Read “An Illustrative Homicide Case Involving Blood Patterns” Discussion question, law homework help

Read “An Illustrative Homicide Case Involving Blood Patterns” in your text, and review the included photos of evidence.

Looking at the bloodstain patterns on the husband’s clothing, and considering what you have learned about bloodstain patterns, are the patterns consistent with his story? If you do not think they are, why not? If your opinion is one that believes they add credibility to his story, document your reasoning based on the evidence.

Based on the blood pattern evidence shown in the photos, provide your interpretation as to what might have happened in this case.

The body of your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support your claims with examples from this week’s required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references. Here is the article they are talking about.

Case Illustration: An Illustrative Homicide Case Involving Blood Patterns

A man and his wife were living separately, but had not yet divorced. One day, the police received a call from the husband frantically asking for help, saying that his wife had been attacked and badly injured in her apartment, and that they should get there immediately. Police and paramedics responded.

The wife was lying on the kitchen floor bleeding profusely from a stab wound to the chest. She had other knife wounds on her body. There was blood in the living room as well, but not as much as in the kitchen. Paramedics quickly treated the victim and took her to a hospital where she died from her wounds. The medical examiner noted that the fatal wound was a stab wound to the chest through her heart at a slightly upward angle. Two nearly identical knives were at the scene, one on the living room sofa and another on the kitchen floor. They were serrated edge kitchen knives and both had blood on them.

After the paramedics removed the wounded victim, the police took pictures, examined the scene, and interviewed the husband who had called them. He had bloodstains all over his clothing, as shown on the manikin in the following images. The police later seized his clothing as evidence.

(left) Overall view clothing; (center) Close up view left side; (right) Back of jacket

(left) Pant legs; (center) Close up left pant leg; (right) Close up left pant leg cuff

The husband told the police that he had been at his own apartment when his estranged wife called him, very upset, and said that someone was trying to break in, so he should come immediately. When he arrived at her apartment, the door was locked and he no longer had a key, so he broke a front window and climbed through. A front window was, indeed, broken, and most of the shattered glass was inside the apartment, indicating that the window had been broken from the outside. The husband said he found his wife stabbed and bleeding, and that he had cradled her in his arms trying to comfort and help her, which is how the blood got onto his clothing. Right after that, he said he called the police.

All blood samples were analyzed and found to match the victim, not the estranged husband. Sometimes if a person has a victim’s blood on his clothing, it provides evidence against him. But in this case, the husband gave an explanation for the blood on his clothing.

Reflect On It

To have a better look at the bloodstains, their distribution, and patterns, examiners placed the husband’s clothing on a store dummy. The figure shows pictures taken of the clothes on the dummy. Looking at the bloodstain patterns on his clothing, and considering what you have learned about bloodstain patterns, are the patterns consistent with his story? If you don’t think they are, why not? And what do you think might have happened here that would be consistent with the blood pattern evidence?

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