Legal Medicine: Introduction to Death & Crime Scene Investigation PDF

**OUTLINE** I. **Stages of Death Investigation** A. **1^st^ Stage: Crime Scene Investigation** B. **2^nd^ stage: Autopsy** II. **Persons Authorized to Make Death Investigation** III. **Consent/Request must be obtained from** IV. **Importance of Death/Crime scene investigation** V. **Multi...

**OUTLINE** I. **Stages of Death Investigation** A. **1^st^ Stage: Crime Scene Investigation** B. **2^nd^ stage: Autopsy** II. **Persons Authorized to Make Death Investigation** III. **Consent/Request must be obtained from** IV. **Importance of Death/Crime scene investigation** V. **Multidisciplinary Approach to a Death/Scene Investigator** A. **Task of the Physician as a Member of Death Investigation Team** VI. **Penal Classification of Violent Deaths** A. **Murder** B. **Homicide** VII. **Causes, Manner, and Mechanism of Death** A. **Cause of Death** B. **Manner of Death** C. **Mechanism of Death** VIII. **Death Under Special Circumstances** IX. **Pathological Classification of the Causes of Death: Sudden Death** +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | **LEGEND** | | | +=======================+=======================+=======================+ | ⭐ | 🖊️ | 📖 | | | | | | Must | Lecture | Book | | | | | | Know | *\[lec\]* | *\[bk\]* | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ I.STAGES OF DEATH INVESTIGATION {#i.stages-of-death-investigation.TransOutline} =============================== A.1^ST^ STAGE: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION {#a.1st-stage-crime-scene-investigation.TransSubtopic1} ---------------------------------------- - Investigation of the place of the commission of the crime - Crime Scene - The place where the essential ingredients of the criminal act took place. It includes adjoining places of entry and exit for both the offender and the victim. - 🖊️ This is where you see the Scene of the Crime Operation team (SOCO), where they are requested by police authorities to do a crime scene investigation, collection, identification, and preservation of physical evidence at the crime scene. B.2^ND^ STAGE: AUTOPSY {#b.2nd-stage-autopsy.TransSubtopic1} ---------------------- - Investigation of the body of the victim II.PERSONS AUTHORIZED TO MAKE DEATH INVESTIGATION {#ii.persons-authorized-to-make-death-investigation.TransOutline} ================================================= - Provincial and City Fiscals - RTC (Regional Trial Court) Judges - MTC (Municipal/ Metropolitan Trial Court) Judges - NBI Director - Chiefs of Police - Solicitor General - 🖊️ Letter requests usually emanate from these people. III.CONSENT/REQUEST MUST BE OBTAINED FROM {#iii.consentrequest-must-be-obtained-from.TransOutline} ========================================= - Spouse (if married) - Descendants of the nearest degree - Ascendants of the nearest degree - Brothers and sisters (immediate) IV.IMPORTANCE OF DEATH/CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION {#iv.importance-of-deathcrime-scene-investigation.TransOutline} ================================================ - In violent death cases, the manner and cause of death may be inferred from the condition of the crime scene. It may indicate struggle, a handgun firmly grasped by the victim, may indicate suicide, and the presence of a great quantity of shed blood may infer hemorrhage as the cause of death 🖊️ or rather the mechanism of death. - The place where the essential ingredients of the criminal act took place. It includes adjoining places of sentry and exit of both the offender and the victim. - 🖊️ Blood, semen, other stains, latent prints, footprints, and articles of value that may lead to the identification of the offender and the victim, may be beyond the comprehension of the investigator if the crime scene is not investigated. - 🖊️ The investigator has the earliest possible opportunity to interview persons who have knowledge of the circumstances of actual events in the commission of the criminal act. In cases of death investigation, the SOCO team will be going there together with the investigator of the case. - 🖊️ In the crime scene alone, the investigator will have an idea already with regards to the identity of the victim, as well as the motive for the death of the victim or killing the victim, or the identity of the offender as well. He can already interview the witnesses, the relatives, or those people who found the body. - 🖊️ The SOCO team will be the ones identifying, collecting, and preserving all the physical evidence that is gathered at the crime scene. They will collect these and bring them to the crime laboratory for identification or analysis. - 🖊️ Goal of the Crime Scene Investigation - All potential physical evidence is properly preserved and collected - All possible witnesses are identified and documented - In the end, the perpetrator may be arrested and prosecuted V.MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO A DEATH/SCENE INVESTIGATION {#v.multidisciplinary-approach-to-a-deathscene-investigation.TransOutline} =========================================================== - Physician (MELO/Medico-Legal Officer) - Photographer, Sketcher (🖊️ crime scene sketching / rough sketch) - Assistant, 🖊️ who can act as a note taker, evidence collector, and helper 🖊️ on recovering the body, security 🖊️ of the crime scene - Forensic Technicians: 🖊️ These Includes: - Fingerprint Technician -- gathers prints in the crime scene - Forensic Odontologist -- examines the teeth of the victim for forensic odontological examination. - Forensic Ballistician -- examines and gathers firearms, shells, and bullets in the crime scene. - Forensic Photographer and other members of the forensic team - 🖊️ It is not only the Medico-legal officer who will be entering the crime scene but the whole team as well, together with the investigator. The MELO and SOCO team leader will also conduct interviews of the witnesses or those people who found the body/first people who saw the body, in coordination with the investigator of the case. A. TASK OF THE PHYSICIAN AS A MEMBER OF THE DEATH INVESTIGATION TEAM {#a.