Advanced Criminalistics: Review of Criminalist Report:
Project description:
You are a criminalist who has been asked to review the report of the forensic expert from the opposing attorney. You may not perform a re-analysis because the opposing expert used up the entire sample.
The relevant circumstances of the case are as follows:
A white powder was found by the crime scene team on the top of a bureau in a paper towel near a deceased male victim in the bedroom of his condominium. The evidence was properly collected, packaged, stored, and submitted to the laboratory.
The report contains the following information:
The powder weighed approximately 15 milligrams. The conclusion of the report was that the analyzed sample contained:
— Table salt (sodium chloride)
— Potato starch
— Sand grains
— Sodium benzoate
The report states that the forensic expert used only a gas chromatograph with a mass spectrometer detector to arrive at these results.
With this in mind, answer the following two questions:
1) Discuss why the analyst could not have arrived at the conclusion they did using the instrument they claim that they used; and
2) Explain what you would have used to arrive at those results assuming the results to be correct.