Edward E. Hueske
Criminalistics Program Coordinator
Department of Criminal Justice
University of North Texas
Key words: Break Free©, crime scene, death investigation, firearm, staging, unintentional discharge.
Abstract: Indicators of staging are something every investigator should be on the lookout for at crime scenes. Common examples include placing a firearm in the hand of a murder victim to make it appear as a suicide and re-positioning homicide victims in an effort to throw investigators off track. A rather unusual example of scene staging resulted when a woman was shot to death by her husband and then the firearm sprayed with Break Free© solvent and placed next to her, along with other gun cleaning materials, in an apparent effort to make it appear that the firearm had unintentionally discharged during cleaning. Subsequent testing demonstrated that the Break Free© was, in all probability, sprayed on after discharge, not before.
Introduction
A police officer called 911 from his residence claiming that he had started to clean his service weapon, a Glock model 17 9 mm pistol, but decided to go on an errand first. He said that when he returned a short time later, he found his wife shot and the gun and cleaning materials lying on the bed next to her body. He said he had unloaded the gun before leaving but the gun was found with a live round in the chamber and rounds in the magazine. He claimed that she had cleaned the gun for him in the past and must have been doing so again.
Investigators noted that the exterior of the pistol appeared to be “dripping wet” with apparent cleaning solvent. An aerosol can of Break Free© was lying close by with the cap off. A blood transfer was visible on the side of the can. Upon removal of the magazine, investigators noted that it too had a liberal coating of solvent. Subsequent laboratory analysis confirmed that the transfer stain on the can was consistent with the dead woman’s DNA profile. Other testing revealed that the residue on the pistol and magazine was consistent with Break Free© but that no similar residue could be found on either the woman’s hands or her clothing.
The obvious question to be answered was whether the solvent was applied before the discharge or after it. Unfortunately none of the investigators or analysts thought to inspect/swab the bore of the pistol or to even photograph the muzzle prior to test firing it. This type of inspection should always be requested by investigators so that the possible presence of blood or other trace evidence (cleaning solvent in this case) in the bore may be documented. Additionally, this should be a part of the standard examination protocol for the crime lab, whether investigators request it or not.
Although no photographs of the solvent present on the magazine were taken (the presence of solvent was described in a report only), there were photographs taken of both sides of the pistol. These photographs are shown in images 1 and 2. Two things can be seen in these images: there is an excessive amount of solvent present, particularly at the muzzle end and there is no evidence of any handling (i.e. disruption of the solvent residue).
Testing
In the absence of a barrel swab of the bore prior to the test firing associated with the crime lab’s original examination, it was decided by the writer to use the crime scene photographs of the solvent residue on the pistol to set up test firing with a similar weapon (the incident weapon was not available) with a comparable amount of solvent present to evaluate what, if any, distinction might be possible between pre-firing solvent appearance and post-firing.
An aerosol can of Break Free© like that found at the scene was acquired and used it to spray visually similar amounts of solvents onto the exterior of two weapons from the writer’s personal collection, a 9 mm Ruger P85 pistol and a 40 caliber Glock model 23. These particular weapons were selected so that both the Glock platform and 9 mm ammunition (similar to that used in the incident) could be tested.
The hypothesis to be tested was that the heavy coating of solvent on the slide, and particularly around the muzzle, of the incident weapon would have shown signs of disruption from a combination of the muzzle blast and the cycling of the action upon discharge. Secondarily, it was believed that upon discharge, solvent residue would likely be deposited on the clothing around the entry hole (no such residue had been found on the victim’s clothing). The two weapons were sprayed with Break Free© to simulate the appearance of the incident weapon as photographed at the crime scene. Accompanying images 3 and 4 show the test weapons just prior to discharge.
The crime lab had done distance testing, based upon gun powder deposition on the victim’s clothing, and determined that the muzzle to target distance was between 3 and 6 inches. Accordingly, the pistols utilized for this testing were fired from a muzzle to target distance of approximately 4 ½ inches. The target medium used was craft paper, a white, synthetic material typically used by this writer for distance determination testing.
Results
The test firing of both pistols produced similar results: there was obvious deposition of solvent droplets over the surfaces of the pistols and on the craft paper targets. Repeated shots under similar conditions produced similar results. Typical results are illustrated in images 5 – 8.
Conclusion
The absence of similar visible solvent droplets on the incident weapon and the victim’s clothing, along with the lack of evidence of handling and the absence of solvent residue on the victim’s hands, is inconsistent with the solvent having been present prior to discharge. This is indicative of the Break Free© having been applied after the weapon was discharged.
Discussion
As already stated, standard laboratory firearms examination protocol should include detailed photographs of all surfaces of a firearm where trace evidence is a consideration. Additionally, bore inspection and bore swabbing prior to test firing should also be standard procedure so that trace evidence may be documented and recovered. Swabs of the external surfaces of firearms, particularly the trigger, grip, slide, cylinder/magazine and ammunition, should be taken for touch DNA analysis. Had all this been done in this case, a much stronger conclusion might have been warranted.
Images
Crime scene photo showing excessive solvent present on incident pistol
Crime scene photo showing excessive solvent present on incident pistol
