Skip navigation
Criminal Legal News
Disciplinary Self-Help Litigation Manual - Header
× You have 2 more free articles available this month. Subscribe today.

Tales From the ‘Tails’ of Bloodstains

Loaded on Feb. 15, 2024 by Douglas Ankney published in Criminal Legal News February, 2024, page 15
Filed under: Commentary/Reviews, junk science, Eyewitness Testimony. Location: United States of America.

by Douglas Ankney

Protrusions that deviate from the boundaries of otherwise elliptical bloodstains—known as “tails”—may provide additional relevant crime-scene evidence, according to James Bird, scientist and co-author of a study appearing in the journal Physics of Fluids.

A group of scientists from Boston University and University of Utah demonstrated that tail length can generate information regarding “the size, impact speed, and impact angle” of the droplet that formed the stain. By measuring several stains in a bloodstain pattern, “the trajectories of the drops can be backtracked to their presumed origin.”

Previous studies focused primarily on large blood drops falling vertically on either flat or inclined surfaces where gravity may either obscure or reshape tails. But this new study “involved a series of high-speed experiments with human blood droplets with diameters of less than a millimeter impacting horizontal surfaces at various angles.”

Bird said, “[k]nowing the origin of blood stains at a crime scene can help detectives determine whether a victim was standing or sitting, or help corroborate or question a witness’s testimony.”  

 

Source: forensicmag.com

As a digital subscriber to Criminal Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.

Subscribe today

Already a subscriber? Login

More from this issue:

