crime. Conditional Transient Pattern Trace Urine soaked clothing found at scene of crime. Biological Transient Pattern Conditional