Firearms Examinations and Forensic Evidence - Paper Example

Acquiring a firearm gives a feeling of security to an individual. However, the surrounding becomes completely insecure the moment firearms get into the wrong hands. Firearms are often used to commit deadly crimes such as robbery and murder. Some suspects involved in some of the crime scenarios are always very cautious while executing the crime. They ensure that they do not leave any physical evidence that might later link them to the crime. It is this lack of physical evidence in high profile cases that have pushed investigators such as the FBI to opt for alternative investigation techniques. Firearm forensic examination has proved to be the best alternative. This paper describes how forensic science in firearm examination was used to solve a 15-year-old Philip Cousins murder case.

The Murder of Philip Cousins in 1994

Philip Cousins was a 41-year-old property manager in Santa Ana, California. The manager went missing on March 4, 1994. His body was found three days later, lying in the trunk of his car, a Honda Accord. The car was abandoned outside an auto-spare store about 5 miles from his apartment complex, on Third Street in Santa Ana. A man named Douglas Mireles had been working for Cousins and was assigned the task of collecting rent at Philips Parc Square Apartments. Cousins had at one point caught Douglas stealing his apartment rent. He, however, pardoned Douglas and kept him on the job. On 4th March 1994, Cousins suspected that Douglas was stealing again and decided to confront him at the apartment complex located on North Bush Street. Unfortunately, Cousins was never seen again and his lifeless body was later recovered on 7th March. The body was bearing several bullet wounds in the chest and one on the head (IBISTRAX, 2012).

It was later found that the bullet recovered from Cousins body matched a gun similar to a 32-caliber handgun owned by Douglas. Based on this, Douglas became the chief and the only suspect. The task at this point appeared simple because the detectives were only required to prove if there was a match between the recovered bullet and the barrel of the 32-caliber Douglas handgun. This would have been sufficient evidence to charge Douglas before a court of law. Unfortunately, the detectives could not match the bullet to Douglas handgun as earlier anticipated. The gun barrel had been tampered with and the patch marks left on the bullet were not matching those expected from the barrel. Sadly, forensic technology by then could not assist further to make this proof. Therefore, Douglas became a suspect based on circumstantial evidence and the district attorney could not file charges against him. Due to lack of physical evidence, the case went cold. Luckily, the case was re-opened in 2006, 12 years from the time the murder was committed and it is this effort that shed light on the end of the case (IBISTRAX, 2012).

The Role of Forensic Firearms Investigations in Philip Cousins Murder Case

In 2006, Santa Ana Police Detective Louie Martinez and retired Detective Ferrell Buckels began reviewing unsolved homicides and among them was the murder of Philip Cousins. The two detectives retrieved the barrel of Douglas handgun and started to examine it again. In the process of examination, Martinez discovered that about a quarter-inch of the top part of the barrel was undamaged. He then contacted Detective Rocky Edwards, a ballistic firearm expert who was also based in Santa Ana. Martinez and his counterpart, Edwards, decided to try out something else with the barrel (IBISTRAX, 2012).The available comparison microscopes could not be helpful to Edwards. For this reason, he decided to go and do the test in Canada, at a company in Montreal that is specialized in producing 3-dimensional bullet images. Edwards used a technology called IBIS BULLETRAX 3D system to study the barrel and the bullet evidence (Geberth, 2016).

Several images were collected and detective Edwards returned to his Santa Ana laboratory and begun analyzing the ballistic images. Surprisingly, the analysis revealed a match between the recovered bullet and the barrel of Douglas handgun. However, Edwards needed another confirming opinion and so he sent the images to another ballistic expert who was based at Oxnard Police Department. Impressively, the expert confirmed Edwards opinion that the killer bullet was actually from Douglas handgun. After a few days, Detective Martinez received the new evidence from Edwards and consulted the office of the district attorney. On June 8, 2007, Douglas was arrested and his murder charge filled by Michael Murray, the then Deputy District Attorney. Douglas was presented before the Superior Court on March 4, 2009. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and Judge William Froeberg sentenced him to 28 years of life in prison. Finally, a 15-year-old case was solved on the basis of purely firearm forensic evidence (Heard, 2013).

The Use of IBIS BULLETRAX 3D Technology in Philip Cousins Murder Case

Warlow (2012) explains how IBIS BULLETRAX 3D Technology works on the principles of automated two and three-dimensional imaging systems. The technology offers enhanced visualization, efficient comparison, and accurate images of both fragmented and damaged bullets (Sinha, 2014). It was the three-dimensional imaging capability of this new technology that brought a breakthrough in this murder case. While analyzing the evidence using BULLETRAX technology, a piece of the killer bullet was viewed under the new technology microscope system (IBISTRAX, 2012). The system enabled Detective Edwards to have a three-dimensional view of the bullet and the gun barrel. The technology has advanced imaging sensors that accurately captured the detailed markings on both the bullet and barrel and displayed the entire surface of each of the pieces.

Hundreds of accurate images of these pieces of evidence were captured and then analyzed through a comparison microscope. At this comparison stage, the three-dimensional detailed images of the bullet as well as the barrel were again viewed under a microscope and any similarity noted. Essentially, every gun barrel is always designed in such a manner that it will make some markings on a bullet as the bullet leaves the gun after firing. Notably, these markings are identical to each gun just in a similar manner that fingerprints are identical to every person. Therefore, according to Warlow (2012), the aim of the comparison is to identify any match between the bullet markings and those of a handgun barrel. Luckily, the comparison by Detective Edwards revealed a perfect match between the killer bullet markings those of Douglas handgun barrel. Thus, this is the evidence that tied down Douglas to the killing of his boss Philip Cousins. Henceforth, IBIS BULLETTRAX -3D has been very useful in forensic examination and analysis of crime scene evidence.

Conclusion

It is clear from Philip Cousins murder story that firearm forensic analysis can play a great role in solving puzzling criminal cases. The speed, accuracy, and reliability of the technology are overwhelming. It is advisable that all criminal investigation agencies should adopt the IBIS BULLETTRAX 3-D system and related technologies in their criminal investigation processes. Though the system is very expensive, the government should allocate enough funds to finance these projects. The effort of adopting modern firearm forensic technology will contribute greatly to investigation processes on firearm-related crimes. Additionally, the technology will help in serving justice to both the victim and the suspect.

References

Geberth, V.J. (2016). Practical Homicide Investigation: Tactics, Procedures, and Forensic Techniques. Virginia: CRC Press

Heard, J. B. (2013). Forensic Ballistic in Court: Interpretation and Presentation of Firearm Evidence. Chichester, England: Wiley-Blackwell

IBISTRAX (FEB 15, 2012). Every Crime Gun has a Story to Tell [Video file]. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiUcei2wf8oSinha, J.K. (2014). Investigation of Unusual Firearms Ballistic and Medico-Legal Evidence. Mumbai: CRC Press-Talor & Francis Group.

Warlow, T. (2012). Firearms, the Law, and Forensic Ballistics. Boca Raton: CRC Press-Talor & Francis Group.