Latents on Cartridge Cases

[mark beck]

I am looking for a statistical study (published or unpublished), re: developing latents on cartridge cases or ammunition in general. Specifically I would like real data as to how often suitable latents are developed on fired cases. Thanks....Mark

[Pat A. Wertheim]

Hi Mark. Let's see, in my career, I think I have identified exactly three latent prints on cartridge cases. All three of those were visibly etched into shiny brass cases of cartridges in the magazines of autoloading handguns.

I do know of one brand new fingerprint examiner (brand new about 10 years ago) whose first case testimony was of a latent print he developed on a fired .22 shell he removed from a Saturday night special used in a murder. I think it's on this website, or should be. Kasey?

But to answer your question, I have never read or heard of a statistical study of casework latent prints.

[Charles Parker]

Mark, over the years I have developed a couple of latent prints from cartridge cases (unfired) and even had a couple of etched ones as well, but never a latent print on a spent casing, until May of 2000, in which one was developed with CA Fuming, then dye stained, then photographed, and then powdered and lifted. It was identified to the murder suspect. That is one and only one I have done on a shell casing (fired).

A couple of years ago I wrote a brief article on it and it was published in the Texas Division IAI newsletter. I have a digital copy. If you want a copy just e-mail me and I will send it to you. My e-mail address is listed on the memberlist.

At one time I was told that there are only 5 documented cases of this happening. I cannot prove or disprove that because the person that told me did not have a list.

It would be nice to create such a list of cases like Bill Sampson has done with LP on Skin, as this topic comes up on occassions.

Whatever your purpose I wish you luck.

PS After I published that article I got several groans from some friends who stated that now they would have to start processing spent shell casings again. Whatever.

"Truth is subjective---just pick one"------Shark

[Goldencloud]

Mark, If you have available, the "Proceedings of the International Symposium on Fingerprint Detection and Identification" from June 1995
(Israel Conference) there are two articles that refer to processing and results of, for cartridges fired and unfired. Starting on pages 155 and 161
One study by Antonio Cantu, USSS and one by Israel National Police.
If you do not have the "Proceedings" available I can mail you a copy of the articles.
Bill Willis
Johnson Co.KS Crime Lab

[Charles Parker]

Mark, there is another article as well:

William C. Sampson, "An Inquiry into the Methodology of Preserving and Developing Latent Prints on Expended Cartridge Casings". JFI, 1993, Vol. 43, Number 1, January-February, 1993.

[William Pepsis]

Mark,

Check out the following study with article from the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Forensic Science from 2004 in which they conducted experiments using both "fired" and "unfired" cartridge cases.

Fingerprints & Cartridge Cases: How Often are Fingerprints Found on Handled Cartridge Cases and Can These Fingerprints be Successfully Typed for DNA? Terry Spear, Jeanne Clark, Mike Guisto, Neda Khoshkebari, Michael Murphy, and John Rush.

If you are unable to locate this let me know and I will email the information to you.

Always remember another often overlooked possibility: If a positive development occurs on a fired cartridge case this may strongly indicate it may have been handled after the actual discharge.

[GatorCSI]

A colleague and I have been working on doing casings with a variety of techniques (superglue, dyestains, gun blue, powders, etc). We started with some fired casings, applied prints, processed, and obviously got prints.

Less successful have been our "real life" tests - prints were applied to unfired casings of various calibers, then fired, collected with usual crime scene procedures, then processed. So far, we have gotten 1 positive out of about 50 tries. This positive was on the metal of a 12ga shotgun shell with superglue and gun bluing. Interestingly enough, I contacted Rus Ruslander (who I learned gun bluing from) down in south Florida, and he has only ever gotten a positive off a 12ga fired as well.

I wish I had better things to report!

