Crime Writers Panel With Marguerite Ashton

Author, Marguerite Ashton, has enrolled her book into the 2013 Summer/Winter promotion hosted by Smashwords, an online distributor for indie books.   The month long sale offers authors four levels of promotions, which includes an option to list their books for free...

http://www.prlog.org/12170007-co-founder-of-crime-writers-panel-enters-novel-in-july-summer-sale-hosted-by-smashwords.html

My interview with retired NYPD Detective Sergeant Joe Giacalone

http://msashtonwriter.com/2013/06/03/working-to-find-the-missing-2/

  I want to say thank you to my readers! You guys rock.

Excerpts From Reviews

“Burned Bridges was a compelling novel with a realistic portrayal of the legal world…”

Larissa Reinhart, Mystery author of Portrait of a Dead Guy

“The dialogue is excellent and the plot is well-done with a compelling ending.”

Renata F. Barcelos for Readers Favorite

“This is a great premise for drama and murder…”

Sarah Kernochan, Writer of What Lies Beneath

Ms. Ashton has done an excellent job of portraying new bonds developed through three people newly sober.

Please welcome this evening, true crime author, Ken Lang. He is a 22 year law enforcement veteran and has served the last 15 years as a detective in the Criminal Investigation Division.

In addition to his current investigative assignment, Ken is also an active Forensic Artist, providing police agencies with composite sketches, post-mortem and age-enhancement drawings, and skull reconstructions.

Q. Is law enforcement something that you’ve always wanted to do?

A. It is something that has always fascinated me, especially when I realized as a high school graduate that college wasn’t in my immediate future–my father was a factory worker at a local auto plant and we couldn’t afford it. But through persistence, I set my goals on a career in law enforcement and then pursued my educational goals later. 

Q. How did you discover your side of forensic artistry?

A. I’ve always been right brained and art/music was my favorite classes in school. My forensic artistry was discovered by my Lieutenant after seeing the Marilyn Monroe portrait hanging on our Office Assistant’s wall. 

Q. What is facial reconstruction?

A. We use facial reconstruction to recreate a face on a known bone structure in an effort to identify the subject. Through our art skills, and known anatomical information, art and science collide to help the artist and anthropologist recreate an accurate representation of the skulls facial features. 

Q. Would it be correct to say that facial reconstruction is part science and part art?

A. Yes.

Q. Please explain what’s all involved during this process? What are the steps taken?

A. The process is quite tedious, but first begins with the recovery and cleaning of the skull. Any leftover tissue is removed and the surface cleaned so as to apply tissue depth markers to specific landmarks on the skull. These tissue depth markers come from numerous studies on cadavers.

Once the tissue depth markers are applied, the artist begins applying clay to the mounted skull, reaching the top of the tissue markers. The eyes, nose and mouth are specific features that are measured in based on known anatomical information provided by science.

Using a variety of measuring tools, the artist sculpts the features, taking frequent measurements to insure the feature’s accuracy. As for the ears, the artist uses a rule of average to create ‘average’ ears, as there are no scientific calculations to aid us in determining how the ear should be developed. As for the hair, evidence from the scene (i.e. a hair mat left behind from the decaying body) tells us a lot about the hair length, thickness, and color. And from that information we sculpt the hair, though some artists do use wigs to create a more realistic representation. 

Q. With each skull, do you find yourself needing to connect with it mentally before you can proceed?

A. No – the landscape of the skull speaks volumes to you. In fact, we forensic artists often say that “bones don’t lie.” This is because the landscape of the skull is all telling about the layout of the facial features. 

Q. What about the estimation of body fat? Can errors affect the model?  

A. With a simple skeleton it’s hard to estimate body fat. However, with evidence left behind (i.e. clothing) we can look at the size and estimate if the individual was overweight or such. The thing to keep in mind is that not everyone wears their clothing the same. Some prefer baggy clothes, while others prefer a more snug fit. So there is no true accuracy. 

Q. What are sketches drawn from?

A. We usually sit down with a witness who uses a facial feature catalog to pick out the traits and characteristics. 

Q. Is a sketch presumed to be better than a mug shot at times?

A. A sketch is an image that is meant to represent the recollection of the witness. We have had witnesses who were so on point with the facial features that it strongly resembled mug shots of suspects. 

Q. What type of effect does a sketch have on a witness?

A. It depends on the crime. I’ve had rape victims’ break down and cry “that’s him,” whereas victims of a property crime briefly mention that the sketch strongly resembles the suspect as recalled. 

Q. During your career, have you had a case that was unforgettable?

A. I have two homicide cases that gnaw at me. Both were shootings where I was able to develop enough information to figure out who the shooter was, but did not have enough information to charge the case and get it into court.

Q.  You have written two books. One titled Walking Among the Dead and your second book, Standing in Death’s Shadow was just released this month. Tell us a bit about them.

A. Walking Among the Dead is my debut true crime book that captures actual cases I worked as a homicide detective in the State of Maryland. Though it was self-published, it has captured the attention of some prominent people in the literary world, to include Chris O’Byrne, the founder of Red Willow Digital Press. I was invited to sign on as an author with Red Willow in 2011 and we just released my second book, Standing In Death’s Shadow. This book continues telling of my homicide experiences, true crime written like a novel, which allowed me to immerse the reader right into the action as it truly unfolds in such an investigation. 

Q. Do you plan on writing another book?

A. Yes, I’m working on the last of the homicide series trilogy, Death Comes Uninvited, which will sum up my homicide experiences. Following that book, I have been working on outlining a crime novel series that will be based in Baltimore–and I’m quite anxious to start working on those projects. Finally, being a history buff, I haven’t ruled out the possibility of a historical romance. 

I’ve received questions from writers wondering what ways can their detective obtain DNA. They have also asked, “Can police forcibly take DNA?”

I had to admit, I had no clue and turned to Joe Giacalone to see if he had a post that I could use and he did. He gave me permission to repost his article here on Criminal Lines.

The 3 Ways Police Obtain DNA Samples Lawfully

By: Joseph L. Giacalone

By now you have seen all of the television shows, read the mystery books and listened to news casts on how DNA help solve a cold case. DNA happens to be one of the most important law enforcement tools used to solve crimes. However, there is one constant in all of this and that is how law enforcement can lawfully obtain a DNA exemplar.

Law enforcement agencies have been playing the forensic “catch-up” game for a number of years. They learn the new methods and technologies and then the forensic science community discovers a new way of doing it. It is a constant learning curve for law enforcement. The advances in forensics and DNA are exponential and law enforcement has made a herculean effort to stay on top of this technology.

Obtaining a DNA exemplar is just like collecting other pieces of evidence. Law enforcement understands that the public now demands to see the forensic evidence, especially DNA, that ties the suspect to the victim, the suspect to the scene or the suspect to the weapon. Call it the “CSI Effect” or anything else that you want to, but the jury wants to see more of it. Many times investigators recover DNA at a crime scene, but when the sample is entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), it comes back as “No Hit.” As the investigation progresses and suspects are developed, investigators need to obtain exemplars to either exclude or include the suspect.

Each action that investigators take could have a reaction in the suspect. Move to soon and you can spook them, move to late and the hunt is on. The question remains, “How can law enforcement legally obtain a DNA exemplar from a suspect? There are only three (3) ways to do so that I refer to as the 3 Cs:

1. Consent

2. Court Order

3. Covertly

Consent

In order to get consent, you have to ask. The suspect must agree to provide the sample voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently. Which means that he is old enough, understands what he / she is doing and the consequences of the action and they weren’t tricked, forced or coerced. But what do you think will happen once the investigator asks for a DNA sample? Right, your suspect is gone in the wind and your investigation just got ten times more difficult.

Court Order

In order to get a warrant for taking a DNA sample, investigators must have probable cause. Generally, in these cases, the suspect is already in custody, so there is no threat of him fleeing and probable cause has already been established. If he wasn’t in custody, that would mean that probable cause has not been established and therefore couldn’t get a warrant.

Covertly

Obtaining a DNA sample covertly, (secretly or surreptitiously) is not as easy as it sounds or shown on television. Detectives must work carefully and fast when they need to recover a discarded sample. On television, detectives are always able to recover the bottle of water or can of soda for their exemplar. However, the target probably watches television too! Now investigators have to conduct surveillance and wait for the suspect to spit, discard a cigarette or half eaten food to obtain the sample.

