Reference no: EM133434401

Scenario:

At 9:47 P.M., the 911 operator answered a call. The caller reported hearing multiple gunshots in the area of Main Street and Oak Boulevard. Police were immediately dispatched to the area.

Officers Barber and Coley arrived on the scene at 9:59 P.M. After carefully assessing the scene to make sure there were no injured victims, Coley began interviewing potential witnesses. As she did so, Barber placed a call to crime-scene investigators.

At 10:15 P.M., investigators began a thorough search of the area. Investigators flagged, photographed, and collected evidence, including:

•Blood spatter on the side of the corner building facing Main Street; gravitational drops leading across the street, up a set of stairs, and into an apartment

• Bullet casings from multiple weapons-.45 and .357 calibers

• Tire tracks in mud on the side of the road and similar tracks and skid marks in the middle of Oak Street

• A piece of red cloth, consistent with a t-shirt, on the street near the skid marks

• Some dark blue paint on a baseball bat on the ground near the blood

Barber radioed for backup officers to help search the apartment, and paramedics were called to the scene. At 10:45 P.M., additional officers and paramedics arrived. Officers Moses and Moore followed the path of blood drops to Apartment C and knocked on the door. An elderly woman answered the door and invited the officers in. She allowed them to search the rooms. In the bathroom, the officers found an unconscious male on the floor; he had a blood-soaked towel wrapped around his leg. Paramedics transported him to the nearest hospital. The injured male was identified by his grandmother as Neil Marshall.

After interviewing witnesses, police were able to piece together the following chain of events: • At 9:30 P.M., a group of young men in a late-model black car pulled up and began talking to two males. • The discussion got louder as it progressed, and one of the young men standing next to the car hit the driver's door with a bat.

• The other young man outside the car pulled out a knife and stabbed at the passenger in the backseat on the driver's side, cutting the passenger and ripping his shirt.

• The passengers in the car began shouting, pulled out guns, and began shooting as the car sped away, tires squealing. • Sara Fuller was watching television in an apartment across the street and heard the shots fired. She immediately reported the incident.

Several hours later, a late-model dark blue sedan was found abandoned several blocks from the shooting. Officers impounded the car. Scientists from the forensic laboratories found traces of gunpowder on the back door behind the driver and on the upholstery in the middle of the backseat, a small smear of blood-type O-on the same back door, and a dent to the driver's door. Multiple fingerprints were found, but none matched any of the database records. The car had been reported stolen three days earlier.

When the injured male regained consciousness, he identified the young men in the car as Bart Lambert, Calvin Davis, Joseph Rivera, and Garrison Hastings. The young men were brought in for questioning. Officers read the young men their Miranda rights before questioning them.

• B. Lambert, born 12/13/80: tested positive for gunshot residue, had no visible wounds, had a Colt .45 in his possession • C. Davis, born 6/01/81: negative for gunshot residue, no visible wounds, but confessed to being present at the scene, had a knife, a 9 mm Browning and a .22 Berretta in his possession

• J. Rivera, born 4/27/82: positive for gunshot residue, a superficial cut to the left shoulder, wearing a red t-shirt with a piece of the sleeve missing, had a knife in his possession

• G. Hastings, born 7/04/89: negative for gunshot residue, no visible wounds

During the interview, it was determined the four were indeed involved in the incident. Each was then interrogated. The front-seat passenger, fearing jail, confessed and made a complete statement naming the driver and both shooters.

Question:

sequence of events, based on evidence and witness testimony further documentation and reports you would include in the case file

3. Can it be determined who shot Marshall? Why or why not?

4. Can it be determined who wounded Rivera? Why or why not?

5. Categorize all of the evidence collected as direct or circumstantial, as well as physical or biological.

6. If you were part of the investigation team, what further evidence would you like to obtain?