Botched Crime Scene Investigations Crime is a vice that is vehemently abhorred by all systems of government and stringent measures, as well as elaborate apparatus, have been put in place t

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Botched Crime Scene Investigations

Crime is a vice that is vehemently abhorred by all systems of government and stringent measures, as well as elaborate apparatus, have been put in place to help curb the vice. A plethora of personnel comprising of law enforcement officers, district attorney, crime scene investigators, medical experts, and detectives; with good brains and adequate training is usually engaged in the search for truth whenever there is suspicious activity. However, despite all these sophisticated approaches involving DNA testing, blood spatter analysis, and other forensic search methodologies, cases of botched crime scenes are always on the radar of investigative agencies and detectives. Though the personnel involved are well trained to uncover any piece of information from a scene of the crime, it is apparent that the scientific approaches used are not 100 per cent accurate (Denis, & Nigel, 2019). Of course, even the top-notch personnel in the echelons of forensic search are not off the hook in this matter! The federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials confessed that at times they had relied on unfounded stories that have seen several ‘innocent individuals’ convicted. Some of the officials, however, commit such errors knowingly either with the view to favour their preferred side of the investigation and sacrifice the other side.

The following paper seeks to examine such examples of botched crime scene investigations. Specifically, it shall address the cases of The Ford Heights Four of 1978, OJ Simpson of 1994 and the Amanda Knox case of 2007 as living pieces of evidence of how the investigative agencies can mess around with evidences.

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You are to research at least 3 incidents where the crime scene was improperly handled (botched) by the police and as a result, valuable evidence was lost. The paper must be 8 pages long-this does not include the title page or the bibliography page. The paper must be in APA Format and have a font of 12-Arial Style.

