Expert Hair Testimony Essay

Hello ladies and gentlemen of the jury my name is Brittany Marroquin. I am a hair analysis expert. I am here today to determine whether or not the suspects are responsible for the crime that has been committed. I have here the lab results depicting the crime scene. The trace evidence (small but measurable amounts of physical or biological material found at a crime scene) found at the crime scene was the killers hair, and the victim’s own hair to exclude any hair samples found similar to the victim. There are three suspect and one sample hair found at the scene of the crime. After analyzing the crime scene hair we found that the hair was light brown, transparent and have no medulla, (the central core of a hair fiber) with an imbricate (cuticles scales that are flattened and narrow) cuticle (the tough outer covering of a hair composed of overlapping scales). When analyzing the hair follicles (the actively growing root or base of a hair containing DNA and living cells), you can g o at it two ways macroscopically (in a such a way as to be large enough to be visible to the naked eye; in a way which is comprehensive or is concerned with large units) and microscopically (Too small to be seen by the unaided eye but large enough to be studied under a microscope). When analyzing the hair macroscopically you should look at the length, color, sheen, whether it’s wavy or straight, and the presence or absence of follicle tissue or not.