Wayne Williams: Atlanta Child Killer Fiber Forensics Study

When Wayne Williams was trialed for the death of two victims, DNA testing was not a reliable source in courtrooms as evident (Polk, 2015). A conviction could have been rendered without the fiber evidence in this case. The prosecution had a strong case in providing the evidence from the DNA of the hair obtained from the crime scene. On February 13, 1981, when Patrick Baltazar's body was found dumped down a wooded slope behind an office park (Polk, 2015). A forensic scientist discovered two human scalp hairs inside Baltazar's shirt. The DNA sample was tested under a microscope by both the FBI and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Polk, 2015). The hair sample was consistent with Wayne William's DNA. This placed William at the scene of the crime. The

On June 12, 1994, the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were found dead at her home in Brentwood, CA. Orenthal James Simpson, or O.J. Simpson was notified of their deaths and immediately taken into custody for questions. Upon the collection of various pieces of evidence from the crime scene, all avenues pointed to Simpson as the culprit for the double murder. The conclusion of Simpson criminal trial resulted in his acquittal. There were various reasons for this acquittal. The most prominent reasons include accusations of racism, evidence contamination, and the lack of faith in DNA profiling. This paper will discuss the issues that arose with the trial in depth and offer an explanation and solution to resolving issues

The city of Atlanta had experienced over a two year period from 1979-1981 of egregious acts of murders committed on more than twenty African American adolescent males. However, Wayne Williams, a native of Atlanta, was the center of law enforcement investigation, which implicated his involvement in at least two of the children murders around that time. Nonetheless, law enforcement linked Wayne Williams to those murders because of detailed evidence found on the victims, which was later discovered that evidence was from Williams apartment (Curriden, 1992). Furthermore, the evidence which was found was a unique fiber from the carpet of Williams apartment and the number of people having this fiber was very small in number (Curriden, 1992)). The fiber evidence was the main part of the case to associate Williams with

The expert testimony in the Wayne Williams case was vital in explaining the evidence to the jury (Imwinkelried, 1983). It is reasonable to concede that jurors have no prior knowledge of forensic science. Additionally, jurors will most likely have no prior knowledge of the different variations, color spectrums, moreover the uniqueness of various items presented as evidence in this case. As a prosecutor, it would important to include the testimony of fiber experts with extensive knowledge of the article presented. This expert would be able to articulate to the jury the unique qualities as well as characteristics of the fibers.

As the search continued in the car, there was a smell of decomposition in the car. When Cindy Anthony first called the police she claimed “There’s something wrong. I found my daughter’s car today. It smells like there’s been a dead body in the damn car.” (Tru TV) later on when the car was taken by the police she said that the smell could have come from garbage in the car. The County Sherriff’s Detective Yuri Melich testified in court saying “I was a homicide detective for 2 years and in my opinion the smell coming from the car was the smell of decomposition.” (Examiner) To investigate the odor in the trunk, they brought in Dr. Vass who used a new technique to define the odor in the trunk. This was debated in court because it is a new technique. However the FBI laboratory used gas chromatography mass spectrometer, it isolated the compounds found in the car and 67% of the compounds were found linked to human decomposition. There were also high levels of chloroform found in the trunk, but the evidence could not be cleared as chloroform from a decomposing body or from that of something else.

There was no educational part when it came to forensic science in the 1700’s- 1800’s.

Robin Williams was born at St. Luke’s hospital in Chicago, Illinois on July 21, 1951. His

This essay is purposed for the evaluation of the provocative case, The State of California vs. Orenthal James Simpson, more commonly referred to as O.J. Simpson. On the 12th of June, 1994 the homicide of Nicole Simpson, O.J. Simpson’s ex-wife, occurred at her home. Reports of a body sprawled out the front of Nicole Simpson’s house were made through a 911 call. On arrival, police made the discovery of Nicole Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman’s dead bodies outside the house. The review of this investigation will be achieved through; Assessment of the key aspects of the process of investigation. Evaluation of the main investigative flaws made throughout the investigation. Identifying strategies to prevent these flaws from happening in

The relationship between law enforcement and prosecutors, which goes hand-in-hand, can’t be overlooked. Evidence of a crime that detectives and law enforcement discover is as equally important as a good trial on part of the prosecution. If detectives aren’t able to find good solid evidence – that case usually isn’t bothered in being pursued. Several years ago, in the late 80’s, there was a murder case in Southeastern Oklahoma which now serves as a tragic example to the need for honest, constitutional work in the criminal justice system. Disreputable investigative procedures, fraudulent sources, and bad evidence were the foundation of this case that shattered innocent lives.

Jennifer L. Mnookin focuses on teaching evidence law and torts as well as more specialized courses in expert and scientific evidence. She mainly focusses on forensic science issues. Mnookin is the faculty co-director of Programing Understanding Law Science and Evidence (PULSE) at UCLA she was the primary investigator on a major grant from the national institute of justice and participated in a variety of government workshops related to forensic science. Before UCLA Mnookin was professor of law, she got her Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, Juris Doctor degree from Yale, Doctor of Philosophy in history and Social Study of Science and Technology from

A shy kid that moved from Illinois to Michigan did not start becoming his soon famous open self until high school. Robin Williams was born on July 21,1951, in Chicago, Illinois. (Chicago Native Robin). First, Williams went to Claremont Men’s

The final verdict in this case could have been different if the evidence was present properly and uncontaminated. The major problem in this case was in fact the evidence and there was a lot of evidence that could have potentially got a conviction of O.J. Simpson. The failure to present high quality evidence in court was where the case took a turn for the worst. The different evidence in this case consists of the following: the Rockingham glove, the sock, the Bronco, and the Bundy Crime scene just to name a few (Thompson, 1996).

Forensics and fiber evidence is the most intriguing part of the career to me. Crimes are hard to get away with today because of fiber evidence. Everybody picks up fiber when entering a room. I was recently reading about the 10 most fascinating facts about forensic science. People that work in forensics mention that glitter particles are proven to be useful traces of evidence which can dramatically affect the case. Most importantly, glitter is manufactured differently such as the shape, thickness and refraction, which makes it easier to identify in the database. There are thousands of commercial glitters that are linked with art & crafts, cosmetics and decorations. In addition, glitter is transferred from the body or clothes,

Forensic science has been used for thousands of years in order to solve crime scenes around the world. The constant change of the growing society and technology around us, Forensic Science has come a long way since the 700’s when the Chinese first used fingerprints for identifying. Shoeprint identification is an old, established form of identification. This method of placing an individual at a particular crime scene is one of the best forms of identification. Shoe prints were first recorded as evidence in a criminal case that took place in 1786 (Schiro). The Identifying and analogizing of shoeprints is a very complex form of Forensic Science used around the globe. Shoe prints at a crime scene are always a critical part of the investigation

Robin Williams was born to a wealthy Detroit, Michigan family at St. Luke’s Hospital in