Fascinating stuff...the television shows glamorize so much of it, that it's great to hear the real nitty gritty of it all!
Level 26ers,
Ever wonder what it’s actually like to work a crime scene? Former criminalist Bill Haynes takes you behind the crime scene tape in the second part of our exclusive interview, to give you the scoop on what actually happens once a forensic specialist arrives at the scene of a crime:
Level 26: What about your job as a forensic specialist would most surprise people? What is it we don't see in CSI?
Haynes: I'd have to say the amount of meticulous note taking that goes on. From the moment you set foot into that crime scene, you immediately start documenting. The minute you get the phone call that there's a homicide--[you write down that] the call came in at such-and-such time, you get to the scene, you document when you got there, you're documenting names of everybody that's there, the detectives you're going to be working with, you're documenting ambient temperature, you name it. Everything you touch, everything you plan on collecting, you have to write that down. You have to draw a sketch of the crime scene, you have to take measurements. If you're going to collect a bloody knife that's in the living room, you have to take two measurements, from the north wall and from the east or west wall, so that you can reconstruct the crime scene.
It's all preparation for when you go to court. And most cases don't even go to court! Most cases are pled out. You're doing all of this meticulous note taking and documentation that, most likely, you'll never even refer back to. But every so often, you'll be on the witness stand, and the defense attorney will be asking you, "Where in the house did you collect that knife?" And this is usually like two or three years down the road. You were at the crime scene a few years ago and now you're on the witness stand. You're not going to remember it was five feet from the north wall and three feet from the east wall. You have to refer back to your notes to answer that question.
And then once you get all the evidence into the lab, you have that bloody knife. You want to collect the bloody stain off the knife for DNA testing. The stain that you chose to collect, was it from the handle or was it from the tip of the blade? You have to document all of that. You have to photograph it, you have to sketch it, you have to describe it. It's insane the amount of note taking that goes on.
Level 26: What kind of evidence is the most common to find at a crime scene? What kind is the most helpful?
Haynes: In terms of murders, the thing that people probably don't realize is that [during a] murder, if you're using something other than a gun--like if you're going to beat somebody to death or stab somebody to death--the victims usually fight back. Most people think, if I'm going to kill somebody, I'm just going to stab them once and they're going to drop dead and then that's it. Everything's real clean. And that's not the way it really happens. You start stabbing somebody, they're not going to just immediately drop dead. They're going to fight back and a lot of times, the killers themselves end up getting cut or injured somehow. That's really where blood splatter interpretation comes into play--you're looking for that errant bloodstain, the one that doesn't make sense given the injuries of the victim. And then that's the one you want to do DNA on, that's the one that's going to be from your killer.
Level 26: Are there people who specialize just in reading blood splatter?
Haynes: Yeah. At my lab, there were several of us in the forensic biology section who got specialized training in that. There are definitely people who are considered the end all, be all experts in blood splatter analysis. The name that comes to mind is Tom Bevel. He's one the guys you could say wrote the book on blood splatter interpretation. He has several books out there on that. There are many, many others at many different crime labs who have training and experience in blood splatter interpretation. Liz Devine is a good example also. She has a lot of training and experience in that.
It is very helpful. A lot of crime scenes you go to, there could be literally thousands of bloodstains and smears at the crime scene. Yeah, sure, you want to have a sample of the victim's blood, but that's easy to find. Just check the blood pool right next to the victim. The one you want to find out of the five hundred stains that are there [is the killer's]. The first question is, is it possible that any of these were left by the killer? And if so, which one? You have to identify that.
Tomorrow: Bill tells you what it's like to process a killer for evidence!
Ever wonder what it’s actually like to work a crime scene? Former criminalist Bill Haynes takes you behind the crime scene tape in the second part of our exclusive interview, to give you the scoop on what actually happens once a forensic specialist arrives at the scene of a crime:
Level 26: What about your job as a forensic specialist would most surprise people? What is it we don't see in CSI?
Haynes: I'd have to say the amount of meticulous note taking that goes on. From the moment you set foot into that crime scene, you immediately start documenting. The minute you get the phone call that there's a homicide--[you write down that] the call came in at such-and-such time, you get to the scene, you document when you got there, you're documenting names of everybody that's there, the detectives you're going to be working with, you're documenting ambient temperature, you name it. Everything you touch, everything you plan on collecting, you have to write that down. You have to draw a sketch of the crime scene, you have to take measurements. If you're going to collect a bloody knife that's in the living room, you have to take two measurements, from the north wall and from the east or west wall, so that you can reconstruct the crime scene.
It's all preparation for when you go to court. And most cases don't even go to court! Most cases are pled out. You're doing all of this meticulous note taking and documentation that, most likely, you'll never even refer back to. But every so often, you'll be on the witness stand, and the defense attorney will be asking you, "Where in the house did you collect that knife?" And this is usually like two or three years down the road. You were at the crime scene a few years ago and now you're on the witness stand. You're not going to remember it was five feet from the north wall and three feet from the east wall. You have to refer back to your notes to answer that question.
And then once you get all the evidence into the lab, you have that bloody knife. You want to collect the bloody stain off the knife for DNA testing. The stain that you chose to collect, was it from the handle or was it from the tip of the blade? You have to document all of that. You have to photograph it, you have to sketch it, you have to describe it. It's insane the amount of note taking that goes on.
Level 26: What kind of evidence is the most common to find at a crime scene? What kind is the most helpful?
Haynes: In terms of murders, the thing that people probably don't realize is that [during a] murder, if you're using something other than a gun--like if you're going to beat somebody to death or stab somebody to death--the victims usually fight back. Most people think, if I'm going to kill somebody, I'm just going to stab them once and they're going to drop dead and then that's it. Everything's real clean. And that's not the way it really happens. You start stabbing somebody, they're not going to just immediately drop dead. They're going to fight back and a lot of times, the killers themselves end up getting cut or injured somehow. That's really where blood splatter interpretation comes into play--you're looking for that errant bloodstain, the one that doesn't make sense given the injuries of the victim. And then that's the one you want to do DNA on, that's the one that's going to be from your killer.
Level 26: Are there people who specialize just in reading blood splatter?
Haynes: Yeah. At my lab, there were several of us in the forensic biology section who got specialized training in that. There are definitely people who are considered the end all, be all experts in blood splatter analysis. The name that comes to mind is Tom Bevel. He's one the guys you could say wrote the book on blood splatter interpretation. He has several books out there on that. There are many, many others at many different crime labs who have training and experience in blood splatter interpretation. Liz Devine is a good example also. She has a lot of training and experience in that.
It is very helpful. A lot of crime scenes you go to, there could be literally thousands of bloodstains and smears at the crime scene. Yeah, sure, you want to have a sample of the victim's blood, but that's easy to find. Just check the blood pool right next to the victim. The one you want to find out of the five hundred stains that are there [is the killer's]. The first question is, is it possible that any of these were left by the killer? And if so, which one? You have to identify that.
Tomorrow: Bill tells you what it's like to process a killer for evidence!
