The Autopsy in Murder Investigation.

Autopsy in Murder Investigation
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Autopsy in Murder Investigation
Introduction
Autopsies are medical observatory procedures undertaken on bodies of murder victims to ascertain biological and physiological changes on them that could act as pointers towards evidence of foul play. The observation is often carried out by a qualified medical practitioner (mostly physician) whose job description bears a Medical Examiner title and works at a police precinct. The bodily changes identified therein are subject to interpretation and analysis. The resultant information determines important inferences such as time of death, the cause of death, and the possible murder weapon in the case of violent killings. Conventional autopsies are subject to standard practices and procedures pre-approved and agreed upon by medical and legal regulatory agencies. Unlike conventional medical procedures or private family autopsies, autopsy procedures occasioned by criminal activity suspicion are guided by various legal frameworks for evidentiary protocols. The information that an M.E obtains during the procedure constitutes prosecutorial evidence and is subject to various regulations regarding evidence such as chain of custody.
Frameworks for Conducting a Medico-Legal Autopsy
In the United States criminal justice system, individual states are the primary regulatory agencies on legal autopsies. Despite the reliance on individual states to set the prevailing protocols regarding medico-legal autopsies within their boundaries, most definitive protocols of the process are common across state lines. Some specifications, however, are consistent even across state lines. For instance, the personnel responsible for conducting autopsies must be qualified pathologists with extensive medical backgrounds. While some states call them coroners and others refer to them as Medical officers, the educational and professional backgrounds remain similar. Other frameworks of similar importance include the preliminary investigative protocols, which define the process’s environmental circumstances with detailed accounts of the prevailing events in that process. It is important to note that a forensic pathologist has to report on their observations of any death that involves the police. The initial observations of a forensic pathologist that a coroner to which a coroner refers in the even of the need for an autopsy (Menezes, & Monteiro, 2019).
The authority to order for a post-mortem procedure in legal matters, for instance, almost always rests with the coroner, the District Attorney’s office, and in extreme cases, a judge of a Circuit Court in all the states. During a post-mortem, the acting coroner often refers to a report by the pathologist who covered the scene with a focus on the latter’s notes on the manner of death and the cause of death. The preliminary stage’s first action often involves detailed note-taking with specific references to the location, time, and date of the event. Other specific information availed for the process includes the identities of witnesses present, which are often prosecutors, witnesses, and specified personnel, depending on the particular case. The summary of known circumstances comes next in the autopsy report with details on the victim’s identity and death and the events surrounding the scene of death at the time of discovering the body.
Subsequent steps of the autopsy include document and evidentiary reviews, external examination, and the victim identification process. Additional processes of the autopsy documentation protocol cover the body’s internal examination, general description of the body organs, and specific details on the wounds and injuries that characterize the corpse. Finally, the coroner establishes an evidentiary chain of custody before compiling a record of specimen retained and the patient’s examinations. Through each of these protocols, the justice system seeks to establish the reliability of the information that an autopsy reveals while maintaining a neutral look into the death events as manifest in the body. For optimal fairness and ideal justice, autopsies should be conducted earlier in an investigation before establishing a suspect list and forming a theory by any member of the investigation team. In addition to enhancing the fairness of the process, the protocols guarantee prosecutorial preparedness by safeguarding all the pertinent information and providing a means of protecting such information as provided for by the chain of custody requirements.
Standard Procedures for an Autopsy
Autopsy procedures start with determining whether or not a body ought to undergo a post mortem in criminal cases or where there are suspicions in the cause of death. A circuit judge, coroner, or prosecutorial fellow from the DA’s office are some of the people with actual power to order an autopsy. Following the authorization, the coroner starts by making detailed notes on various aspects of the condition of the corpse. Environmental temperature, its position at the scene, visible injuries, and any physical changes make their way into the report. From that point on, the procedure of autopsy involved pertains to an external examination, which subsequently develops into an internal examination before proceeding to toxicological investigation depending on the findings associated with the initial processes. Throughout each step, a coroner ought to have witnesses to the process and have to keep detailed notes that are subject to evidentiary regulations.