Botched Crime Scene Investigations Crime is a vice that is vehemently abhorred by all systems of government and stringent measures, as well as elaborate apparatus, have been put in place t
Running head: BOTCHED CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATIONS 0 Botched Crime Scene Investigations Name Institution Course Unit Date Contents Botched Crime Scene Investigations 3 The Ford Heights Four 4 OJ Simpson 6 Amanda Knox 7 Conclusion 10 References 11 Deni, J. N & Nigel, G. R. H (2019). Gunshot residue and airbags: Part II. A case study. Canadian society of forensic science journal. Vol 52 (1). 26-32 11 George, C. (April 13, 2017). Crime-scene investigator blamed for evidence errors had prior problems but returned to work. Chron 11 Botched Crime Scene Investigations Crime is a vice that is vehemently abhorred by all systems of government and stringent measures, as well as elaborate apparatus, have been put in place to help curb the vice. A plethora of personnel comprising of law enforcement officers, district attorney, crime scene investigators, medical experts, and detectives; with good brains and adequate training is usually engaged in the search for truth whenever there is suspicious activity. However, despite all these sophisticated approaches involving DNA testing, blood spatter analysis, and other forensic search methodologies, cases of botched crime scenes are always on the radar of investigative agencies and detectives. Though the personnel involved are well trained to uncover any piece of information from a scene of the crime, it is apparent that the scientific approaches used are not 100 per cent accurate (Denis, & Nigel, 2019). Of course, even the top-notch personnel in the echelons of forensic search are not off the hook in this matter! The federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials confessed that at times they had relied on unfounded stories that have seen several ‘innocent individuals’ convicted. Some of the officials, however, commit such errors knowingly either with the view to favour their preferred side of the investigation and sacrifice the other side. The following paper seeks to examine such examples of botched crime scene investigations. Specifically, it shall address the cases of The Ford Heights Four of 1978, OJ Simpson of 1994 and the Amanda Knox case of 2007 as living pieces of evidence of how the investigative agencies can mess around with evidences. The Ford Heights Four This case occurred on 11th May 1978. It involved a brutal murder of Ms Carol Schmal and Mr Lawrence Lionberg who were newly engaged. The couples were found with wounds of gunshots on their foreheads. Further, it was detected that Ms Schmal had been raped repeatedly (Siegel, & Worral 2017). The first eye witness who talked to the investigative officers mentioned that Dennis Williams, Kenneth Adams, and Willie Rainge emerging from the deserted townhouse where the lifeless bodies of the two lovebirds were found. Thus, according to him, the three individuals were behind the gruesome murder of the young couples. Later on, another witness – Paula Gray, whose level of intelligence was above average said that Vernal Jimerson was in the company of the other three suspects mentioned by the first witness. However, Mrs Paula later recanted her testimony. Five days later, a third, witness in this murder case, Mr Marvin Simpson come forth linking four completely new individuals to the murder of the two. Despite the availability of the information presented to the investigating officers, they decided not to carry out an investigation on the claims to ascertain the truth. Due to this failure to investigate the claims four black Americans who were later referred to as the Ford Heights Four were presented for a trial before a jury comprising of all whites. When the four were presented for the first trial, Mr Podlecki M. who was the state serologist mentioned that one of the individuals who raped Ms Schmal had secretions of type A secretion blood. However, this testimony was loose since close to one-quarter of the entire population teats positive for this secretion. Based on this account, both Williams and Adams were culpable. However, the stand was later thrown away by special detectives. The prosecution then brought some hairs that were found at the rear end of William’s car and the state serologist resonated that they had similarities with the victims. Based on the facts presented by the state serologists, the court gave a very harsh sentence on the three gentlemen. At the time of the ruling, Jimerson was not convicted following the withdrawal of Gray’s testimony over him. However, later on when Gray accepted to testify over him on a plea, Jimerson was given a death sentence. In this context, the investigating arm did not do their investigation as expected by the code of regulation and call of duty to which they paid allegiance. Moreover, the state serologist was not guided by facts but rather by malice based on racism (Siegel, & Worral 2017). He was thus guided by malice to cause harm on the Black Americans who were later referred to as the Ford Heights Four. The actions of the individuals involved in the forensic search of the true murderers culminated into a botched investigation by the investigative agents and eventually led to the conviction of innocent individuals. Several appeals and retrials were attempted by the defendants in vain. After several failed attempts to repeal the decision of the court, 1996 was a momentous point of the case, 18 years down the line. A group of students from the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism came up with totally new evidence that complicated the case. The group of students included the NPR award winner Ms Laura Sullivan. The group of students unravelled the true account of the third eye witness during the investigations: Mr Marvin Simpson. Backed by the testimonies from the true murderers and samples of DNA strands, the four convicts were finally set free after 17 years of imprisonment. The four were then paid 36 million pounds by Cook County in damages (Siegel, & Worral 2017). OJ Simpson This case took place in Los Angeles on 13th June 1994. In this case, the bodies of Mr Nicole Brown ex-wife to Simpson and Ron Goldman were found outside her home. Assessment on their bodies indicated that they had several wounds as a result of multiple stubbing by a sharp object. The detectives chose to visit OJ Simpson’s home to relay the information to him on the death of his former wife. On arrival, they noticed that there were bloodstains on Simpson’s vehicle. This prompted Mark Fuhrman, one of the detectives to jump over the external perimeter wall into the compound to open the gate for his colleagues. They defended this action by citing that probably Simpson might have been injured as well. As they moved in the compound, they came across a glove that was full of blood and that looked like the one they found in the scene of the crime (George, 2017). The detectives thus concluded that OJ Simpson was responsible for the murder of the two. He was thus taken to court. However, they did not secure the scene of the crime as expected to come up with unbiased evidence. During his trials, the truth came to light as the