Forensic gap

No positive ballistic matches were arrived at for many of the bullet cartridges that littered the scene following the January 12, 2013, shooting deaths of Matthew Lee, Mark Allen, and Ucliffe Dyer on Acadia Drive, St Andrew, by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), a police superintendent testified on Monday.

Lee, Allen, and Dyer were killed in an alleged shoot-out with the police. A fourth man was said to have escaped.

The superintendent, who has been a member of the JCF for 16 years and a ballistics expert for 19 years, told the seven-member jury in the Home Circuit Court murder trial of six cops that numerous items of evidence were secured from the scene and taken to the Government forensic laboratory to undergo ballistics testing. Among the items, some of which came parcelled and unparcelled, were M16 rifles purported to have been used by the police as well as numerous bullet cartridges and two illegal firearms allegedly taken from the deceased.

In relation to the numerous expended cartridges for which no matches were found when they were run through a computerised ballistics system at the Government forensic laboratory, the witness said those cartridges were consistent with those usually expelled by M16 rifles but he was unable to determine which specific firearm released the cartridge cases.

“While I could conclude that they were fired by one gun I was unable to match them to any of the firearms that were submitted in this case. The comparison which requires agreement of the class characteristics and sufficient or significant agreement of the individual characteristics, I was unable to find that sufficient agreement of those tool marks with any of the firearms or test fires that were submitted to conclude that they were discharged from any of those firearms.

“Based on my experience and the science, the reason for that is a number of possibilities. The reproduction of those tool marks is not enough to make an identification. It could be as a result of the ammunition itself. It could be the firearm as well as it can be that the firearm that discharged those cartridge cases were not submitted for examination,” the expert said.

Attorney Hugh Wildman, who is representing four of the six cops in the trial, objected to prosecutor Kathy-Ann Pyke posing questions to the witness about the firearms, the cartridges, and other gun-related evidential material purported to be linked to the case. The attorney contended that the witness should not be asked about the guns, spent shells, and bullet fragments because they have not been tendered into evidence.

The detective constable, who packaged the weapons said to have been used by the cops and two guns attributed to the deceased, previously testified that he could not definitively say if the items that were submitted and tested by the lab were the same ones that were brought to court in packages. The packages were not allowed to be opened and therefore its individual contents were not tendered into evidence.

Despite Wildman’s protest, Pyke was allowed to pose her questions.

She prompted the superintendent to tell the jurors about what was received by the lab and tested.

The witness explained at length.

“On the 15th of January 2013, I received from detective sergeant of the Constant Spring Police Station about 10:38 am, one sealed envelope marked ‘A’, containing a 9mm Cobray M11 single-action submachine gun with the serial number eroded. I also received another sealed envelope marked ‘B’, containing four 9mm Luger cartridges. I received another envelope marked ‘C’, containing a 9mm Ruger Arcus model 98 DAC single-action auto loading pistol, bearing a serial number.

“On the same date and time I received another sealed envelope marked ‘D’, containing seven 9mm Luger cartridges. I received, unparcelled but labelled ‘E’, one 5.56 Colt A1 carbine. Carbine is a shortened version of a rifle. The carbine was a JCF service weapon. I also received, unparcelled and labelled ‘F’, one 9mm Luger model 17 double-action auto loading pistol bearing a serial number and another 5.56 model M16 A1 rifle bearing a serial number. I also received an unparcelled firearm labelled ‘H’, which is a 9mm Luger Glock model 17 double-action auto loading pistol bearing a serial number.”

He shared that the items which were marked from E to O were JCF service weapons.

He also said that spent casings were found at the scene that matched the two illegal firearms that were seized.

He added that he also “received another sealed envelope which I marked with the letter ‘R’, containing one damaged 5.56 calibre expended bullet with six land and groove impressions. Another sealed envelope which I marked ‘S’, contained one piece of copper jacket, which is a fragment from a bullet which had no land and groove impressions”.

The witness added that there was another copper fragment of a bullet which had no land and groove impression.

On trial for murder are Sergeant Simroy Mott, Corporal Donovan Fullerton, along with constables Andrew Smith, Sheldon Richards, Orandy Rose, and Richard Lynch. Corporal Fullerton is also charged with making a false statement to the Independent Commission of Investigations.

Their legal team consists of Wildman, Althea Grant-Coppin, and John Jacobs.

The trial continues today.