Oct. 25 Neal Knox Update — The Maryland Joint Task Force
briefing last night several times said that John Muhammad’s
Bushmaster was “linked to” 11 of the murders, which is a vague
phrase.

BATF spokesman Mike Bouchard was far more precise, saying the
rifle was “forensically determined to be the murder weapon.” I
hope so, for I want to see Muhammad and, probably, Malvo put to
death for what they did.

But I doubt that all 11 of those murder bullet fragments are
a precise match to that particular gun. Forensics examiners tell
me that, like fingerprints (which more and more are being
successfully challenged in court), bullet forensics is as much art as
science.

Due to distortions in fingerprints because of the difference
between a neatly rolled print sample and someone grabbing an
object, fingerprint examiners testify concerning “points of
similarity.” Those distortions aren’t nearly as great as the
twisting a thin piece of bullet jacket gets on impact at close to
3000 feet per second.

They should be able to get an exact match to the one case left
at a scene for the rifle was only fired only a few times after the
case
was fired, and it was probably from the same box of ammo.

Even if the forensics guys can’t get an absolutely hard match
that will stand up in court in all 11 murders, they should have
enough hard evidence to convict — that one case at the middle school
shooting should do it.

But I’d bet hard money that scanning the striations on those
bullet fragments into the BATF database would not allow that
particular rifle to be picked out of a database of 100, much less
several thousand, other Bushmasters.

That’s critical, considering this string of murders is going
to be used as the main argument for a forensics database.

The examiners could clearly determine that the recovered
fragments were originally .224 caliber (dimension, not cartridge
name), had the matching rifling twist, matching land and groove
width, and possibly the matching groove depth, but I doubt the
striations were clear enough and precise enough to pick Muhammad’s
rifle out of a database of test bullets from similar rifles.

And that’s the issue when the Schumer-Kohl bill comes up.

————

With even Montgomery County Liberals eager to impose the
death penalty in this case, it’s worth noting that there’s a
moratorium on carrying out executions in Maryland, thanks to an
executive order from Gov. Parris Glendening at the insistence of
Lt. Gov. — now gubernatorial candidate — Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
May 3,2002 Washington Post)

I wonder how that little fact is going to affect her race
with Rep. Bob Ehrlich. It should.