prosecution detected several gaps in the case. It was noted that there were even possibilities of tampering even with the existing evidence as well as mishandling of the evidence. Several other things that were to aid in the investigation were at a mess. The jury that was listening to the case got annoyed and concluded that the Los Angeles Police Department presented their shreds of evidence, based on racism. It was also discovered that an unknown individual had gained access into Simpson’s vehicle several times without permission. Moreover, it was discovered that some samples from OJ Simpsons were missing: a scenario that made jury to suspect that the evidence was for a planned murder and the perpetrators wanted to plant the blame on Mr Simpson (George, 2017). Thus it is apparent from the discoveries that the police and other investigative officials like the detectives were responsible for the mess with the evidence. Based on the discovery by the bench of judges that the case before them lacked the weight to convict OJ Simpson for the murder of Nicole and the other victim, he was declared innocent and set free on 3rd October 1995 Amanda Knox This case occurred on 2nd November 2007. It involved the brutal murder of a university student in her apartment of residence. Ms Meredith Kerchief had been murdered. She was living in the same flat with Amanda Knox. When Amanda went to the bathroom she found the room covered with blood. In the morning, Knox with the help of her boyfriend tried to open the door in vain. She then decided to call her other friend with whom they shared the apartment. At the moment, her boyfriend, Solicitor called the police. When her other roommate Philomena Romanelli arrived, she began moving up and down and bumped on Kercher’s mobile phones and requested that the police officials break Kercher’s room. However, the police turned down this request prompting her friend to through the door only to find Kercher’s lifeless body half necked on the floor. The body was taken to the mortuary and an autopsy was carried out to detect what might have led to her death. The post mortem report indicated that before her death the aggressor caused several injuries around her genitalia. These bruises, the report said must have been sustained by the disease as she tried to wrestle with the aggressor who must have been restraining her during a sexual assault. It also indicated that she was forcefully raped. Knox and her boyfriend were arrested by the police as the first suspects in the murder of Kercher. The forensic search indicated the presence of traces of Knox’ DNA molecules in the kitchen knife. The detectives presumed that the knife was the weapon that the perpetrators of the murder must have used. Further, the detectives also found that DNA molecules were belonging to Sollicetio on the bra that was won by Kercher at the time of her death. Upon thorough search by the investigators, it was discovered that DNA samples were belonging to Rudy Guede as well as his fingerprints in the room. Rudy Guede must have been involved in a love affair with the victim before her death. Despite the new insight, the police still insisted that Knox and her lover had a hand in the death of Kercher and that Rudy must have been hired by the duo to execute the murder. Consequently, the two lovers were convicted of murder (George, 2017). An appeal was launched by the defendants on June 2011. Independent experts were invited to unmask the mystery of Kercher’s death. Upon completion of their investigations, they discovered that there were several mistakes in the evidence that were used to pin down Knox and her boyfriend as the masterminds of the murder of Kercher. One such mistake that was cited by the independent investigative officer is that the police that was involved in the case did not change gloves during the process. This gave room for the possibility of contamination of objects that were within the scene. Secondly, it was also unravelled that though the knife had traces of Amanda’s DNA molecules, Kercher’s DNA molecules were not found on it thus disqualifying it from being the weapon that was used to murder the diseased. The discoveries are indications that the police officers who were meant to carry out investigations on the murder of the late student, did not perform their duties diligently and as a result, gave leeway for interference or destruction of the evidence that was available for them to make the right determination. It is even funny that even after detecting the traces of DNA samples belonging to Rudy, who was with Kercher on the night of her murder, they still avoided him in the entire investigation. In the end, they tampered with the evidence and convicted the wrong people. As a result of the discoveries on the circumstances that might have led to the death of Kercher, Amanda and her lover were declared innocent in the murder case (Siegel, & Worral 2017). Conclusion It is apparent that science is not perfect and therefore there are possibilities of failure or room for error. However, upcoming professionals should take cognizance of the need to remain as professional as possible in all their undertakings and forensic officers or detectives. The abuses of science adduced in this presentation should act as strong signals and warning to any aspiring forensic officer. By embracing professionalism and living by professional ethics of their profession, Forensic officers and detectives can reduce these cases of botched criminal investigations. Upholding personal ethos is very critical in this course. Additionally, total commitment and dedication are critical in carrying out an accurate and meticulous analysis. The federal government, on its part, should also ensure that the techniques used are accurate and modern to help in harmonising human error. Despite the errors that may occur in the process, the personnel involved in this duty should try their best to minimise cases of error as humanly possible. Stringent measures should also be put in place for those individuals who knowingly decide to manipulate the DNA Samples to fix a given group of individuals. Such measures should be enshrined into law by sponsoring them in both houses (Deni, & Nigel, 2019). Through such restrictions, the federal government would be able to minimise the occurrences of such errors. It is also important that the investigative agencies should incorporate other supportive pieces of evidence such as corroborative and associative evidence to have strong support to the forensic evidence. Through the inclusion of such parameters in the forensic search, the forensic evidence will be qualified beyond any reasonable doubt by anybody. Finally, rigorous training is recommended for all individuals involved in the process to qualify their research skills and level of competencies. References Deni, J. N & Nigel, G. R. H (2019). Gunshot residue and airbags: Part II. A case study. Canadian society of forensic science journal. Vol 52 (1). 26-32 George, C. (April 13, 2017). Crime-scene investigator blamed for evidence errors had prior problems but returned to work. Chron Siegel, L. J. & Worral J. L. (2017). Essentials of criminal justice (11th ed.). Cengage: USA

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