External examinations of a dead body for legal purposes entail observations based on a coroner’s senses of sight and touch. The presence of visible injuries such as abrasions, cuts, swellings, and bruises constitute external autopsy investigations. For the most part, it is necessary for obviously violent deaths whose perpetrators have done little to conceal their actions. However, its procedures go beyond injuries that are physically visible or felt, and, in some cases, infra-imaging constitutes external investigations. The requirement for X-ray imaging and MRIs on the body occurs when a coroner sees or feels a physical occurrence of interest in the corpse. Imaging is also a necessary activity for divulging additional information with enhanced clarity on the issues of concern with the victim. If a victim’s ribs are broken, for instance, a coroner, during MRI imaging, could establish the extent of damage to those ribs and materials or components that constitutes the weapon capable of realizing the extent of damage observed with the injury (Bitton, & Dayan, 2019).
Internal examinations during post mortem, on the other hand, entail unobstructed access into the internal organs of the victim’s body, which require opening up the abdomen, chest cavity, of pelvic area depending on the area of interest. Usually complemented by toxicology, the internal examination is carried out to observe the changes in internal body organs like the liver, heart, and lungs, which often discolor or recolor if blood comes in contact with certain chemical compounds. Internal examination of bodies is always associated with cases of poisoning even though it is handy in estimating the time of death depending on the discernable changes of the three organs. Sometimes though, observation alone may be inadequate, and, in such instances, incorporation of toxicology in the process of conducting an autopsy guarantees more accurate outcomes. After the incision and cuts are made, the coroner takes a piece of either the heart, lungs, or liver (depending on the area of interest) and passes them onto the lab for testing. In the case of suspicious compounds existing within the specimen, the stakeholders are able to identify and isolate their point of entry during the investigation process to solve the crime.
Role of Medico-Legal Autopsies in Criminal Justice
The goal of a criminal justice process is based on comprehending and punishing criminals who commit crimes. Conviction, however, requires the establishment of guilt beyond any reasonable doubt, and with murder, autopsies are significantly important in establishing guilt beyond doubt. Autopsies in murder investigations serve to determine the means of a killing, which in addition to motive, establish guilt. With autopsies, investigators are able to discern the time and manner of the commission of murder, which is helpful in upholding or dismissing an alibi. It also points to the murder weapon, providing information that leads to police uncovering the said weapon or at least describing it and establishing a suspect list based on that information. Simply put, autopsies are useful in guiding the investigation by narrowing down the suspects’ list and confirming or validating a suspect once the case is prosecuted (Amato, 2017).
Forensic investigation through an autopsy defines other important information such as the ferocity of murder based on the depth, intensity, and frequency of the wounds in the body as well as the angle or manner of commission. These data provide insight into factors like the height of a killer, their gender, and, most importantly, confirm a motive. A jilted lover, for instance, is more likely to commit a crime of passion, which is often messy and vengeful and, thus, exhibits ferocious occurrences like the multiplicity of stab wounds. Other details of interest that an autopsy can provide include the weight of an assailant, which often manifests in observations like the extent of chest compressions and the length of an attack. In other words, autopsies provide definite details, details which are important in upholding or dismissing cases against suspects. It testifies to the means of murder, giving pointers onto whether or not a suspect fits the crime.
Conclusion
While autopsies are medical processes, they have a legal significance in upholding justice and the rule of law as far as murders are concerned. They give pointers to the means of murder and helps to establish guilt or innocence. Autopsies are important for murder investigations in that they provide finer details regarding the horrific events that surround a murder scene. However, information from autopsies alone is often inadequate at completely solving crimes hence the need for additional investigatory activities like compiling witness statements and conducting forensic investigations of other aspects like blood spatter. Its legal significance, however, relies on the evidentiary protocol, and the instance any information on a murder scene obtained through an autopsy fail evidence regulations such as the chain of custody, its importance in a criminal case ceases.
 
 
References
Amato, D. (2017). What Happens if Autopsy Reports are Found Testimonial?. The Journal of Criminal and Criminology (1973-), 107(2), 293-324.
Bitton, Y., & Dayan, H. (2019). ‘The Perfect Murder’: An Exploratory Study of Staged Murder Scenes and Concealed Femicide. The British Journal of Criminology, 59(5), 1054-1075.
Menezes, R. G., & Monteiro, F. N. (2019). Forensic Autopsy.
 

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