After Holmes: Dr. MacDonell's Forensic Casebook by Allan Eaglesham & Herbert MacDonell

Author:Allan Eaglesham & Herbert MacDonell [Eaglesham, Allan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: bloodspatter analysis, Crime-scene investigation, forensic science
Publisher: Laboratory of Forensic Science
Published: 2011-05-19T04:00:00+00:00

Case 86-059 Manikins and Reenactment: Bloodspatter Matters

On June 10, 1986, I received a telephone call from Terry Spitz, an assistant district attorney in Salinas, California. He had a very interesting question. Did Prakash Kamat shoot himself in the head with a handgun as was claimed by the accused, Leo Briggs, or did Mr. Briggs blow him away? In any event, there was no question that the deceased was sitting at a table and had been “plinking” with a .22 rifle at tin cans and glass bottles. The entrance wound was in his right temple. What was he doing at the moment he was shot, if he did not shoot himself?

On February 12, 1987, I went to Monterey, California, to visit the scene of the shooting and to examine physical evidence. Several rifles had been recovered on the deck where Mr. Kamat had been shot. One rifle stock had a very clear bloodstain pattern on its right side. Since the pattern was on a dark walnut background I made a one-to-one overlay and transferred that pattern to a stock from the same model rifle that I had painted white. Red paint was used to fill in the stained areas to produce a high-contrast prop. The evidence rifle was reassembled with the white stock as shown in Figure 56. I noted that there were two well-separated concentrations of blood descending from the top, or heel, to the bottom, or toe, of the stock.

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