"I'm not an academic, and all their experts were academics," Const. Slemko said Saturday of his experience of testifying in London. "I thought I was going to have a little bit of difficulty."
But the prosecution accepted that Slemko knows his stuff when it comes to blood-splatter patterns. "The Crown prosecutor treated me incredibly well."
Billie-Jo Jenkins was 13 when she was beaten to death with a thick metal tent peg nine years ago, in the garden of her foster parents' home southeast of London. Police found some of her blood splattered on the clothes of her foster father, Sion Jenkins.
A jury convicted Jenkins in mid-1998, rejecting his claim that he had simply lifted her shoulder after finding the body.
An appeal failed, but Jenkins was allowed a second appeal in the summer of 2004, on the basis of new evidence.
That's where Slemko came in.
Slemko, now 44, had worked with the Edmonton Police Service crime-scene unit, specializing in bloodstain pattern analysis. As is normal, he was rotated back into general investigations after a seven-year stint.
By then, he had a passion for the blood-spatter field, so much so that he won permission to do outside work on his own time. He chose to stay at the rank of constable so he could attend blood-related conferences, teach and do forensic consulting.
He also joined the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts. His involvement in that group led to a call about the Jenkins case in late 2000.
The defence was pushing for a second appeal and wanted a fresh set of eyes on a case that had long engaged British experts.
"They sent over some photographs," Slemko said. "As soon as I looked at the clothing in the context of the scene photographs, I said, 'There's something wrong here. This is no impact spatter on his clothing.' "
The photos of the scene showed blood radiating in almost 360 degrees, with large bloodstains. Billie-Jo's brain was visible.
"We're not talking about a couple of little whacks," Slemko said. "So you can imagine the amount of blood spatter that would be around the scene."
The only stains on Jenkins's clothing were 158 spots so small they couldn't be seen by the naked eye. Slemko felt they must have been exhaled from Billie-Jo's lungs in a fine mist, presumably when Jenkins lifted her shoulder.
Unknown to Slemko, a lung-disease expert had found signs Billie-Jo suffered from a rare condition that could have caused air pressure to build up in her lungs after the attack but before she died. When Jenkins moved her, the pressure could have released, spraying blood.
Jenkins won his right to a second appeal. In July 2004, Slemko guided defence lawyers as they cross-examined expert Crown witnesses. A forensic specialist acknowledged the blood evidence did not necessarily prove guilt, and the judges approved a retrial.
The second trial went ahead last spring, with Slemko giving his evidence.
That trial ended Thursday when a jury again failed to reach a verdict.
Under English law, there is nothing to prevent a fourth trial. But the prosecution said it won't push for one, so Jenkins is formally acquitted.
In December, Slemko helped a Lloydminster man win acquittal on a second trial in Australia. Rory Christie had been convicted in 2002 of killing his estranged wife there.
During Christie's application for a second trial, Slemko told an Australian judicial panel there was no evidence that blood on a tie came from Christie's wife, Susan. The panel ordered a retrial and the judge threw out the prosecution case, ruling it too weak.
He said he has had two e-mails from England since the Jenkins case, asking him to consider further cases there.
"Things are really snowballing for me," he said. "If it's a case where the guy is guilty, sorry, I'm not interested. But if there are real problems with how the evidence was interpreted or it's a wrongful conviction case, then I'll look at it.
"These two cases have been the highlights of my career," he added. "As a police officer, you never think of getting somebody out as being so gratifying."
dthorne@thejournal.canwest.com Case turned on 158 spots of blood
Too small to be seen with the naked eye, they have been
scrutinised over the years by leading experts in blood
pattern analysis from around the world. The jury was asked to decide whether the pattern of blood
spatter proved Mr Jenkins was the killer. The defence argued it was caused by a fine spray of blood
as he tended Billie-Jo after the attack. The focus of the police investigation changed from the
moment these microscopic blood spots were discovered on Mr
Jenkins' fleece, trousers and shoes in the days following
Billie-Jo's death. 'Impact spatter' "As soon as there was a scientific opinion that seemed to
suggest that Sion Jenkins was guilty, all proper policing
ended," said Jenkins' solicitor, Neil O'May. "That was a disaster in trying to find who killed Billie
Jo and it was a disaster for the criminal justice system".
