Maryland State Supreme Court on firearms ballistics matching

[Chucktshoes]

The Maryland Supreme Court has decided that firearms ballistic experts cannot give unqualified testimony regarding whether or not a particular bullet was fired from a particular gun because it’s just not scientifically possible. This is an excellent, excellent decision from a court striking at the junk science that comprises most of crime scene forensics.CSI may have been enjoyable television, but it’s also mostly science, fiction and fantasy.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/marylands-highest-court-limits-ballistics-evidence-trials-100286757

 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by Chucktshoes

[Erik88]

32 minutes ago, Chucktshoes said:

The Maryland Supreme Court has decided that firearms ballistic experts cannot give unqualified testimony regarding whether or not a particular bullet was fired from a particular gun because it’s just not scientifically possible. This is an excellent, excellent decision from a court striking at the junk science that comprises most of crime scene forensics.CSI may have been enjoyable television, but it’s also mostly science, fiction and fantasy.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/marylands-highest-court-limits-ballistics-evidence-trials-100286757

 

 

I have wondered about this for years. It never seemed like an actual science. Same with bite marks. I think they finally stopped allowing that after several people were falsely convicted because of junk bite mark "science". Thanks for sharing this news. 

[Grunt67]

There is a lot of " junk science " out there. To me arson leads the pack.

[peejman]

2 hours ago, Chucktshoes said:

The Maryland Supreme Court has decided that firearms ballistic experts cannot give unqualified testimony regarding whether or not a particular bullet was fired from a particular gun because it’s just not scientifically possible. This is an excellent, excellent decision from a court striking at the junk science that comprises most of crime scene forensics.CSI may have been enjoyable television, but it’s also mostly science, fiction and fantasy.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/marylands-highest-court-limits-ballistics-evidence-trials-100286757

 

 

It's always seemed like this would be super easy for any decent lawyer to refute in court. 

A basic knowledge of statistics says its all  total nonsense. Even calling it "science" bugs me.  Some universities offer a degree in forensic science, I hope there's more to it than this bullet matching silliness. 

[hipower]

Yep. Cop shows seem to be the worst. This guy was shot from a 1988 Baldur Pistol. It's a 12mm and only shoots 10 rounds. The marks on the totally destroyed slug match this gun only! Tecnical Experts my butt!!

[RED333]

G. Gordon Liddy caught crap years ago talking about how you could change the marks left on a bullet from the barrel by using a rat tail file in the barrel. I remember it went on for a few days, people from LEO to everyday people calling him out for helping bad guys. He response was something like bad guys know how to change the marks in a barrel, so I have told the bad guys nothing.

[Chucktshoes]

18 hours ago, RED333 said:

G. Gordon Liddy caught crap years ago talking about how you could change the marks left on a bullet from the barrel by using a rat tail file in the barrel. I remember it went on for a few days, people from LEO to everyday people calling him out for helping bad guys. He response was something like bad guys know how to change the marks in a barrel, so I have told the bad guys nothing.

Hell, you don’t even have to take a file to it. Just shoot it enough and it’ll change on its own through wear. 

[crc4]

Very interesting discussion in depth of the Maryland decision on the use of forensic bullet matching 'science' by attorneys Andrew Branca and Steve Gosney.

Doubts Over Bullet-Matching: Court Shakes Forensic Science Foundation

[MacGyver]

One of my hobbies as a forensic scientist is going back and taking an in depth look at old cases - and being amazed at the ones we couldn't even bring to trial today much less get a conviction on because the "forensics" is garbage.

So much legacy crime scene forensics is pseudoscience at best.  Most ballistics, blood spatter, fiber analysis, is just garbage.

Case in point - one of our most famous cases in Tennessee.  James Earl Ray bought a Remington 760 Gamemaster in Birmingham that was recovered on the street - neatly wrapped up in a quilt - in Memphis.  It was chambered in .30-06.  A 30 caliber slug killed Dr. King on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.  Problem is - the fragments of the slug recovered from Dr. King absolutely don't match the twist rate of the aforementioned Gamemaster.  The rifle that was recovered didn't kill Dr. King.

Same with a famous case from my childhood in Atlanta - Wayne Williams - convicted of the Atlanta child murders.  We couldn't even bring that case to trial today.

[Erik88]

35 minutes ago, MacGyver said:

The rifle that was recovered didn't kill Dr. King.

Because James Earl Ray did not kill Dr King. He likely wasn't even involved. One of the best frame jobs in history. 

Did you listen to that podcast yet? 

[Alleycat72]

16 hours ago, Chucktshoes said:

Hell, you don’t even have to take a file to it. Just shoot it enough and it’ll change on its own through wear. 

Really only takes "one shot"

 

[MacGyver]

2 hours ago, Erik88 said:

Because James Earl Ray did not kill Dr King. He likely wasn't even involved. One of the best frame jobs in history. 

Did you listen to that podcast yet? 

The MLK Tapes?  Yes.

Bill Pepper may not be a totally reliable narrator - but he doesn’t have to be. The King family doesn’t believe he did it either. 

[bersaguy]

I never thought Ray killed King and never believed Oswald killed Kennedy. The McGruder film shows Kennedy being pushed forward by a bullet from possibly Oswald that ended up in the Governor of Texas hand. Kennedys head being blown backwards and back of his head destroyed and Oswald was shooting from an elevated location behind the motorcade. Kennedy was shot from street level. There was 2 shooters in Dallas that day. Oswald and  Professional hitman, code name Saul. It will all come out when they finally release all the records....JMHO