Court Case: Key Forensic Evidence

Key Forensic evidence presented in court
The prosecution case against the main suspect, Michael Shirley, consisted of four circumstantial pieces of evidence. Forensic evidence is evidence obtained by scientific methods. In the case of Linda Cook, methods used included extracting impressions and DNA. An Athletic shoe impression was found on Cook’s abdomen, sizing at 43-45 and was the right foot. This shoe had a distinctive tread pattern including the obvious impression of the word ‘Flash’ located in the heel. The suspect owned a pair of size 44 athletic shoes with the same tread and stated that he “may” have been wearing them on the night of Linda Cook’s murder. The difficult aspect of locating shoe impressions in forensic cases is that 96% of impressions aren’t used as sufficient forensic evidence (Moles & Sangha 2003). Only 250 pairs of these shoes had been sold in
As the number of rape cases has increased over the years, the detection of semen is the most reliable evidence in confirming sexual assaults. Injuries on the suspects face, arms and back were visible when he was arrested. Scratches were located on his right cheek, eyebrow, collar bone, elbows, forearm, index finger and left shoulder. Although an examining doctor said that these scratches could have been inflicted by the victim's struggle, Shirley claimed that the injuries were about four weeks old (Moles & Sangha 2003). However, Shirley’s defence, a consultant forensic physician testified that it was not possible to date the injuries with such accuracy. Upon examination of Cook’s body, it was evident that her long fingernails were unbroken and no trace evidence was found beneath the nails. The jury was not told this. The omission of this evidence proved to be detrimental to Shirley’s defence as he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987. By identifying the type of wound sustained by the victim, such as abrasions, contusions and lacerations, forensics