PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

AND THE LEGAL SYSTEM

SPECIAL CERTIFICATE IN FORENSIC STUDIES
PCCM TRAINING CENTER, PASAY CITY

ROMMEL K MANWONG
Lecturer-Facilitator
 COVERAGE
I. Production of Physical Evidence
II. Classification of Physical Evidence
III. Processing Physical Evidence
IV. Scientific and Technical Evidence Admissibility
V. Expert Witness
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• How physical evidence is created during an incident
• Nature of impressions, imprints, indentations, and striations
• The Locard Exchange Principle
• How physical evidence might be classified in ways that are useful to investigators
• Major uses of physical evidence in cases
• The steps required for the effective discovery and use of physical evidence
• Packaging and preservation
• Types of laboratory analysis and their applicability to different types of physical
evidence
• Importance of reporting and testimony
• Admissibility of evidence
How Physical Evidence is Produced?
• Change induced at a scene
• Imprints or Indentations
• Striations
• Damage
• Exchange of material upon contact
• Deposits
CHANGE INDUCED AT A SCENE
- The deposit of something that was not previously there, or alteration
of something that was there. This reveal something occurred.

What can you deduce from the following:

A. blood pattern on a ceramic tile wall
B. A piece of broken necklace on the floor
C. A cigarette butt inside the bathroom
D. Body that was dump along the side of the highway
IMPRINTS OR INDENTATIONS
- Those prints that are produced when an object comes into contact with a
hard surface and leaves a two-dimensional representation of itself on the
floor or concrete surface in dirt, dust, blood or other medium.
- Prints such us footprint in a dust or blood or in the mud or snow can reveal
the presence of someone in that place.

What can you deduce from the following:

A. Footwear impression of a lettering “merrell”
B. Several other footwear impression of no lettering found on the other
rooms of the house where the “merrell” footwear impression was found
C. A latent fingerprint from the handgrip of a firearm
STRIATIONS
- Is defined as a number of parallel or nearly parallel lines or scratches
on a surface inscribed by another object passing over that surface.
- These are marking as a result of a hard (often metal or finished wood)
surface being marked by another object in motion along its surface.
- Sliding Toolmarks are classic forms of striation markings

What can you deduce from the following:

A. Marks left at the inside of a gun barrel on the bullet
B. Screw driver found inside a room of a forcedly open door
C. A bolt cutter left behind the house where wires are seen cut
DAMAGE
- Physical evidence can be produced as a result of damage, tearing
force, breakage, cuts, and many other processes. Many of these
processes produce two or three dimensional surfaces, which under
the right condition, may produce individualization and allow the
examiner to say that the pieces were at one time part of the same
object.

What can you deduce from the following:

A. A torn part of the Philippine flag patch was found at the crime
scene while the another portion was taken from a suspect
B. A broken headlight found at the highway canal nearby a vehicular
accident
C. A knife blade with a missing handgrip found beside a dead body
EXCHANGE OF MATERIAL UPON CONTACT
- Physical evidence can be generated through transfer of material
between surfaces that come into contact.
- The guiding principle is called “Locard Exchange Principle” in honor of
Edmund Locard who started one of the first forensic crime lab in
France.

What can you deduce from the following:

A. Animal hair was found on the clothing of an arrested robber.
B. White beach sand was found inside a jeepney parked at a urban
garage.
C. Human blood was detected from an old and rugged shoe packed
from a shoe rack.
DEPOSITS
- Physical evidence can also be derived from transfers resulting from a
deposit other than direct contact.
- Deposits can be made up of large quantities or materials, such as
blood, paints travelling through air and splattering into a surface, or
can be in smaller quantity or particles such as dust.
What can you deduce from the following:
A. Pollen of a plant taken from the clothes of a suspect
B. Oil stains from the maong pant of a dead body
C. Alcohol deposit and blood residue taken from the kitchen sink
D. Rags of oil and gas found near a farm house burned
 CLASSIFICATION OF PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
• First Thought – “Educated guess” upon
discovery of the physical evidence.
- Is it mainly useful for classification
(identification) (What it is)?
- Is it useful for individualization (provide
linkage persons and things)?
• Second thought – “Reconstruct” the
scene
 Classify the following gathered items from the crime scene:

Firearm (.38 cal) __

Seminal fluid __ Objects (O) Body Materials Impressions
(BM) (I)
Slug (fired bullet) __
Shoe impression __
Pieces of broken glass __
Lighter __
Hair __
Blood on floor & bathroom __
Cigarette butt __
Fiber __
Fingerprint __
Investigative Leads of Physical Evidence
• Developing MO file and leads from DATA BASES
- Modus Operandi – behavioral patterns or habits of criminals, repeated
action of criminals in different crimes, mode of criminal operation.

***Careful examination of items left behind in the crime scene by

perpetrators can lead to criminal MO.
e.g. how the house door was broken by a robber, how the victim was
attacked by an assailant can lead to just one person.
*** Establish data bases alike AFIS, IBIS, DNA etc.
Databases of the following are very useful
for investigation:

A. Fingerprints
B. Bullets
C. Facial features
D. Tire prints
E. Shoeprints
F. Signatures and handwritings
G. Serial Numbers (products, firearms,
vehicles)
H. Vehicle plates
I. ID system
J. Passports
K. Chips
Linkages or Exclusions of Physical Evidence
• LINKAGE – connection, relationship, association between objects and or
persons. e.g. We maybe able to say that a particular individual is the
primary suspect in a sexual assault because we found a seminal material in
the 80-yr-old victim’s viginal tract that came from the defendant.