Forensic scientists told police they believed the pattern
of the blood was the result of "impact spatter". They determined from the shape and position of the drops
that they must have got there as Mr Jenkins was standing
over his foster daughter and hitting her repeatedly. Their evidence led to Mr Jenkins being charged and, in
1998, convicted of the murder. But his defence team had already begun looking for an
alternative explanation for the presence of the blood.
They turned to Professor David Denison, one of the
country's leading experts in lung disease at the Royal
Brompton Hospital in London. He found evidence of what he believed was a rare
condition called pulmonary interstitial emphysema, or PIE.
This meant there was a build-up of pressure in
Billie-Jo's lungs, which Professor Denison claimed happened
in the minutes after the attack, before she died. He believed this was caused by blood blocking her
airways, and that some of the blood was released after Mr
Jenkins moved her, sending a spray of droplets which landed
on his clothing - called "expiration spatter". Prof Denison reconstructed the conditions of the murder -
this time taking into account the pressure in Billie-Jo's
lungs - and created a similar pattern of blood. "My experiments show that you can generate from the mouth
and nose the sort of spatters that were found on Sion
Jenkins' clothing and the distribution is almost identical -
the size of the droplets is almost identical - so it is a
very, very credible explanation," said Professor Denison.
Canadian Police Officer As a result of this evidence, three Appeal Court judges
quashed the murder conviction in 2004 and ordered a retrial.
Since then, nearly 30 scientists from around the world
have been consulted. One of these is Joe Slemko, a Canadian police
officer who gained
much of his experience from analysing blood at crime scenes.
"It's important to look at where the blood is, but also
where there is not blood," he told the BBC. "The tell-tale blood stain pattern that caught my eye was
the pattern that was on the chest area of the jacket. It was
a condensed, confined pattern and that could only have been
created as a result of an expiration event. " Blood pattern analysis has been an important tool for
forensic scientists for more than 40 years, but this inquiry
has pushed the technology further than ever before.
Professor Jim Fraser, a past president of the Forensic
Science Society, said it showed how different explanations
can often be found for this type of evidence. "It's good, sound, reliable evidence or information," he
said. "But you can interpret the information in different ways
so any interpretation of blood on clothing or at the crime
scene is highly dependent on what you know about the crime
scene or what you can infer with that typical type of
crime." Professor Graham Zellick, head of the Criminal Cases
Review Commission that sent the Jenkins case back to the
Court of Appeal, said that while he did not want to
criticise the latest jury, it raised wider issues for the
role of juries in the future. "The jury may well be the ideal, or at least the best
mechanism we have for deciding who's telling the truth," he
said. "But to decide detailed technical matters on which some
of the world's leading experts are arguing, well that
strikes me as being fanciful." Police say hundreds of people have been convicted partly
on the basis of blood pattern analysis in the past. The verdict shows how difficult it is for jurors to
assess conflicting expert evidence. World beats a path to blood-spatter
specialist's door EDMONTON - Blood-splatter expert and beat officer Joe
Slemko is back in town after helping a teacher gain a
retrial in a gruesome British murder case. Next up, the Edmonton constable may be testifying at
the retrial of an Albertan convicted of murdering his
former wife in Australia. Slemko, 42, is gaining an international reputation
for his ability to decipher clues to gory crimes through
blood patterns, gained from six years experience with
the Edmonton Police Service's crime-scene unit. He also recently helped Thai authorities investigate
the violent death of a wealthy politician. Slemko returned from England a few days ago after
helping guide defence lawyers as they cross-examined
Crown expert witnesses in the appeal of a murder
conviction. The teamwork paid off Friday when Britain's Court of
Appeal ordered a retrial for teacher Sion Jenkins,
convicted of murdering his 13-year-old foster daughter,
Billie-Jo. "I'm looking forward to testifying at the trial and
setting matters straight," said Slemko, who is convinced
of Jenkins's innocence. He had expected to give evidence during the appeal,
but the case was delayed by the fatal heart attack of
Lord Justice John Kay, who was to lead the hearing
panel. That left less time, so Slemko never got to testify
that blood stains indicate Jenkins is blameless. Billie-Jo was found battered to death by a tent spike
in the family's garden in 1997. Police charged Jenkins
after finding microscopic drops of her blood on his
clothes. Slemko said the splatter pattern shows that blood
sprayed as a fine mist from Billie-Jo's mouth as Jenkins
tended her, after finding her dying. "The patterning of
the staining wasn't consistent with impact splatter." He said there was extensive blood at the scene but
only minimal blood on Jenkins, showing he couldn't have
committed the murder. "I don't think it would have gone to trial here, yet
not only did it go to trial, it led to a conviction." In the Australian case, Slemko expects to testify
this fall -- if an appeal that starts Tuesday leads to a
retrial for Rory Christie, a Lloydminster man convicted
in the murder of his former wife Susan, who disappeared
in 2001. The evidence against Christie included blood on his
tie and blood in the victim's apartment in western
Australia. Slemko said police got misleading results
from tests using the chemical luminol. Slemko said the Royal Thai Police hired him and an
American blood expert to check the evidence in the death
of Hangthong Tumwattana, a politician from one of
Thailand's richest families. He and the American agree
Tumwattana was murdered -- contrary to an earlier
finding that the death was suicide. "There were millions of dollars in inheritance
involved," Slemko said. Police have now charged a younger brother, who has
hired Henry Lee -- a defence expert in the O.J. Simpson
trial. Slemko said he's been getting the assignments through
the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern
Analysts, although he also gets referrals from police
officers. "They know that I'm objective." He gets his costs covered but accepts no pay for his
services because he's still on staff with the city
police. "It's a kind of hobby of mine," he said. dthorne@thejournal.canwest.com
© The Edmonton Journal 2004 March 8, 1996
EDMONTON - A living, terrifying portrait of Sheila Salter's desperate struggle to survive, emerged Friday from a cold, scientific analysis of blood stain patterns.
It appears the 42-year-old employment consultant fought off the frenzied assailant who sprang on her as she opened the driver's door of her Chevy Blazer, Dec. 7, 1995.
But Salter only made it as far as the other side of the next car, Const. Joseph Slemko testified Wednesday at the first-degree murder trial of Peter John Brighteyes.
Flinging his arms apart in a classic defensive posture, Slemko demonstrated how blood from wounds on Salter's hands and fingers stained both sides of a nearby car in the parkade beneath her office.
The blood pattern expert also used his hands to describe how Salter, generally referred to in cold forensic jargon as "the blood source'' was later tipped and loaded into the rear passenger door of the Blazer and propped up behind the driver's seat.
"Mrs. Salter was then pulled back over the back seat into the rear cargo area,'' he testified, using police photographs to identify specific blood stains inside the vehicle. "The seat backs were then pushed forward to expand the area,'' he explained.
Slemko said he couldn't tell how much time expired before Salter was moved to the cargo seat. But blood was no longer pumping from her nicked jugular vein or severed carotid artery, he pointed out. The court adjourned at that point, with Slemko scheduled to resume testifying on Monday morning.
The Crown theory is that Salter was attacked, stabbed and soon after raped by Brighteyes, apparently in the back of the Blazer.
Only her killer witnessed Salter's final minutes in the parkade beneath her office. But Slemko's chilling reconstruction had her loved ones clutching each other in grim silence, Friday.
Blood stain pattern experts use basic physics and scientific analysis of how blood is deposited, to reconstruct attacks in which bleeding is involved.
They can differentiate between passive dripping blood from a wound, blood transferred from an object by contact, and blood projected in a variety of ways, from punches, stab wounds, venal or arterial bleeding, or cast off by the victim's violent body motions.
Their opinion evidence has been allowed in Canadian courts for about 15 years.
Coupled with new forensic education programs that offer intense
specialty training, Canada has become regarded as an international
trailblazer in the field, says Sgt. Mike Illes. “DNA and computer programs have brought [bloodstain analysis]
into this century,” says Illes, who heads the forensic unit at the
OPP’s Central Ontario division in Peterborough. “Canada is
definitely regarded as a leader, and the reason is because of the
training programs we have.” It used to be that analysts applied a mathematical formula,
incorporating physics, to determine the nature of a bloodstain. An
analyst hovering for hours over a crime scene with string and a
protractor was not uncommon, and only limited conclusions could be
drawn. DNA has let analysts pinpoint the origin of a stain to persons at
the scene, while a revolutionary software program developed by a
Carleton University physics professor has made historical artefacts
of the string and protractor. Dr. Alfred Carter invented the computer blood-spatter-analysis
software program called Backtrack. He distributes it through the
company Forensic Computing of Ottawa Inc., which he owns with his
son Brian Carter. The software equips analysts to make sophisticated conclusions in
record time. “With this program, we can show what really happened,” says
Illes. And with the ability to process 20 stains in about 45
minutes, it’s easier for analysts to be thorough — to go an extra
step. Illes gives testimony in court and teaches courses in basic blood
pattern recognition. He is a proponent of simplifying forensic
evidence for juries as new processes add complexities. He is one of few experts qualified and well prepared. So advanced
has the field become, some confusion is emerging about who is still
qualified to give blood spatter evidence in court. In the United States, hundreds of blood spatter analysts have
hung shingles advertising their expertise to lawyers. But many have
achieved their so-called certification by completing one of many
private courses widely available throughout the U.S. that offer
about 40 hours of instruction, says Illes. In Canada, on the other hand, certification is issued only after
an intense, year-long training and testing program, along with
mentoring in the field. Still, with comprehensive blood spatter courses launched at
Canada’s police schools over the past five years, not all of the
150-odd graduates produced so far will be qualified to give expert
testimony, he says. In a catch-22-like scenario, graduates require extensive crime
scene investigation experience before being able to put their blood
spatter knowledge to good use, says Illes. And only those employed
by police forces can have access to that kind of training, he
notes. So many emerging graduates must find work outside the public
service in laboratories, for example, although they are largely left
out of the expert witness loop. In fact, there are less than a dozen blood spatter analysts
qualified to give quality evidence in court in Canada. They, like Illes, work with police forces and all but Illes are
located in Western Canada. Joseph Slemko is a blood spatter analyst who works with
Edmonton’s city police force. He is trying to forge a rapport with
defence lawyers seeking blood spatter information for their
cases. As a consultant, Slemko has been approached by defence lawyers to
review results prepared by the Crown. He has also done work for
insurance companies. He has even gone up against a recent graduate
who gave erroneous testimony at a criminal trial. Despite recent advances in the field, Slemko acknowledges not
everybody is benefiting. “I’d like to see more [resources] available for defence lawyers,”
he says. It’s a surprising statement from a police officer who
supervised crime scene investigations at close to 100 murder or
attempted murder scenes over six years of his career. He admits his position isn’t popular amongst his police force
colleagues. “There’s the perception that the defence is the ‘dark
side.’” But during his experience testifying for the Crown, Slemko says,
“I’ve probably been disappointed 95 per cent of the time by the
cross-examination by defence lawyers.” Slemko hopes to build his blood spatter consulting service over
the coming years. In the meantime, he is happy to mete out advice on
case analysis when he can, which he usually ends up doing for
free. Both Slemko and Illes recommend, in the context of the huge
advances made in the field, lawyers check out the background,
experience, and education of anyone who purports to be a blood
spatter expert.
Ratings suggest we more than like the gore in forensic dramas -- we
adore it. Perhaps bored with car chases and shootouts, audiences are
after a crime's intimate details, the tangible evidence connecting
perpetrators to their victims. Viewers identify with sexy-yet-nerdy TV
crimefighters, says P.J. Naworynski, producer of the Gemini-nominated
documentary series F2: Forensic Factor. The six-part series, which
premieres at 7 p.m. on Discovery tomorrow, shadows real forensic
professionals in the field. No doubt Discovery brass are banking on the
notion that if people are fascinated by the fiction of forensics,
they'll be doubly intrigued by the real thing. "There's glamour on a few levels," says Naworynski. "Forensic
scientists are working with some amazing technology. They are always
looking for something to do the job better or faster, and for that 100%
fail-safe advancement. There's also something about the finality of it,
of working with life and death." According to Const. Joe Slemko, a blood spatter expert with the
Edmonton police, humans are natural problem solvers. He thinks that
forensic programs simply appeal to human curiosity. "Working with crime scene evidence is like trying to put together a
jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box to guide you," says Slemko,
a force veteran of 18 years who also works as a private consultant and
teaches forensics for Grant MacEwan's policing program. Slemko's
website, www.bloodspatter.com, generates countless e-mails asking his
advice about how to launch a career in forensics. Most of his
correspondents, their expectations skewed by TV's fast-fix esthetic, are
surprised to learn that a future in forensics must start with a career
in policing. "You have to be a cop first, and you are looking at a minimum of five
years working the street no matter what your specialization," he says.
He adds that TV has also altered the public's perception of how long
it takes experts to process and gather crime-scene evidence. "It's a
double-edged sword. It raises the benchmark, which is good. But
investigations don't always end neatly after 60 minutes is up," he says.
Some suggest that viewers' attraction to the macabre may have deeper
roots beyond curiosity and the glamour of TV forensics experts arriving
at crime scenes in tank tops and Prada heels. "We all try in different
ways to ward off and avoid making our own death salient. Watching it
happen to someone else is a way of satisfying that curiosity about
death, while still maintaining a distance from it," says Dr. Donald
Dutton, a professor of forensic psychology at the University of British
Columbia. Dutton says we are preoccupied by a fascination with the justice
system, and crime scene dramas let audiences explore social boundaries.
"People are fascinated with rules and with breaking rules, and sometimes
we like to live vicariously through society's rule-breakers." Viewers, from the detached safety of their living rooms, can simply
switch to another more palatable station if content becomes too graphic.
But for the professionals working in the field, it's not so easy. Even the producer Naworynski says it can be hard to sleep after
working on Forensic Factor. "Dead bodies smell bad. Really dead bodies
smell really bad," he says. "I have nightmares sometimes. You look at crime scene photos and you
realize these are real people who have died horrible deaths." Slemko, on the other hand, simply refuses to watch crime dramas. "I
find them frustrating to watch. I have no interest. If I wanted that
kind of drama, I'd go to work," he says. "I'd rather watch a comedy."
The Sion Jenkins case ultimately turned on
158 tiny spots of Billie-Jo's blood found on her foster
father's clothing.
Duncan
Thorne
The
Edmonton Journal
July 17, 2004
Salter fought off attacker, blood expert testifies
ACCUSED SOLD SALTER'S RING FOR DRUGS, COURT TOLD
- March 6
'I LOOKED UNDER ALL THE VEHICLES'
- March 6
SALTER FOUGHT OFF ATTACK, COURT TOLD
- March 5
DNA TIES ACCUSED TO SLAYING, COURT TOLD
- March 4
Sheila Salter, 42, was abducted from a ground floor parkade and stabbed to death Dec. 7, 1995. Her body was found 10 days later in a farmhouse near Chipman, 35 km east of Edmonton.
TOM BARRETT
Journal Staff Writer
Law Times
By Daryl-Lynn Carlson
Bloodstains at a crime scene can reveal more than ever. Advances
in DNA and a leading software program developed in Canada have
catapulted the science of blood spatter analysis into unprecedented
significance.
Psychology behind forensic shows' popularity runs deep
by
Penny Cholmondeley
Published in Edmonton Journal, November 2003
