Charles Steelro
But on this day, when he was preparing to patrol the farm with a kerosene lamp, he suddenly heard a scream from a woman, followed by a sound of glass shattering, and then a gunshot. Steellow immediately ran toward the direction of the gunshot—the house where the farmer's family lived. It was still pitch black around at that time, so when Steellow was at the entrance of the yard, something was stirring under his feet. He looked down and saw a woman lying under his feet. She was Margaret Walcott, the butler of Phelps Farm.
Margaret Walcott, who fell to the ground, died, and walked towards the main house, walked around the main door, and walked into the kitchen of the main house from the side, and found that his employer, Charles Phelps, was lying straight on the ground. Steelrow immediately leaned over to check the employer's condition and found that he was still breathing faintly, but he had no consciousness at all. He tried to awaken Phelps, but Phelps died in the end. In desperation, Steellow had to run to the Orleans County Police Department to call the police.
Charles Phelps who fell to the ground and died
According to the on-site investigation by local police, Margaret Walcott was shot three times in the abdomen, Charles Phelps was shot twice in the chest, the bedroom of the main house was looted, all the doors and drawers of cabinets were pulled open, and all the money inside was gone. According to Phelps' nephew Melvin Jenkins, the uncle was used to placing cash and valuables in a cabinet drawer at the head of the bed. Police initially confirmed that this was a gun murder caused by a burglary. The murderer entered the scene with a gun, but was discovered by Phelps. He then shot and knocked Phelps down. When he ransacked Money and left, he met Margaret, the butler who came out to stop him at the gate of the yard, and then shot her and killed her.
The police extracted the bullets of 5 pistol bullets from the bodies of Phelps and Margaret. It was identified that these bullets belonged to pistol bullets with a caliber of 0.22 inch caliber. This bullet was very common in the United States at that time and was used in many revolver for self-defense.
During the routine inquiry of the reporter Steelro, the police found that he was nervous and spoke incoherently, and many confessions were contradictory, so they became suspicious of him. At the same time, the police also learned that Steelro happened to have a 0.22-inch self-defense " Iver Johnson " revolver, which could just fire the kind of pistol bullets extracted at the crime scene.
Charles Steelrow and his 0.22-caliber revolver
So, Steelrow changed from a reporter to a suspect and was arrested and was arrested in the Orleans County Police Department and was subjected to the "big memory recovery technique" for two days. According to Steelrow's afterward recollection: They tortured me and kept hitting my head, not giving me food, not giving me water, not allowing me to go to the bathroom, not allowing me to sleep, and kept illuminating my eyes with flashlights at night. I persisted for two days, but I really couldn't hold on. I said whatever they wanted me to say, just asking them not to torture me again.
Stillo admitted that he had a 0.22-inch revolver, and that he killed Phelps and Margaret with the pistol, and his accomplice was his brother-in-law Nelson Green .
A "Iver Johnson" revolver that has been preserved to this day is different from the one of Steelrow's
Based on this, Charles Steelrow and Nelson Green were formally arrested on charges of double murder. The police searched Steelrow's house on the farm and Nelson Green's home, but did not search for any stolen goods. However, Steelrow's "Iver Johnson" revolver was found at the Nelson Green's home. Steelrow's sister tried to hide the pistol before and prevented the police from discovering it. This move further strengthened the police's suspicion of Steelrow.
However, a week before the court opened, Charles Steelrow suddenly turned his confession, claiming that he was innocent and that he had been abused and forced to confess by the police.Nelson Green denied any illegal acts from beginning to end.
A standard photo of American police riding a horse taken in 1915
In response, the Orleans County Police Department and the district attorney responsible for prosecution were extremely annoyed by this. In order to completely confirm the "evidence", they decided to start with the only physical evidence - the "Iver Johnson" revolver and find an expert to prove that the five 0.22-inch caliber bullets extracted on the scene were the evidence shot from the chamber of the pistol. No one has done this before them, and this move has set a precedent for the application of ballistic traces in criminal cases, but this precedent is not so glorious and even very dirty.
At that time, rifling technology had been widely used in the upgrade and transformation of the barrel. This technology greatly improved the flight stability after the bullet was released from the barrel and effectively improved the shooting accuracy. Later, some people discovered that the same bullet was fired by different guns, and the traces "pulled" from the rifle left on the warhead were different, or even unique.
The expert found by the Orleans County Police Department and District Attorney is Albert Hamilton, a pharmaceutical businessman with a medical license, but the interest of this man is obviously not in treating and selling drugs. He wrote a best-selling book on criminal investigation a few years ago and became a "expert" in criminal science. He is often asked by the police and prosecutors to assist in investigations and provide expert appraisal opinions. Those who have worked with him think he is a professional who can still maintain a calm mind under pressure.
Albert Hamilton
Hamilton claimed that he had profound attainments in firearm processing, handwriting identification, and toxicology . He had previously had good cooperation with the police in Orleans County, so this time the police and the prosecutor once again asked Hamilton to come out and handed him the "Iver Johnson" revolver and the bullets extracted from the body of the deceased, hoping that he would give a professional identification to prove that the bullets were shot from the pistol, and persuade the jury to convict Steelrow with irrefutable evidence, so that the price is easy to negotiate.
To facilitate everyone's understanding, I slightly restore the process of "discussion" as follows:
Prosecutor: "I'm sure it was that guy (referring to Steelro)."
Policeman: "We used all the means to make him admit this, but this damn guy doesn't recognize it now."
Prosecutor: "Mr. Hamilton, we need your help, just let the jury believe that he did it."
Hamilton: "This is not difficult to deal with, but (making a hint of 'adding')."
Prosecutor: "As long as you can do it, the price is not a problem."
can be said to be a proposition composition.