Teri DeWitt
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

[dsollitti]

Fingerprints & Cartridge Cases: How Often are Fingerprints Found on Handled Cartridge Cases and Can These Fingerprints Be Successfully Typed for DNA? Terry Spear, Jeanne Clark, Mike Giusto, Neda Khoshkebari, Michael Murphy and John Rush, California Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Forensic Services


Introduction

This study was designed to ascertain the likelihood of: (1) obtaining fingerprints on fired and unfired cartridge cases and (2) obtaining DNA typing results from any of the cartridge cases processed for fingerprints. A total of 48 cartridge cases were used in this study. The cartridge cases were made of brass, nickel-plated brass, and aluminum. They ranged in caliber from 22 to 45 (5.6mm – 11.4 mm). Three types of fingerprints were placed on these cartridges: bloody fingerprints, eccrine/sweat prints and oily prints. Half of these cartridges were fired after receiving the fingerprint impressions. The fired and unfired cartridges were stored for several months at room temperature and then processed for fingerprints. The bloody fingerprints were developed with amido black while the eccrine and oily prints were processed by cyanoacrylate fuming followed by rhodamine 6G dye and illumination with laser light. After the cartridges/cases were processed for fingerprints, DNA was collected from the cartridges/cases with dampened swabs. The samples on the swabs were then extracted for DNA and amplified with Applied Biosystem’s Profiler Plus STR reagent kit.

Experimental Data: Fingerprints on Fired and Unfired Cartridges

The tables, on the next 2 pages, outlines the information obtained from a visual examination of the fingerprints placed upon cartridges that were and were not fired. The table is organized according to whether the cartridges were fired and also according to the type of fingerprint placed on the cartridge: bloody fingerprint, eccrine/sweat fingerprint or oily fingerprint.

The bloody prints on all eight, unfired cartridges were visible without processing. It is interesting that the two useable or identifiable prints were found on aluminum cartridge cases (.45 caliber and 9mmP). The poor quality prints on the nickel and brass cartridges might be explained by what appeared to be a “hydrophobic” surface treatment of these metal surfaces that caused the liquid blood to be repelled when it was placed down. In contrast to the unfired cartridges, only 3/8 of the bloody prints on the cartridges were recognizable after the cartridges had been fired and only one of those prints was useable or identifiable.

None of the eccrine/sweat prints on the next 16 brass, nickel and aluminum cartridges were visible before processing. After processing, no useable or identifiable prints were developed.

The last set of prints examined were oily prints on 16 fired and unfired cartridges. Only three prints were classified as usable or identifiable after fingerprint processing and these prints were found only on cartridges that had not been fired.
Data from Unfired Cartridges


Unfired Cartridge # Type CC Metal type Bloody print/visible prior to processing? Bloody print/visible after processing? Print Classification Before Processing Print Classification After Processing
1 22LR brass Yes Yes No Value No Value
2 22LR nickel Yes Yes No Value No Value
3 45ACP aluminum Yes Yes Identifiable Identifiable
4 45ACP brass Yes Yes No Value No Value
5 45ACP nickel Yes Yes No Value No Value
6 9mmP aluminum Yes Yes Useable Useable
7 9mmP brass Yes Yes No Value No Value
8 9mmP nickel reload Yes Yes No Value No Value
Unfired Cartridge # Eccrine print/Visible prior to processing? Eccrinel print/Visible after processing? Print Classification Before Processing Print Classification After Processing
9 22LR brass No No No Print
10 22LR nickel No No No Print
11 45ACP aluminum No No No Print
12 45ACP brass No Yes No Value
13 45ACP nickel No No No Print
14 9mmP aluminum No Yes No Value
15 9mmP brass No No No Print
16 9mmP nickel reload No No No Print
Unfired Cartridge # Oil print/Visible prior to processing? Oil print/Visible after processing? Print Classification Before Processing Print Classification After Processing
17 22LR brass No Yes No Value
18 22LR nickel Yes Yes No Value No Value
19 45ACP aluminum No Yes No Value
20 45ACP brass Yes Yes Identifiable Identifiable
21 45ACP nickel Yes Yes Useable Useable
22 9mmP aluminum No Yes No Value
23 9mmP brass Yes Yes No Value No Value
24 9mmP nickel reload Yes Yes No Value Identifiable





