Page 341 - Forensics News Today

Letters. it came from the same batch, if you will. but theyll also look at forensics. theyll look for fingerprints that arent accounted for on the envelope or the letter. theyll look for saliva, dna, hair, fingerprints, all of that. and theyll go through that in an effort to find the individual, which will then tell them what was the motive, was it indeed a political motive. >> how big a problem is it, fran, for the intelligence services in particular, and the fbi and the others in relation to t...

Homeland security adviser fran townsend sits on the cia and external advisory panels, and dr. sanjay gupta. fran, we have reports the letters mentioned the gun control debate over the joint terrorism task force investigating. it could be more of a political threat than a terror threat. >> thats right, anderson. as you mentioned, thats not really at the moment the most relevant piece to the investigators. they dont much care about motive at the moment. they want to know who. and so to determine t...

Earlier that theyre following leads related to the geographic area from where these letters were sent. they then look at the specific letters. that takes a little longer to see if whether or not there are dna samples that will lead you to a specific person. you know, you have to eliminate the sort of fingerprints that will naturally be on it because of people who handled or opened the mail. and eliminate those. so that is a more time consuming process. theyll walk through pretty deliberately the...

Frankly, whether it is a sort of terror threat or political threats is going to be treated the same for the moment. theyre going to get the confirmation of the preliminary tests that it is in fact ricin. theyll look for the strength. theyll also look at the forensics. theyll try to determine whether or not on the envelope or on the letter is there hair? is there saliva samples? there are fingerprints? one of the reasons i think you see the joint terrorism task force is investigating this, is bec...

The closeness in range as it relates to the shot, the fatal shot. those are going to become relevant and i think the defense needed to make the record but i think planning and anticipating going forward on the forensics. >> now, paul, the judge did agree to hold a hearing on whether the state failed to turn over some evidence including photos of a firearm in someones hand and deleted text messages. how could this help the defense? >> in the end, i dont think theyre going anyplace with that. even...

So that didnt surprise me at all. you can replicate it pretty much with a video and matters such as that. i will say, though, this ruling allowed to have happen is that it streamlined the case. the case basically is supposed to now be only about the facts that occurred at that fateful moment. why is that important i think forensics dictate the case. the closeness in range as it relates to the shot, the fatal shot. those are going to become relevant and i think the defense needed to make the reco...

"outfront," cnns national security analyst fran townsend and the person behind the movie "contagion." they mentioned the current debate over gun control. would that mean that this would be qualified as a political threat over a terror threat? how are the designations made? >> its really hard. frankly, whether it is a sort of terror threat or political threats is going to be treated the same for the moment. theyre going to get the confirmation of the preliminary tests that it is in fact ricin. th...

Itself made? are they the same in both letters? all those sorts of forensics take some time and real investigative work. >> ian, how effective is ricin as a weapon. you say it can be lethal. explain how it works. >> what it does is prevents cells from making new proteins. and proteins are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the cell. so its going to hit those cells that have to turn over rapidly like the ones that lay in your gastrointestinal tract. particularly if you ingest it. or the...

Moment. why is that important i think forensics dictate the case. the closeness in range as it relates to the shot, the fatal shot. those are going to become relevant and i think the defense needed to make the record but i think planning and anticipating going forward on the forensics. >> now, paul, the judge did agree to hold a hearing on whether the state failed to turn over some evidence including photos of a firearm in someones hand and deleted text messages. how could this help the defense?...

The plea deal. so why does it take 22 years for this officers testimony to be called into question? >> so this is an unusual murder case because the only evidence against this defendant was the testimony of the detective. so there was no real forensics, we know who killed the child. it was the boyfriend and the friend, the real question is was she involved? and the only evidence of that that we know is the confession. it is a literal he said and she said. in this case, what the other courts appa...