Crime
Marco Topete, 39, was convicted of First Degree Murder with Special Circumstances after a high speed pursuit lead to the death of Yolo County Sheriff’s Deputy Jose Antonio Diaz on 15 June 2008. Diaz was fatally struck in the chest by one of seventeen .223 caliber rounds fired from an AR-15 Assault Rifle fired by Marco Topete.
The .223 Round pierced Diaz’ Kevlar vest and struck the Sherriff’s County vehicle which contained Topete’s daughter who was abandoned in Topete’s car when he fled on foot from the vehicle.
This Crime was one of the first to use 3d imaging ballistic trajectory tracking as a primary source of evidence used in court. I chose this case despite it being an American case because of its revolution in 3D Imaging and ballistics trajectory which sparked an interest and was briefly mentioned in my speak out.
Crime Scene and Evidence
The scene where the shooting took place was a house on the side of a road where Topete was run off the road. Topete proceeded to run around the house before firing on Diaz.
Fig.1 Seventeen .223 Remington cases and the bullet impact sights on the Sherriff’s County Vehicle.
Fig.2 Deputy Antonio Diaz’ Kevlar vest with location of fatal bullet entry.
Fig.3 Timing Data derived from Audio Frequency analysis of the crime recorded by Diaz’ dashboard camera.
Fig.4 Lecica ScanStation II scanning vehicle with trajectory rods.
An AR-15 Rifle similar to that used by Topete
Crime Scene photograph of Topete and Diaz’ cars.
Solving the crime
The crime scene’s largest chunks of evidence included the .223 Remington shells (fired from Topete’s AR-15 Rifle), Topete’s car, Diaz’s Sherriff’s County Vehicle w/ impact points, Topete’s daughter (still in Diaz’ cruiser), Diaz’s ...
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...violence and further fuelled by his alcoholism. I feel that Topete’s actions were worthy of harsh punishment but due to his suffering of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, alcohol addiction, abusing upbringing and complex trauma, I feel that his punishment should have been life imprisonment without parole rather than death.
References
All 3D imaging © 2014 Precision Simulations, Inc.. All rights reserved
Fries, C. (2014). Precision Simulations, Inc. :: Topete Murder Trial. [online] Precisionsim.com. Available at: http://www.precisionsim.com/index.php/archive/topete-murder-trial/ [Accessed 18 May. 2014].
Keene, L. (2012). Topete gets death sentence for deputy's murder. [online] Davis Enterprise. Available at: http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/crime-fire-courts/topete-gets-death-sentence-for-deputys-murder/ [Accessed 18 May. 2014].
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The following paper explores a homicide scene at a convenience store / gas station at 3 a.m. The material of the investigation is represented with a number of visible evidence, the dead body with an apparent gunshot wound in the chest and the testimony of the first officer at the scene. The paper is divided into four parts, including the general overview (introduction), latent impression processing, people’s involvement investigation procedure and evidence package for the further fingerprint analysis. The crime scene investigation protocol used in this paper includes interview, examination, photographing, sketching and processing itself (Castleman, 2000: 23). Observing the homicide scene we omit the analysis of the preliminary procedures as security of the scene, integrity precautions, photographing and sketching.
They ended up a Dave Schultz house, where Dave was tinkering with his radio in his Toyota Tercel, he then stopped turned to his boss with a smile then duPont pulled his gun pointed in Goodales face before pointing it at dave and pulled the trigger. “ I said John what are you doing?” Goodale testified at the trial “David screamed after the first shot then fell.” Goodale then leapt from the car with his weapon and pointed it a duPont once their barrels met John threw his gun on the seat then backed the car
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Lyman, D. Michael; Criminal Investigation, The Art and Science; 3rd edition, 2002 Prentice Hall. Pgs. 188-200.
The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg), "Tony Lee Convicted of Murder." May 25, 1972. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4NpNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2YoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2403,4982008&dq=tony+lee+convicted&hl=en (accessed April 4, 2012).
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On March 29, 1971, a thirty-seven-year-old male was convicted of killing seven people and suspected in killing another thirty-five. His methods of killing included gunshots, stabbing with forks, knives, or swords, dissecting, and battering with clubs. He showed no remorse for what he had done, but instead created a media circus in which he had a starring role (Blundell 124-30).
Andrus, R., Bailey, J., Sprague, T., Springer, F., Tulleners, F., Wiersema, S., et al. (n.d.). Crime Scene
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Hamby, J. (1999). The History of Firearm and Toolmark Identification. Association of Firearm and Toolmark Examiners, Vol. 31 No. 3.