Firearms
Investigators found evidence Cooper’s gun was fired, but not where it should have been
Judge allows challenged SBI ballistics in murder trial
Attorney for defendant charged with murder seeks to exclude ballistics evidence
Durham plans ballistics lab
Report Backs SBI Ballistics in Pitt Case
Knife and Saw Toolmark Analysis in Bone: A Manual Designed for the Examination of Criminal Mutilation and Dismemberment
by Steven A. Symes, Ph.D. et al. for the U.S. Department of Justice. Available through the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (2010)
National Academy of Sciences Report
See pp. 150-155 for the National Research Counsel’s assessment of the discipline of Toolmark and Firearms Identification.
The Controversy Concerning Gunshot Residues Examinations
by Dennis L. McGuire, M.S., Forensic Magazine – discusses the lack of a uniform standard for GSR analyses based upon validated studies. States that until those studies are completed, “positive determinations of GSR should be seriously scrutinized.”
The Controversy Concerning Gunshot Residues ExaminationsRead More
Brian J. Heard, Firearms and Ballistics: Examining and Interpreting Forensic Evidence (2d ed)
Ballistic Imaging
The National Academies Press, 2008. Provides information about the range of acceptable conclusions in this field, as well as the lack of error rate and subjectivity of the comparison techniques.
Daubert Challenges to Firearms (“Ballistics”) Identifications
Article by Paul Gianelli
Daubert Challenges to Firearms (“Ballistics”) IdentificationsRead More
FBI Lab Scraps Gunfire Residue
by Julie Bykowicz, The Baltimore Sun. 2006 article which discusses a 2001 contamination study and the FBI’s decision to no longer analyze gunshot residue in its investigations.