Mcveigh Bombing Case Study

“According to sources and documents, the pieces of evidence include: a pair of earplugs, recovered by authorities after McVeigh was arrested about 80 minutes after the bombing. The prosecution hopes to show at the trial that the plugs tested positive for NG, or nitroglycerine, which is used in high explosives and the production of dynamite, and EGDN, or ethylene glycol dinitrate, also used in dynamite. In addition, they plan to provide testimony that the residue traces found on the plugs are "consistent with" PETN, or pentaerythritol tetranitrate, a high-explosive compound that frequently has been found in bombings. McVeigh's jeans. The left pocket reportedly gave a positive "identification" for NG and a finding "consistent with" PETN. The right pocket tested positive for both NG and PETN. McVeigh's T-shirt with blue sleeves. Steven Burmeister, a chief analyst in the lab's chemistry and toxicology units, who is expected to be a key expert witness for the government, confirmed that PETN was identified on the shirt, according to the documents” (Serrano, 1997.) More evidence included: a second T-shirt worn that day by McVeigh was identified by Burmeister with carrying traces of PETN, McVeigh's knife and the knife's sheath with the knife blade gave a test
Those numbers demonstrate, she said, that there was no widespread contamination of evidence at the lab--as McVeigh's lead defense attorney, Stephen Jones, has alleged” (Serrano, 1997.) Prosecution plan to use the bomb residue discovered inside pieces of the back of the truck with McVeigh’s name on it, prove him to be the attacker (Serrano, 1997.)
References
Serrano, R. (1997, February 01). Prosecutors Focus Bombing Case on 6 Key Items. Retrieved August 06, 2017, from