-task-of-the-physician-as-a-member-of-the-death-investigation-team.TransSubtopic1} -------------------------------------------------------------------- - Examination of the dead body in the crime scene - Evidence to prove identity - 🖊️ Checking the wallets, pockets that may contain ID papers - Position of the victim - 🖊️ Noted before moving the body from its original position - Conditions of the apparel worn - 🖊️ It is possible that the body was killed in a different place and dumped in another area - Approximate the time of death - 🖊️ The physician must have an idea immediately based on the external examination and the condition of the body. - Presence of wounding instrument and distance from the body - 🖊️ If it is an alleged suicide, you expect the instrument to be present or tightly grasped by the victim. - Potential cause of death - 🖊️ Physician will declare how long the patient is dead and will give the initial cause of death, before bringing the body to the morgue. VI.PENAL CLASSIFICATION OF VIOLENT DEATHS {#vi.penal-classification-of-violent-deaths.TransOutline} ========================================= - Accidental Death - 🖊️ Death due to misadventure (vehicular accident) - Negligent Death - 🖊️ Due to reckless imprudence, negligence, lack of skill, or lack of foresight (e.g. motor vehicle accident) - Suicidal Death - 🖊️ Destruction of oneself - Parricidal Death - 🖊️ Killing of one's relative; Any person who shall kill his father, mother, or child whether legitimate or illegitimate, or any of his ascendants or descendants, or his spouse - Infanticidal Death - 🖊️ Killing of a child less than 72 hours old - Murder - Homicide A. MURDER (ART.248, RPC) {#a.-murder-art.248-rpc.TransSubtopic1} ------------------------ - Committed under the following circumstances: - With treachery, use of superior strength, with aid of armed men, or employing means to weaken the defense or means or persons to ensure or afford impunity - In consideration of a price, reward, or promise - By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion, shipwreck, stranding of a vessel, derailment or assault upon a streetcar or locomotive, fall of an airship, by means of motor vehicles or with the use of any other means involving great waste and ruin - On the occasion of any calamities or an earthquake, eruption of a volcano, a destructive cyclone, epidemic, or any other public calamity - With evident premeditation - With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanely augmenting the suffering of the victim, or outraging or scoffing at his person or corpse B. HOMICIDE (ART.249, RPC) {#b.-homicide-art.249-rpc.TransSubtopic1} -------------------------- - Requisites of the crime of Homicide: - The victim of a criminal assault was killed - The offender killed the victim without any justification - There is an intention on the part of the offender to kill the victim and such presumption can be inferred from the death of the victim - That the killing does not fall under the definition of the crime of murder, parricide, or infanticide **Table 1.1** Homicide vs. Murder (Lifted from San Beda College of Law Memory Aid) (UPPER TRANS 2023,2024,2025) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOMICIDE MURDER That a person was killed That a person was killed That the accused killed him without any justifying circumstance (Art. 11, RPC) That the accused killed him That the accused had the intention to kill, which is presumed That the killing was attended by any of the qualifying circumstances mentioned in Art. 248 That the killing was not attended by any of the qualifying circumstances of murder or by that of parricide or infanticide That the killing is not parricide or infanticide A qr code on a white background Description automatically generated HOMICIDE VS MURDER IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES YT VIDEO VII.CAUSE, MANNER, AND MECHANISM OF DEATH {#vii.cause-manner-and-mechanism-of-death.TransOutline} ========================================= A. CAUSE OF DEATH {#a.-cause-of-death.TransSubtopic1} ----------------- - 🖊️ The disease/injury that induces the physiologic disruption of the body which produces the fatal termination  Immediate (Primary) {#immediate-primary.TransSub-subtopic2} ------------------- - This applies to cases when trauma or disease **kills quickly** that there is no opportunity for sequelae or complications to develop  - E.g., Gunshot wound of the head, stab wound  Proximate (Secondary) {#proximate-secondary.TransSub-subtopic2} --------------------- - The injury or disease survived for a sufficiently prolonged interval which permitted the development of serious sequelae that caused the death  - E.g. gunshot wound of the abdomen. The victim survived but after a few weeks in the hospital he developed pneumonia  B. MANNER OF DEATH {#b.