After Holmes: Dr. MacDonell's Forensic Casebook

by Herbert MacDonell, Allan Eaglesham

Overview

"After Holmes: Dr. MacDonell’s Forensic Casebook" provides sixty studies from the casebook of criminalist Herbert Leon MacDonell. No liar for hire, MacDonell’s currency is science, and science is truth. Whether working for the prosecution or the defense, if the source of his retainer is unhappy with his findings, then tough cookie!

The contents cover a range of case types. Included are the trials of O.J. Simpson, Jean Harris, the Chicago Black Panthers, Joanne Chesimard, Thomas Randolph, and Marjorie Congdon. MacDonell brings to light bloodspatter evidence that Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered before Ron Goldman, contrary to the theory espoused by the prosecution. He lays out, in detail-by-tiny-detail, the proof that the shooting death of the Scarsdale Diet guru, Dr. Herman “Hy” