Testimony centers on gunshot residue

By: Donna Swicegood | Mooresville Tribune
Published: August 31, 2010

A State Bureau of Investigation forensic scientist testified that at least one of the two people shot to death on Nov. 16, 2004, had some contact with a firearm that night.
District Attorney Sarah Kirkman questioned Elizabeth Patel, who works in the SBI's trace evidence section, on Tuesday concerning a post mortem gunshot residue test conducted on Timothy Cook. The test, Patel said, indicated that he'd been in close proximity to a firearm.
Cook and Angelo Stockton were shot and killed on the night of Nov. 16, 2004, in the 600 block of Brevard Street. A third man, Charles Summers, was wounded.
Travis Ramseur is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and could face the death penalty.
District Attorney Sarah Kirkman questioned Patel about the gunshot residue test, which indicated there were characteristics of residue on Cook's hands. Patel said there are several possibilities for how the residue got there, from Cook firing a weapon, handling one or being in close proximity to one that was fired.
Several witnesses testified that Cook was seen displaying a weapon shortly before he was killed.
Patel said the same test performed on Stockton was inconclusive. "That does not mean they couldn't fired a gun," she said.
She also testified about a GSR test performed on Deleon Dalton. Dalton was in an altercation with Stockton shortly before the shooting and Stockton, in a dying declaration, identified Dalton as the person responsible.
Police initially charged Dalton, but the charges were dropped when a number of people placed Dalton inside a house across the street when the shooting began.
Patel said a GSR kit was collected from Dalton early on the morning of Nov. 17, 2004.
She said the test did not find elevated levels of gunshot residue but that did not eliminate the possibility Dalton was in proximity of a firearm.
Patel also testified about GSR kits submitted on two vehicles, a Nissan and a Monte Carlo, that were seen leaving the area immediately after the shootings.
Patel said GSR tests performed on inanimate objects are not normally analyzed by the SBI.
"We can't really tell when it got there or how it got there," she said.
Patel said if the car is involved in the shooting in some way, such tests are analyzed.
However, she testified, she received information from police that the cars were not part of the shooting, so no such analysis took place.
Under cross-examination from defense co-counsel, Lori Hamilton Dewitt, Patel said a variety of factors could influence a GSR test, including the weather, whether the person received medical treatment or whether he or she washed their hands.
Time, she said, also can affect the test results.
Two hours after the person has handled or fired a firearm, she said, the chance of finding residue diminishes.
The test on Dalton was performed at 3:20 a.m. on Nov. 17, 2004. The shootings occurred around 11:20 p.m. on Nov. 16, 2004.
Former SBI Special Agent R.R. Walker, who now works for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, spent most of the morning on the stand identifying the shell casings and live rounds found in the area on Nov. 17 and 18, 2004

Testimony centers on gunshot residue

Share This:

More from this channel:

Reader Comments

Deal of the Day

Most Popular

More Ways to Connect

Snap Photos