Importance of Forensic Science in Capital Murder Investigations

Abstract

This paper offers the insight on how forensic evidence is playing a role in capital murder cases. In this paper you found the different areas of forensic science and also what makes a crime capital murder. There are several studies that plays a role in forensic science. Those different roles can play an entirely different role in a criminal case. Capital murder is known as capital punishment which is the absolute worse crime to commit. The killing of an individual or committing other felony crimes such as kidnapping or rape is considered capital punishment. Those committed of the crime will be sentenced to a life or death penalty. Which the death penalty isn't permitted in some states in the United States. The paper will take a look at one high profile case and a history-making case and will examine the importance of forensic science in such incidents. Forensic science is evolving every day and has helped many people. Forensic evidence has provided answers to crimes that seemed to be no evidence besides the scientific findings. The different scientific findings in the many of these cases have been ground breaking. With the proper testing there has been testing of DNA, proving an individual being guilty of a crime. Also, DNA is being tested and proving the innocence of many individuals.

Introduction

In my research paper I will provide the background of forensic science and capital murder. This paper will allow you to see the how forensic science, DNA testing has been beneficial. We will see how easy it was to incriminate an individual based on what other believe they seen. My paper will give two different aspect of if forensic science is flawed or not in capital murders cases. Also, the results of how many people have been freed do some forensic science that may have been flawed. Looking at two cases that will provide why forensic evidence is important. These cases will show you two different ways forensic science can lead to proving an individual freedom or someone's death penalty sentence.

Oh, how forensic science has evolved from the 5th century. Over the many years there has been many new findings in forensic science. Here I will provide a background of what forensics science is and the different components involved in forensic science. So, what is forensic science; describes the science of associating people, places, and things involved in criminal activities. Forensic science is mixture of components such as biology, chemistry, and physics to solve crimes and very beneficial to settle legal issue (www.crimesceneinvestigatoredu.org), 2019.

“Forensic” is derived from the Latin forum for “public” (Oxford English Dictionary, 2005). “Science” is the collection of systematic methodologies used to increasingly understand the physical world. The scientific disciplines assist investigating and adjudication criminal and civil cases. There are many areas of Forensic Science which include:

Anthropology, the study of human skeleton. Forensic anthropologist can determine a person age at death, sex, and height of the deceased.

Criminalistics, analyze, compare, identify, and interpret physical evidence, then report and used in the justice system. The Labotories use two primary functions which is Identifying evidence and linking individuals, objects, and location through physical evidence. Their objective is applying the scientific processing technique of physical and nature sciences to examine physical evidence.

• Forensic Pathology, which a medical examiner performs autopsies to determine the cause of a person’s death. Medical examiners/ physician also determines the manner of death occurred under suspicious or unknown circumstances.
• Forensic Odontology is a branch of science that involves the application of dental knowledge for the identification of human remains. The comparison of dental records the evaluation of bite-marks with comparison with suspect dentitions.
• Forensic Toxicology, the study of adverse effects of drugs and chemicals on biological systems. Laboratories identifies and quantifies the presence of drugs and chemicals in biological fluids and tissue that are taken form the body during the autopsy.
• Forensic science includes DNA coding, Toxicology, Serology, and Ballistics

“Forensic science has grown as a profession and into a science in its own rights” (Houck & Siegel). As forensic science continues to grow and become reliable the public, defenders, prosecutors also depend on science to solve crimes.

Capital Murder, unlawful killing of another person without justification, and is the most serious crime a person can commit. When a person or persons commit a murder, they may be sentenced to the harshest of penalties, which may include life in prison. The most abominable crime is committing murder with special circumstances, which is charged as capital murder in many states. In which these criminals maybe sentenced to death in most states. Capital murder gets its name from capital punishment, which the killing of a person as punishment for a crime. Capital punishment is also referred to as “the death penalty”. In the legal systems there are different types of classifications, depending on the specific circumstances of the crime. These classifications of murder are referred to as “degrees” of murder in many jurisdictions (legal dictionary). Some of the classifications are:

• Intentional Murder
• Murder resulting from an intentional action menta to cause serious bodily harm
• Murder resulting from extreme and wanton recklessness
• Murder by an accomplice as an individual commit, attempts to omit, or flees from the commission of a felony

The common elements of capital murder are premeditated, deliberate, motive, special circumstances, and killing during the commission of another Felony.