Law enforcement must carefully obtain a DNA exemplar or risk it being excluded in pretrial evidence hearings. Sometimes obtaining a DNA exemplar is the only thing standing in the way of an arrest and conviction and even exoneration of innocent person wrongfully accused.

Related Articles by Joe on The Cold Case Squad

Edmond Locard: Forensic Rock Star #1 Dr. Sir Alec Jeffreys: Forensic Rock Star #2 Are Investigators Relying too Much on Forensic Evidence? Detectives Love Blue Star Blood Identifying Agent Cause of Death vs. Manner of Death

Joseph L. Giacalone is a retired Detective Sergeant with an extensive background in criminal investigations. He has held many prestigious positions, but his favorite was the Commanding Officer of a Cold Case Homicide Squad. Joe has personally worked on hundreds of murders, suicides and missing person cases throughout his career and is always willing to share his knowledge and experiences with others.

My perfect writing spot.

Guest Post by  Tom Adair

Understanding some of the traits shared by good CSIs will help you write characters that stay “in character”. CSIs are a weird bunch. We’re not like everyone else. We’re fascinated by things that would give most folks nightmares. Not in a macabre way, more clinical, but fascinated nonetheless. CSIs are naturally curious, driven (stubborn), and highly skeptical but, surprisingly low key. We care that a crime has been committed but, we don’t care if it was Joe or Sam who committed it. We are advocates for the analysis, not the outcome. Traits like that make us good at our jobs.

When CSIs arrive at a crime scene we are briefed by the first responder(s). Most of the time that’s the first officer on scene but may also include detectives, coroner’s investigators, paramedics, and civilian witnesses. There is always a story. “So and so committed suicide” or “the suspect kicked in the door here and ransacked the house”, etc. There are degrees of accuracy to all of our briefings but they are based largely on first impressions or eye-witness accounts. CSIs want to go beyond first impressions. We never accept any statement as fact until we gather the evidence to support it.

Neutrality is a cornerstone of a thorough analysis. Take deaths for example. I’ve investigated all kinds and every time I would write my initial reports and notes I would classify the case as a “death investigation”. It’s common during press conferences to hear a PIO say something like “we’re treating this like a homicide until the evidence proves otherwise.” I’ve never operated that way. I didn’t want to be predisposed, even subconsciously, to any particular position; especially the manner of death. My thought was “there’s a dead guy…what happened?” To me, it’s a much better starting point.

Crime scene reconstruction is no easy task (despite what you see on television). It’s like assembling a jigsaw puzzle with one-tenth of the pieces and no box cover. That’s frustrating because we like things to make sense but we never have a “complete” picture. So we learn to approach things cautiously and conservatively until we’re convinced by a preponderance of the facts. This takes time and that drives our bosses crazy. We can’t even answer simple questions like “how much longer will you be?” How should I know? I’ll be done when I’m done.

The most important thing to remember is that, as far as character traits are concerned, we’re always on the clock. It’s amazing to me that some folks are surprised at this. If my wife drags me to the mall, I don’t sit around playing a game on my smart phone. I’m busy checking out shoe patterns, spotting potential shoplifters, or just watching people’s behavior. I remember one time a bunch of us were eating lunch and one guy arrived late. He said he had to change a flat tire. I nodded like everyone else but all through lunch I was thinking why aren’t your hands dirty? Why aren’t your knees or pants the least bit dirty? Why are you lying to us? What are you hiding?

I’m not saying he had done anything illegal or immoral. Maybe he was embarrassed about the thing that made him late. Maybe he got into a fender bender and didn’t want anyone to know. The point is…we can’t turn the curiosity switch off.  In some ways we’re like two-year-olds always asking “why…why…why?” Things have to “make sense” and we notice when they don’t. It doesn’t matter if it’s at work, in our personal lives, or at our kid’s soccer game. Developing the ability to spot inconsistencies is vital to our success.

So when you’re writing a CSI character (or detective for that matter) keep in mind that they are professional observers. Our job is to spot the professional liar and we get better and better with every crime scene we work. We’re not easily fooled and we’ll likely over-analyze any situation. That’s not to say we’re never fooled, just not easily. We can be blinded by things like friendship, passion, fear, and all the other emotions out there. We’re just more insulated from emotions than most. If we weren’t, we’d be led around by the nose instead of following our own.