-manner-of-death.TransSubtopic1} ------------------ - 🖊️ Explanation of how the cause of death came about Natural Death {#natural-death.TransSub-subtopic2} ------------- - Natural when the fatality is caused solely by the disease. Violent or Unnatural Death {#violent-or-unnatural-death.TransSub-subtopic2} -------------------------- - Death due to injury of any sort - 🖊️ Medico-legal masquerade - Violent deaths may be accompanied by minimal or no external evidence of injury or natural death where signs of violence may be present. C. MECHANISM OF DEATH {#c.-mechanism-of-death.TransSubtopic1} --------------------- - The physiological derangement or biochemical disturbance incompatible with life, which is initiated by the cause of death - 🖊️ For example, hemorrhage or severe dehydration D. INSTANTANEOUS PHYSIOLOGIC DEATH, DEATH FROM INHIBITION, DEATH FROM PRIMARY SHOCK, SYNCOPE WITH INSTANTANEOUS EXITUS {#d.-instantaneous-physiologic-death-death-from-inhibition-death-from-primary-shock-syncope-with-instantaneous-exitus.TransSubtopic1} ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - This is sudden death that occurs within seconds or a minute or two (no more) after a minor trauma or peripheral stimulation of a relatively simple and ordinarily innocuous nature - 🖊️ For example, you got tickled by your classmate and you died, or you were just talking with each other and you pushed with very little force and that person collapsed Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Crib Death) {#sudden-infant-death-syndrome-crib-death.TransSub-subtopic2} ----------------------------------------- - 🖊️ This is an unexpected death of infants usually under 6 months of age while apparently in good health. Sudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death (SUND) {#sudden-unexpected-nocturnal-death-sund.TransSub-subtopic2} ---------------------------------------- - 🖊️Known as "Pok-kuri" in Japan and "Bangungot" in the Philippines - Seen in healthy young men in East Asian countries like the Philippines VIII.DEATH UNDER SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES {#viii.death-under-special-circumstances.TransOutline} ====================================== A. DEATH CAUSED IN A TUMULTUOUS AFFRAY: ARTICLE 251, RPC {#a.-death-caused-in-a-tumultuous-affray-article-251-rpc.TransSubtopic1} -------------------------------------------------------- - Requisites of the crime: - The person was killed in a confused or tumultuous affray - The actual killer is not known - That the person or persons inflicted the serious physical injuries or violence are known B. DEATH PHYSICAL INJURIES INFLICTED UNDER EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES, ARTICLE 247,RPC {#b.-death-physical-injuries-inflicted-under-exceptional-circumstances-article-247rpc.TransSubtopic1} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Requisites of the crime: Surprise by a Spouse {#surprise-by-a-spouse.TransSub-subtopic2} -------------------- - There must be a valid marriage; - That the guilty spouse was caught by surprise in the act of committing sexual intercourse with another person - That the killing or the injury was inflicted on either or both at the very act or immediately thereafter. Surprise of a daughter {#surprise-of-a-daughter.TransSub-subtopic2} ---------------------- - The daughter is below 18 years of age - The daughter is living with the parents - The parents caught her by surprise committing sexual intercourse with the seducer - The killing was done at the very act of sexual intercourse or immediately thereafter. IX.PATHOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE CAUSES OF DEATH: SUDDEN DEATH {#ix.pathological-classification-of-the-causes-of-death-sudden-death.TransOutline} =================================================================== - An analysis of all deaths from natural causes will ultimately lead to failure of the heart, lungs, and brain. The following conditions invariably produce the so-called "sudden death" (termination of life which comes quickly when it is not expected) - Death from Syncope - 🖊️ Due to sudden and fatal cessation of the action the heart with circulation included - Death from Asphyxia - 🖊️ Death due to a condition in which the supply of oxygen to the blood, tissues, or both has been reduced to below-normal levels - Death from Coma - 🖊️ State of unconsciousness with the insensibility of the pupil and conjunctivae and inability to swallow resulting from the arrest of the functions of the brain (Brain Death) GUIDE QUESTIONS {#guide-questions.TransOutline} =============== 1. What is the importance of a proper death investigation? - In violent death cases, the manner and cause of death may be inferred from the condition of the crime scene. The place where the essential ingredients of the criminal act took place. It includes adjoining places of sentry and exit of both the offender and the victim. - 🖊️ The SOCO team will be the ones identifying, collecting, and preserving all the physical evidence that is gathered at the crime scene. They will collect these and bring them to the crime laboratory for identification or analysis. 1. What are the objectives of a death investigation? - The goal of the Crime Scene Investigation - All potential physical evidence is properly preserved and collected - All possible witnesses are identified and documented - In the end, the perpetrator may be arrested and prosecuted. 2. What is the role of the medicolegal physician in death investigation? - Examination of the dead body at the crime scene - Present evidence to prove identity - Take note of the Position of the victim - Take note of the conditions of the apparel worn - Approximate the time of death - Presence of wounding instrument and distance from the body - Potential cause of death REFERENCES ========== - Doc Villasenor's Lecture - Batch 2025 Trans APPENDIX ======== - No Appendices