Data from Fired Cartridge Cases


Fired Cartridge # Type CC Metal type Bloody print/visible prior to processing? Bloody print/visible after processing? Print Classification Before Processing Print Classification After Processing
1F 22LR brass No No No Print No Print
2F 22LR nickel No No No Print No Print
3F 45ACP aluminum Yes Yes No Value No Value
4F 45ACP brass Yes Yes Useable Useable
5F 45ACP nickel No No No Print No Print
6F 9mmP aluminum No Yes No Print No Value
7F 9mmP brass Yes Yes No Value No Value
8F 9mmP nickel reload No No No Print No Print
Fired Cartridge # Eccrine print/Visible prior to processing? Eccrine print/Visible after processing? Print Classification Before Processing Print Classification After Processing
9F 22LR brass No No No Print No Print
10F 22LR nickel No No No Print No Print
11F 45ACP aluminum No No No Print No Print
12F 45ACP brass No No No Print No Print
13F 45ACP nickel No No No Print No Print
14F 9mmP aluminum No No No Print No Print
15F 9mmP brass No No No Print No Print
16F 9mmP nickel reload No No No Print No Print
Fired Cartridge # Oil print/Visible prior to processing? Oil print/Visible after processing? Print Classification Before Processing Print Classification After Processing
17F 22LR brass No No No Print No Print
18F 22LR nickel No No No Print No Print
19F 45ACP aluminum No No No Print No Print
20F 45ACP brass No No No Print No Print
21F 45ACP nickel No No No Print No Print
22F 9mmP aluminum No No No Print No Print
23F 9mmP brass No No No Print No Print
24F 9mmP nickel reload No No No Print No Print


Conclusions from Fingerprint Data

The prints made for this study do not necessarily reflect what would be encountered on evidence cartridge cases. One reason these prints are different than evidence submissions is that bloody fingerprints are rarely seen on either fired cartridges cases or unfired cartridges submitted as evidence. Also, there was a deliberate attempt to impress fingerprints on the test cartridges for this study and this factor would not be too likely to operate in an actual case. Thus, these results are likely to represent the best-case scenario with respect to evidence cartridges and cartridge cases.

No usable prints were observed on any of the twelve smaller (22LR) cartridges cases (N=12) regardless of the type of fingerprint or fingerprint processing method used. In contrast, 6 useable prints were developed on the 9mmP and 45ACP cartridges (N=36). It is not too surprising that the chances of getting an identifiable or usable print are increased if the surface area available for the print is greater.

If the eccrine/sweat prints are considered separately, no useable prints were developed on any of the cartridges (N=16) with this type of print. This finding may have been impacted by the long time frame between the time the prints were deposited and the time the cartridges were processed (more than 6 months).

Finally, only 3 oily prints were classified as identifiable/usable and these 3 prints were found on the unfired cartridges (N=8). No useable, oily prints were found on any of the fired cartridge cases (N=8). Similar to the bloody prints, there was a greater likelihood of getting useable/identifiable prints on the unfired cartridges.

Overall, only 6 prints were classified as useable or identifiable on the 48 cartridges/cases examined. Only 1 of 24 fired cartridges had prints that were classified as usable or identifiable compared to 5 of 24 unfired cartridges having a usable or identifiable prints. Thus, the chance of obtaining a usable or identifiable print is greatly reduced if the cartridge is fired. Further, if the bloody prints are eliminated from this analysis, only 3 of 32 cartridges/cases displayed useable fingerprints and these were only found on unfired cartridges.


Data and Conclusions: DNA Profiles Recovered from Cartridges/Cases

After the cartridges/cases were processed for fingerprints, DNA was collected using moistened swabs. The samples on the swabs were organically extracted with phenol-chloroform. Since most of the samples were not expected to yield very much DNA, the resulting DNA extracts were amplified with Applied Biosystem’s Profiler Plus STR reagent kit. Only 3 DNA profiles were obtained from the 48 cartridges/cases that were tested. All 3 of these profiles were obtained from bloody prints: 2 profiles from cartridges that had not been fired and 1 profile from a cartridge case that had been fired. The profile obtained from the fired cartridge case showed typing information at 9 out of 10 loci [typing information was only missing at the D7 locus]. A higher success rate for obtaining DNA profiles might have been obtained if the cartridges/cases were not first processed for fingerprints.

Bloody prints are not frequently encountered on cartridge cases. If the bloody prints are eliminated from consideration, no DNA profiles were obtained on 32 cartridge/cases examined in this study. The failure to obtain DNA results on these cartridges/cases can likely be attributed to the small amount of DNA left behind on smooth metal surfaces and the use of fingerprint processing techniques that can significantly reduce the amount of DNA available for analysis.