  1. Geofence Warrants: The Mass Location Surveillance and Privacy Threat Created by Google May Be Eliminated by Its Creator, by Anthony Accurso
  2. Minnesota Supreme Court Announces Odor of Marijuana Alone Emanating From Vehicle Insufficient for Probable Cause to Search Under Automobile Exception, by Anthony Accurso
  3. Michigan Supreme Court: Defendant’s Statements Involuntary and Inadmissible, by Douglas Ankney
  4. Tales From the ‘Tails’ of Bloodstains, by Douglas Ankney
  5. New Jersey Supreme Court Excludes CSLI Testimony Based on Agent’s ‘Rule Of Thumb’ Method for Determining Defendant’s Location, by Anthony Accurso
  6. New Night-Vision Capable Drone Marketed to Police, by Anthony Accurso
  7. Missouri Supreme Court Orders Dismissal of Pending Charges Where Trial Court Failed to Bring Prisoner to Trial Within 180-Day Limitations Period Provided for in ‘Interstate Agreement on Detainers’, by Douglas Ankney
  8. Third Circuit: Defendant Not on Rental Agreement Had Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Car Because He Had Dominion and Control of Car Where Renter Gave Keys to Him, He Was in Possession of Them Upon Arrest, and Car Parked Nearby, by Anthony Accurso
  9. NYPD Has Spent Millions of Dollars on Social Media Analysis Tools, by Jo Ellen Nott
  10. New York Court of Appeals: Forensic Findings Establishing Possible Alternative Cause of Injuries in Sex-Crime Prosecution Admissible Under ‘Interest of Justice’ Exception to Rape Shield Law, by David Reutter
  11. The Diminishment of Miranda Is Leading to False Confessions and Conviction of Innocents, by David Reutter
  12. FBI Works to Expand Court Authority for Its Offensive Cyber Operations, by Anthony Accurso
  13. Fifth Circuit Announces Revocation Judgments for Violation of Supervised Release Vacated Because Underlying Sentence Vacated, by Anthony Accurso
  14. Third Circuit: Defense Counsel Ineffective Under Strickland Where Counsel Sat Silent After Judge Threatened to Charge Witness With Perjury Unless Testimony Changed, by Douglas Ankney
  15. Study Raises Alarms About Inaccuracies and Bias in Gun Forensics Reporting, by Jo Ellen Nott
  16. Ninth Circuit Announces District Courts Must Either Orally Pronounce All Discretionary ‘Standard’ Conditions of Supervised Release in the Presence of Defendant or Provide Conditions in Writing Prior to Sentencing, by Douglas Ankney
  17. The Problem with Some Non-Carceral Punishments, by Carlo Difundo
  18. Researchers Find Fiber Evidence Lasts Longer Underwater Than Previously Thought, by Jo Ellen Nott
  19. Who Let the Dogs Out? Robotic Dogs Are the Newest (and Scariest) Surveillance Tech in U.S. Police Departments, by Jo Ellen Nott
  20. After Ohio Becomes 24th State to Legalize Recreational Marijuana, What Next?, by Jordan Arizmendi
  21. DHS Allows CBP and ICE Officers to Create Fake Social Media Profiles to Track Subjects of Interest and Conduct Investigations, by Jo Ellen Nott
  22. Fourth Circuit: Walking Past Unoccupied Home With Bulging Pocket and Attempting to Evade Neighborhood Tipster Insufficient for Reasonable Suspicion to Seize and Search, by Anthony Accurso
  23. Harris County, Texas, Settles Civil Rights Case for $1.5 Million Brought by Innocent Man Shot in His Home Five Times by Trigger-Happy Deputy, by Jo Ellen Nott
  24. DEA’s Domestic Surveillance Mission Creep: Beyond Drugs, Beyond Protests, by Jo Ellen Nott
  25. New Mexico Supreme Court Announces Marquez’s Holding That ‘Crime of Shooting at or From Motor Vehicle Cannot Be Predicate Felony Supporting Charge of Felony Murder’ Is New Substantive Rule and Applies Retroactively, by Douglas Ankney
  26. The Potential Privacy Threat of Generative AI, by Michael Thompson
  27. Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Testimonial References to Post-Arrest Silence Cannot Be Used Against Defendant at Trial, Pre-Arrest Harmless Error Analysis Does Not Apply, by Anthony Accurso
  28. Evidence Shows When Researchers Work Alongside Cops in the Field, De-escalation Training Is Implemented and Effective, by Douglas Ankney
  29. Data Mining: Law Enforcement Pays Cash for Your Private Data and Saves on the Hassle of Complying With the Fourth Amendment, by Douglas Ankney
  30. Sixth Circuit Announces Due Process Right to ‘Prompt’ Post-Seizure Hearing While Government Deciding Whether to Initiate Forfeiture Proceedings and Holds Wayne County’s Vehicle Forfeiture Program Violates Due Process, by Matthew Clarke
  31. Idaho Supreme Court Announces Adoption of ‘Primary Purpose’ Standard for Reviewing Police Decision to Impound Vehicles and Conduct Inventory Search to Prevent Pretextual Searches in Violation of Fourth Amendment, by Anthony Accurso
  32. Steady Improvement in Techniques for the Analysis of Degraded DNA, by Douglas Ankney
  33. Indiana Supreme Court Announces Civil Forfeiture Triggers Right to Jury Trial, by Matthew Clarke
  34. Study Finds Public Defenders’ Heavy Workloads Prevent Effective Representation, Amendments to 50-Year-Old Guidelines Recommended, by Douglas Ankney
  35. Kentucky Supreme Court: Trial Court Abused Discretion by ‘Rehabilitating’ Juror Who Indicated Could Not Be Impartial and Failing to Strike Juror, by David Reutter
  36. Identification Via DNA, Fingerprints, and 3D Scanning of Footwear, by Douglas Ankney
  37. Vendors Late to Recognize the Serious Threat of Cell-Site Simulators, by Michael Thompson
  38. Car Culture Dramatically Increases Number of Cop Confrontations, by Matthew Clarke
  39. News in Brief

More from Douglas Ankney:

More from these topics:

 

 

CLN Subscribe Now Ad 450x600
Advertise here
The Habeas Citebook: Prosecutorial Misconduct Side