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In Sniper Case, Devil is Now in Details

Aired October 25, 2002 - 11:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR; And now at this point, the devil is now in the details. And a criminal investigation, that often means that forensic evidence is going to play the biggest role. Now presumably, it's going to be forensics that help tie the suspects to specific crime scenes. Lawrence Kobilinsky, who teaches forensic science at John J. College of Criminal Justice joins us now from New York.
Good morning. How are you?

LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, FORENSIC EXPERT: Good morning. Nice to be with you, Leon.

HARRIS: Glad to have you with us today.

Now, what do you think is going to be, perhaps, the most key forensic evidence that the investigators right now are out there recovering?

KOBILINSKY: Well, that's well put, because there's a variety of different kinds of evidence. But clearly, the key here is ballistics and the rifle. You know, this rifle is an assault rifle. It's a military-type of device, very much like an M-16. Also, very much like an AK-74. This is a devastating rifle. It fires this .223 caliber ammunition. This is the kind of ammunition that doesn't just stop somebody, but it kills, it penetrates, it twirls, it takes out various organ systems. You fire a shot like this to kill or maim. This is the key evidence.

They've already tied this rifle to 11 of the 13 shootings through ballistics. That means that the bullet itself has characteristic lines that are created when the bullet penetrates the barrel of the rifle. So, in 11 out of the 13, there has already been a determination that that rifle fired those bullets.

And the other two, as it turns out, the bullets sometimes get very deformed and fragmented, so the result is called inconclusive. But this is key, tying the two suspects to the rifle, tying the rifle to the bullets, and believe me, there's a lot of evidence. There are numerous crime scenes, and they've collected evidence at each of these scenes. There's documents. There's trace evidence. There's foot imprints. So there's an awful lot of material that the prosecutors are going to use to finally get a conviction.

HARRIS: Let me ask you this, sorry about the earpiece problem there. We call it the CNN salute.

Since they do have the gun, is it necessary, then, or do you think that they're actually going through the extra efforts of compiling other information that we see like in all the Quincy movies, where they go out and get plaster casts of footprints, and you know, fibers and DNA evidence, as well? Will they need any of that in these cases since they have the gun already?

KOBILINSKY: Leon, let me tell you something. We went through the O.J. case and we found that the crime scene people made some errors. The prosecutors made some errors in the way they handled the case. We learned from that. The crime scenes were done to perfection. The FBI laboratory is looking at all the evidence. Every single shred of evidence will be brought to bear. Of course, the ballistics is the most important. But no stone will be left unturned. The loop will be closed. There be a multitude of different evidence and findings presented in testimony. There will be nothing left unanswered. In fact, the investigation continues. I'm sure people are trying to find out what these two individuals had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And they will know that.

HARRIS: Well, that would be something to find out. If nothing else, we want to find out a motive, too. That's the thing that just drives all of us crazy here. Professor Kobilinsky, thank you very much.

KOBILINSKY: My pleasure. My pleasure, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 25, 2002 - 11:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR; And now at this point, the devil is now in the details. And a criminal investigation, that often means that forensic evidence is going to play the biggest role. Now presumably, it's going to be forensics that help tie the suspects to specific crime scenes. Lawrence Kobilinsky, who teaches forensic science at John J. College of Criminal Justice joins us now from New York.
Good morning. How are you?

LAWRENCE KOBILINSKY, FORENSIC EXPERT: Good morning. Nice to be with you, Leon.

HARRIS: Glad to have you with us today.

Now, what do you think is going to be, perhaps, the most key forensic evidence that the investigators right now are out there recovering?

KOBILINSKY: Well, that's well put, because there's a variety of different kinds of evidence. But clearly, the key here is ballistics and the rifle. You know, this rifle is an assault rifle. It's a military-type of device, very much like an M-16. Also, very much like an AK-74. This is a devastating rifle. It fires this .223 caliber ammunition. This is the kind of ammunition that doesn't just stop somebody, but it kills, it penetrates, it twirls, it takes out various organ systems. You fire a shot like this to kill or maim. This is the key evidence.

They've already tied this rifle to 11 of the 13 shootings through ballistics. That means that the bullet itself has characteristic lines that are created when the bullet penetrates the barrel of the rifle. So, in 11 out of the 13, there has already been a determination that that rifle fired those bullets.

And the other two, as it turns out, the bullets sometimes get very deformed and fragmented, so the result is called inconclusive. But this is key, tying the two suspects to the rifle, tying the rifle to the bullets, and believe me, there's a lot of evidence. There are numerous crime scenes, and they've collected evidence at each of these scenes. There's documents. There's trace evidence. There's foot imprints. So there's an awful lot of material that the prosecutors are going to use to finally get a conviction.

HARRIS: Let me ask you this, sorry about the earpiece problem there. We call it the CNN salute.

Since they do have the gun, is it necessary, then, or do you think that they're actually going through the extra efforts of compiling other information that we see like in all the Quincy movies, where they go out and get plaster casts of footprints, and you know, fibers and DNA evidence, as well? Will they need any of that in these cases since they have the gun already?

KOBILINSKY: Leon, let me tell you something. We went through the O.J. case and we found that the crime scene people made some errors. The prosecutors made some errors in the way they handled the case. We learned from that. The crime scenes were done to perfection. The FBI laboratory is looking at all the evidence. Every single shred of evidence will be brought to bear. Of course, the ballistics is the most important. But no stone will be left unturned. The loop will be closed. There be a multitude of different evidence and findings presented in testimony. There will be nothing left unanswered. In fact, the investigation continues. I'm sure people are trying to find out what these two individuals had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And they will know that.

HARRIS: Well, that would be something to find out. If nothing else, we want to find out a motive, too. That's the thing that just drives all of us crazy here. Professor Kobilinsky, thank you very much.

KOBILINSKY: My pleasure. My pleasure, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com