From the following, give a story on linkage or exclusion: “No, I was never on
that place!” scenario.
A. Paint chips from a hit and run victim’s clothing
B. Fiber transfer from a struggle
C. Soil on a suspect's shoe from an outdoor crime scene
 PHYSICAL EVIDENCE PROCESS
• The criminal Justice System requires series of steps to be taken in
proper sequence as follows:

1. RECOGNITION
2. DOCUMENTATION AND MARKING FOR IDENTIFICATION
3. COLLECTION, PACKAGING, AND PRESERVATION
4. LABORATORY ANALYSIS
5. REPORTING AND TESTIMONY
 …REMEMBER THE GOLDEN RULE OF INVESTIGATION!

Do not touch, alter, or move anything

from the crime scene unless it is properly
sketched, marked, measured,
photographed or otherwise preserved!
FIRST STEP:
RECOGNITION – Is the object useful as physical evidence?
***Factors considered: Education-training-experience of
investigator

SECOND STEP:
DOCUMENTATION AND MARKING FOR IDENTIFICATION
- Must be complete and accurate – fulfilment of the legal
and scientific requirement of the CHAIN OF CUSTODY.
- What is the item? Location of item? Size?
Number/measurement? Name of collector? Time and
date of collection? To whom it was transferred (who
received the collected items)? Time and date of transfer?
**Any break in the chain will likely destroy the value of
items and may not be admitted as evidence.
THIRD STEP:
COLLECTION, PACKAGING AND PRESEVATION
- After recognition and documentation, the physical
evidence must be collected, package and preserved.

*biological evidence packed inappropriately by untrained

individuals can reach the laboratory in a condition
unsuitable for analysis.
How do you pack and preserve the following:
AVAILABLE KITS: plastic bag - paper bag - cotton cloth -
wooden box –assorted size bottles - assorted types of tapes
-blood, marijuana, kitchen knife, bullet, cigar butt (saliva),
firearm, hair
-fingerprint, spill of alcoholic beverage, computer chips
 NOTA BENE:
PHOTOGRAPHY IS THE SINGLE MOST POWERFUL TOOL
OF PRESERVING PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Evidence – Recording & Preserving
Evidence – Recording & Preserving
Evidence – Recording & Preserving
Evidence – Recording & Preserving
Evidence – Recording & Preserving
Evidence – Recording & Preserving
FOURTH STEP:
LABORATORY ANALYSIS
- The process involves comparison between
evidentiary specimen and known specimen.
- Evidentiary specimen are called
QUESTIONED SPECIMEN (or Q)
- Known specimens are called KNOWN (or K)

*Questioned Specimen – is a piece of

potential evidentiary material that will be
examined and maybe compared to a control
specimen.
 CASE SCENARIO
• In a remote barangay in Baguio City, someone noticed a considerable
amount of what appeared to be bloody rags and papers in a
dumpster and called the police station nearby.
• The responding officers thought that this material might have
resulted from a violent incident. It was collected and brought to the
crime laboratory.
• Laboratory examination of the blood reveals it was not human blood
but it established that the blood was consistent with a dog blood.
• Clearly, it was not homicide.
• A case of “VIOLATION OF ANIMAL WELFARE ACT”
NOTA BENE: Physical evidence examination may help determine what
type of incident or crime has occurred.
FIFTH STEP:
REPORTING AND TESTIMONY
- Reporting is the actual putting into writing the
findings of laboratory analysis of items subject of
an investigation.
- Testimony is the legal requirement for a
forensic scientist to serve as an expert witness
in court.

***EXPERT WITNESS- one who, by training,

knowledge, or experience is a specialist in a
subject and therefore is qualified to give opinion
testimony in a legal setting.
 The Criminal Justice System Flowchart
Incident Undetected or
Unreported
Detected and
Is it a crime? reported No Action

Yes
No Documentation
Is there a Scene Yes
Forensic Laboratory
Evidence Collection
No
Report
Investigation
No Criminal Action No Suspect
Suspect
Unsolved Arrest Identified
Ne w Evidence
Open Case
No Charges
Closed Case Charges Filed Report

Guilty Plea
Conviction Plea Negotiations Report

Sentencing & Sanction Trial Acquittal

Not Guilty
Guilty

Imprisonment Release
Scientific and Technical Evidence Admissibility
and the Expert Witness
• The most basic standard for admissibility is RELEVANCE and applies to
both technical and scientific evidence.
• The evidence must be pertinent to the case and have a potential of
helping the judge to come up with a decision.
• FRYE RULE – standard of admissibility of evidence which put emphasis
on “GENERAL ACCEPTANCE” in the scientific community.
 The DAUBERT RULE:
A witness who is qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience,
training, or education may testify in the form of an opinion or
otherwise if:
(a) The expert’s scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will
help the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact
in issue;
(b) The testimony is based on sufficient facts or data;
(c) The testimony is the product of reliable principles and methods; and
(d) The expert has reliably applied the principles and methods to the
facts of the case.
 Court Exhibits

 Demonstration Enlargements
 Individual Photos
 Projection Slides
 Motion Pictures
 Documents
Evidence – Discovering & Proving
Ultra-Violet Photography
Macro Photography with transmitted light
Macro Photography with side-lighting
Evidence – Discovering & Proving
Ink over writings
Macro Photography with Infrared photography
Evidence – Proving
Macro Photography with Polilight (ALS)
Evidence – Discovering & Proving
 END OF PRESENTATION…
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

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