Importance of Forensic Science Evidence

There has been plenty of cases where prime suspects were identified and pursued, until DNA testing proved that they were wrongly accused. The analysis of DNA has the number of exonerations has risen over the years. The overturned convictions in the United States have even turned over some capital crimes. But don’t be deceived because just as some cases are being overturned some cases evidence shows the perpetrator committed those crimes. Let’s dive into a few cases that forensic science was able to convict the criminal and science was able to overturn a conviction.

Let’s look at the Ted Bundy case. One of the most notorious criminals in the late 20th century. He was a well-known rapist and serial killer who assaulted women from Washington, Colorado, Utah and Florida between 1974 and 1978. Over the spree Bundy was never apprehended even though he fit some of the description of the killer. Because police believe he was clean cut they let Bundy go. After disobeying a traffic rule Bundy was arrested inside the vehicle was handcuffs, masks, and a crowbar. The physical evidence that matched the description given by one young lady that escaped from Bundy. He was as charged for the kidnapping by while in custody the investigators found physical evidence such as, gas receipts and hair evidence taken from Bundy's Beetle. While in custody he escaped from jail twice and was able to commit several more murders. In 1978 there were two young ladies that have been brutally killed. There was no weapon at the scene of the murders. Investigators collected blood type, print smudges, and sperm samples but were all inconclusive. It was until there was a bite- mark on one of the young women buttocks. With that usually bite-mark they were able to get the dental impression of Bundy’s teeth. Dr. Souviron a doctor out of Coral Gables was able to testify that the bite- marks matched identical to Bundy’s teeth. He was able to reference the alignment of the teeth, the chipped teeth, sharpness factors of the bicuspids, and incisor teeth. In the court the comparison of Bundy teeth structure and photograph of the bite-mark were laid over each other using a transparent sheet.

Dr. Lowell Levine, chief consultant in forensic dentistry of New York City’s Medical Examiner also testified against Bundy. The evidence found to be the best the persecutor had. The verdict was called, and Ted Bundy was found guilty. Ted Bundy died in the form of the electric chair.

In the Ted Bundy case, it seems the forensic odontology evidence was the finally straw. The physical evidence in Teds car I think would have some type of DNA evidence if he was brutally attacking these young women. It seems like the investigators may have not provide a thorough collection of evidence. To have had sperm samples and blood type and its inclusive makes me think what could have went wrong. For Ted to commit maybe over 30 murders and not really a lot of evidence to tie him to the crimes is usually to me. I’m aware that of course that there was not a lot of technology that the investigators had access to. I believe with since forensic has evolved it might’ve been easier to convict Bundy.

There are 29 states that have the death penalty which is highlighted in Green(Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California*, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon*, Pennsylvania*, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming).

There are 21 states and DC that have abolished the death penalty (Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin).

Here is a case where DNA had a different outcome. Looking at the Kirk Bloodsworth being the first person in the United States to exonerated from death penalty based on DNA testing. Kirk was arrested and convicted of raping and murdering a nine-year-old Dawn Hamilton. Kirk was sentenced to two life terms for the crime committed. The evidence that that linked Kirk to the 1984 crime was the testimony of five witnesses who place him either with the victim or near the scene of the crime. Also, the prosecution produced forensic evidence to link a pair of Kirks shoes to marks on the victim’s body

In 1992, there was testing of biological material preserved from the crime scene. The testing that was processed was known as PCR (polymerase chain reaction). This test was processed by Edward T. Blake, of Forensic Science Associates, in Richmond California. The testing performed by Mr. Blake proved Kirks innocence, once the FBI confirmed the results, Kirk was released June 28, 1993. The testing proved that Ruffner an inmate at the same prison committed the crime. Ruffner arrived to the prison one-month after Kirk and never confessed to the killing. In December 1994, Maryland Governor William Donald Schaefer granted Bloodsworth a full pardon based on innocence (National Registry.