Hamilton compared the rifle on the barrel and the rifled surface of the bullets removed from the victim's body with Steelrow's pistol through miniature photos, and then compared another bullet that was said to be left behind by the pistol during the after-sales trial. As a result, nine unique scratches were found on the surface of the warhead and the surface of the warhead taken out from the deceased's body. Therefore, Hamilton claimed that this proves that the five bullets taken out of the deceased were shot by Steelro's revolver. It was Steelro who shot Charles Phelps and Margaret Walcott.
Hamilton proudly mentioned in his diary on the day of issuing the appraisal report: I have created a new branch of criminal investigation science, and I have created a new era!
Sure enough, in court, the district attorney cited the appraisal report submitted by Hamilton, which achieved a stunning effect because this appraisal technology was unheard of before, but it sounded so credible. So, the jury was convinced, and Steellow, Green and their defense lawyers who spent a lot of money to hire were stunned.Finally, after six hours of discussion with the jury, the verdict of Steelrow and Green was obtained. The court adopted the jury's opinion and found Charles Steelrow and Nelson Green guilty of double murder. Charles Steelrow was sentenced to death penalty, and will be executed in one month with the electric chair ; while Nelson Green was sentenced to life imprisonment.
But Steelrow and Green still insisted that they were innocent. Steelrow's lawyer used his social relations and resources to expose the case to New York State Governor Charles S. Whitman , demanding a retrial of the case and reexamine the appraisal evidence submitted by Hamilton (obviously, if he succeeds in this case, he will become famous in the legal circle in the future and have a great future. So now this case is no longer a simple commission for him, but a springboard that can make him "go to the next level" and even if he pays money, he will fight the lawsuit to the end).
In the end, the lawyer's efforts achieved results. On the day Steellow booked the execution of the electric chair, the New York governor's order to suspend the death penalty was served in the prison. Steellow, who had been sent to the electric chair, was lifted off the electric chair again. The case was handed over to the New York State Legislative Yuan for retrial, and the investigation was carried out by the prosecutor Charles Waite. Steellow was excited when he heard the news that "Keep the knife": " Thank God, I hope they can do something for me. "
The bronze print of the US execution of the electric chair death penalty, and actually put a hood on the inmate to avoid causing a "heavy taste scene"
Wart first studied the evidence submitted by Hamilton after receiving the governor's assignment and found the flaw behind this seemingly impeccable identification: that is, the bullet used for comparison cannot be confirmed to be fired by the "Iver Johnson" revolver held by Steellow. So he invited New York State Police Officers William Jones and Harold Butts as their assistants, because the two had quite experienced in identifying guns and bullets in 0.22 caliber pistols.
Two police officers used Steelro's revolver to test the cotton ball for more than a dozen times. Then they took out the bullets from the cotton ball and observed the scratches on the surface of the warhead, and then compared them with the scratches on the surface of the warhead taken out of the deceased's body. As a result, no scratch on the warhead can match the warhead in the deceased's body, and no scratch can match. This is not the bullet fired from the same gun at all, or even the bullet fired from the "Iver Johnson" revolver at all.
Jones and Butz who tested the cotton ball with Steelro's pistol at the beginning of the test,
At first, they thought it was a deviation caused by unclean barrels. They cleaned the pistol barrel and tested it again, but the result was still the same, and even a single warhead could not match. At the same time, when cleaning the pistol, they cleaned up a large amount of dirt in the gun chamber, which means that the pistol has not been fired for at least half a year. And when Hamilton testified in court, he swore that he fired the pistol and obtained the warhead that had exactly the same scratches as the surface of the warhead inside the deceased. It was obvious that Mr Hamilton lied in court.
To be cautious, Charles Waite found ballistics expert Max Pozer, who once again tested the pistol and bullets. Pozer re-compared the bullets shot from Steelrow's pistol with the bullets taken out of the deceased's body and found that each of the five bullets taken out of the deceased's body had a unique scratch on the surface, indicating that the rifle in the chamber of the pistol that fired these bullets had been deformed; and after he turned the rifle of Steelrow's pistol backward, he found that every rifle in the chamber of the pistol of Steelrow's pistol was very normal, so it can be ruled out that the " Iver Johnson " revolver was the weapon that killed Charles Phelps and Margaret Walcott. It also proves that the alleged evidence submitted by Albert Hamilton is a complete lie.
Comparison of the warhead Max Pozer
Based on the evidence submitted by Max Pozer, a jury convened by the New York State Legislative Yuan unanimously ruled that Charles Steelrow and Nelson Green were not acquitted and released in court. Meanwhile, Governor Whitman authorized New York State attorney to investigate Albert Hamilton's perjury.
This investigation doesn't matter, and it suddenly stripped away the "criminal expert" Hamilton's skin. The investigation not only clarified the dirty deal in which Albert Hamilton colluded with the Orleans County Police Department and the District Attorney in this case to deliberately convict Steelrow and Green; it also revealed that Hamilton sold his so-called "professional appraisal" to both the prosecution and the defense in the past ten years. He made an appraisal evidence that would benefit which party was more expensive, and he earned a lot of fame and fortune. After the truth was revealed, Albert Hamilton was soon disgraced. He was found guilty of perjury, contempt of court, fraud and other crimes. Although he spent all his family's wealth and paid a high amount of bail and escaped from prison, he also had a lot of bad reputation since then, and had died of social death for thousands of years. At the same time, the police and district attorneys involved in torture and conviction of Steelro also lost their jobs.
This case also left its name in history because it was the first case involving criminal ballistic trace science in criminal investigation history. Since then, criminal ballistic trace detection has entered criminal investigation as a formal detection method, contributing its own strength to discover the truth of gun-related cases.
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