Sept. 8 USA: 'Proofs': In Death, Bodies Speak Volumes A "body of evidence" is not always a metaphor. Sometimes a body is the evidence. "Visible Proofs: Forensic Views of the Body" is a small, quirky exhibit mounted by the National Library of Medicine (on the Bethesda campus of the National Institutes of Health) for the delectation of fans of TV's "CSI" and "Bones" (and those longer-standing admirers of Sherlock Holmes, P.D. James, etc.) who have heard the siren call of secrets untimely interred. In a honeycomb of photo blowups, film clips and corporeal fragments, along with a leavening dose of kitsch, the exhibit shows how the evolution of various medical specialties aids in the pursuit of justice as well as knowledge. It is, one might say, a true meeting of hearts -- in formaldehyde -- and minds. The displays range from the affectionate (a counter of Holmesiana, true-crime comics and kids' fingerprint kits) to the grotesque (coffin- and skull-shaped poison bottles), from the meticulous (three shoe-box-size scale re-creations of crime scenes) to the macabre (the life cycle of the fly as indicator of time of death). The implements used in Abraham Lincoln's autopsy are here, along with a lineup of skulls exposing fatal injuries that looks goofily like a Halloween novelty. A dead body tells no tales, goes the old saw, except, as a late-19th-century professor of medical jurisprudence at the University of Edinburgh put it, "those it whispers to the quick ear of the scientific expert." Authoritative forensic texts appeared in France as early as 1621 (the example here is a 1657 edition with woodcut illustrations) and in Germany a century later. The exhibit title comes from the charge made by the judges to an English jury in 1781: "You are not to expect visible proofs in a work of darkness. You are to collect the truth from circumstances, and little collateral facts, which taken singly afford no proof, yet put together, so tally with, and confirm each other, that they are as strong and convincing evidence, as facts that appear in the broad face of the day." By the end of the 17th century, reports of notorious murder cases in England were being printed as popular pamphlets complete with the testimony of medical examiners and consultants. (The need for accurate anatomical data also created a new and gruesome character, the body snatcher, who haunted burial grounds for fresh corpses that then could be sold to doctors and teaching hospitals -- and who became a fixture in 19th-century literature.) And with the desire to improve the judicial system, newly emerging scientific and medical procedures were increasingly exploited to legal ends. Entomology, spectrometry, chemistry, pathology, ballistics, dentistry, photography, radiology, computer modeling and digital imaging are among disciplines that take their bows here. But it was not quick with the dead. The recognition of fingerprints, traces of toxins in hair and digestive organs, records of the damage inflicted on bone by gunshots near or far, all had to battle their way from the laboratory to the courtroom. And even now, computer simulations have not made corpses unnecessary: At the University of Tennessee's Forensic Anthropology Center, made famous in Mary Roach's book "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" as "the body farm," donated bodies are exposed to extraordinary stresses in the name of science. (They are also treated with the greatest respect and gratitude.) Their importance, however, is unquestioned. The discussion of DNA testing pays tribute to the case of ex-Marine Kirk Bloodsworth, whose death-row conviction was overturned in 1993 through the efforts of former Montgomery County public defender Robert Morin and the Innocence Project. Films of mass-grave exhumations point out that the work of anthropologist Clyde Snow and his army of Argentine students in the 1980s led to the murder convictions of 6 of the 9 former junta members who "disappeared" an estimated 20,000 citizens. There are only a few specimens that might shiver the squeamish, including the fly maggots (and the description of their work) and a trio of suspended hearts. The stiffest moments, so to speak, are the clips from how-to autopsy films, but these are discreetly recessed into the projector and equipped with a quick stop button so those with weaker stomachs need not see similar organs excised. (Although there are odd and intriguing bits of information that emerge; for instance, it's easier to cut through the ribs of young people than older ones because of the greater calcification.) Among the lighter-hearted exhibits are a fingerprint recorder that you can use on yourself (a much more modern version than the box set) and the 3 "nutshell studies," as the miniature crime scenes came to be called, part of a group of 19 assembled by the heiress to the International Harvester fortune and still in the possession of the Baltimore medical examiner's office. A cautionary note: Since the library is on the campus of the National Institutes of Health, all drivers must enter at South Lawn Drive and go through the security gate and car check, which takes some minutes, then follow a snaking route to the few visitors' parking spaces at the library. The meters accept only quarters, and each one buys only 7 1/2 minutes, so all in all, you'll save time and money if you take Metro. VISIBLE PROOFS: FORENSIC VIEWS OF THE BODY Through Feb. 16, 2008, at the National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, NIH Building 38 (Metro: Medical Center). 301-594-1947 or e-mail NLMExhibition at mail.nlm.gov. http://www.nlm.nih.gov. Open Monday-Friday 8:30 to 5, Saturdays 8:30 to 2. Free. (source: The Washington Post) WASHINGTON (state) More time for death penalty decision in Seattle shooting SEATTLE King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng has until November 17th to decide whether to seek the death penalty against the man accused of killing a woman at the Jewish Federation office in Seattle. The deadline was extended 2 months yesterday after a superior court hearing for Naveed Haq. The 30-year-old Tri-Cities man is charged with aggravated murder, plus attempted murder, and other charges for the July 28th shooting in which 5 other women were wounded. Police say Haq identified himself as a Muslim and said he blamed Jews for U-S policy in the Mideast. (source: Seattle Times)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----USA, WASH.
Rick Halperin Sun, 10 Sep 2006 22:27:48 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)