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body “appeared to be a straight line.” She said that it struck the ninth rib, shattering it, “which could cause the bullet to mushroom.”
The wound, Dr. Field concluded, was consistent with a low-velocity, low power bullet.
Mr. Luke established, during cross-examination, that Dr. Field relied on the telephone report in establishing her judgement about the relationship between distance and powder residue.
“Do you ever. . . follow up to see if that is the distance of the gun?”
“No,” Dr. Field replied.
“If the facts determine later that the bullet was actually fired from 100 feet, you wouldn’t know?”
“No,” Dr. Field admitted.
“Your judgement,” Mr. Luke continued, “is essentially based on the pre-autopsy report — not subsequent corroboration.”
“Yes.”
Dr. Field also said that the fact that powder debris was found in the wound does not necessarily mean that it came from the bullet fired; that powder spilled onto the wound or stuck to the outside of the cartridge would appear the same.
The next defense witness was Jay Mason, a forensic scientist and firearms expert with the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Northern Virginia Consolidated Laboratory in Fairfax.
Mr. Mason corroborated Dr. Field’s testimony that it would be unusual to find powder residue in a wound caused from further than six feet away. He added that he had never seen it in a gunshot wound from as close as 10 feet, and that powder would not adhere to the top of the bullet as it travelled.
He said the only explanation of powder in a wound at 194 feet would be if powder residue attached to the base of the bullet, “but it would be a very small amount. That is possible, but I have never seen it... It could be one or two grains — max — I wouldn’t expect to find four or five particles visible to the naked eye.” He added that a round with a curved base, or boat-tail, would be more likely to carry powder than a flatbased bullet, and that powder would adhere more easily to a lead bullet than to a copper-jacketed round.
Mr. Mason said the type of bullet
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