In the Kirks case there was DNA testing that proved his innocence. It's unfortunate that because five people think you may be the suspect the system goes with it. I understand the DNA testing was still coming up in that time and it wasn’t until years later that the test was available to Kirk. I believe if investigators take the time to really investigate Kirk wouldn't have spent nine years of his life behind bars. Even though eye witnesses is another aspect of evidence I think we need to go the extra mile to confirm the perpetrator is guilty regardless of eyewitnesses. I do believe with forensic science evolving it will become a lot easier to collect evidence the first time around and finding the crooks.

Let's look at some of the different statistics that forensic science has played in capital murders and other cases. As of September 2019, DNA exoneration has increased drastically. The Innocence Project have the recording of 365 DNA exoneration cases in the United States, including 20 death penalty cases. Those that were exonerated spent an average of 14 years in prison, with 10% serving 25 of more years.

• 69% of the wrongful convictions involved eyewitness misidentifications
• 42% of those cases were cross-racial misidentifications
• 32% of cases involved multiple misidentifications of the same person
• 44% involved the misapplication of forensic science

The Innocence Project, which was founded in 1992 by Peter Neufled and Barry Scheck at Cardozo School of Law has helped hundreds of people. They work to exonerate the wrongfully convicted through DNA testing and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.

They have Science and research team that uses data and conduct comprehensive reviews to understand patterns of wrongful conviction. As stated, 'A top priority is to improve the accuracy and reliability of forensic science'. These team works together at a federal level to support science-based evaluation of validity of forensic disciplines. They provide scientific evidence, that may discredit the previous expert testimony, and to strengthen the oversight of local and state forensic laboratories (https://www.innocenceproject.org/).

Conclusion

I believe that forensic science will continue to evolve and there will be more technology that can limit human error. I do believe that because there are so many cases with flawed forensic evidence is due to not enough proper training. It starts with the examiner in the laboratories following standard regulations, practices, and accreditation. If there are no guidelines, I believe we will continue to see these mistakes in forensic science. If we get back to regulation and taking the time to test, I believe forensic science would be the most reliable with determining if the perpetrator is guilty of crime. Because those regulations and practices in the past weren't followed well the cases will continue to be overturned. I'm not saying that those analyst and investigators didn’t always follow the correct procedures but maybe they missed something in the collecting and testing of evidence. Forensic science is still saving and exonerating the innocent so we can't say it’s too flawed. So, I say science is still more reliable than an eyewitness in my opinion. I believe science is the best answer for solving any crime and again I see technology evolving as well to limit any human error.    

Works Cited

1. 'Capital Murder Law and Legal Definition.' USLegal.com, 2023, https://definitions.uslegal.com/c/capital-murder/. 'Forensic Science.' Crime Scene Investigator, 2019, https://www.crimesceneinvestigatoredu.org/forensic-science/.
2. Houck, Max M., and Jay A. Siegel. Fundamentals of Forensic Science. Academic Press, 2016.
3. 'Innocence Project.' The Innocence Project, https://www.innocenceproject.org/.
4. Oxford English Dictionary, 2005.
5. Saks, Michael J., and Jonathan J. Koehler. 'The Coming Paradigm Shift in Forensic Identification Science.' Science, vol. 309, no. 5736, 2005, pp. 892-895.
6. Silva, Luísa, et al. 'The Reliability of Eyewitness Memory: A Review of Current Evidence and Directions for Future Research.' Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 10, 2019, article 2703.