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Paper Instructions:

Work-Related and Real-Life Based Project


In cases involving bloodstain patterns, bloodstain pattern analysts must make their interpretations of bloodstain patterns at a crime scene based on scientific principles. Observations and interpretations are based on a general understanding of biology, physics, and mathematics.

You are called as an expert witness for the prosecution who wants to introduce your interpretation of bloodstain patterns found at a crime scene. The following types of bloodstain evidence were identified and documented:
•The victim had evidence of petechial hemorrhage as a result of the attack.
•There was evidence of sharp force trauma to the victim as evidenced by apparent stab wounds.
•Other signs of trauma included lacerations to the head and apparent defensive wounds to the hand.

The prosecution needs you to articulate the following in regard to the various types of injuries sustained by the victim:
•What could have caused those types of injuries?
•Why was there minimal external blood found at the crime scene?

The prosecution also needs to prepare to rebut foreseeable defense motions. Discuss why bloodstain patterns are an accepted scientific discipline under both Frye and Daubert rules. Cite some case laws in your report.

The defense wants to argue that the victim was intoxicated and that the victim was attacking his client—the defendant—and that the injuries sustained were survivable if it were not for the victim's history of alcoholism. Prepare an argument on the effects of alcohol on bloodstains for the prosecution.

Prepare your answers in 1–3 pages, using the template provided.