On the third day of a retrial of an October 2008 Virginia murder conviction, forensics supervisors testified that the forensic firearms analysis in the case was incomplete, did not follow procedure, missed the presence of telltale gunpowder particles, and used inappropriate fabric to judge the firing distance.

The victim’s body was exhumed to prove the exact length of her arm, a crucial element in the muzzle-to-wound distance estimated by the original forensics investigators to determine whether the death was murder or suicide.

The conclusions and results stemming from the original forensic tests conducted on the .45 caliber weapon found near the body and on a black tube-top she wore the night of her death could not be duplicated, and the analyst who performed the tests has since been let go for failure to follow procedures on other cases.

Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch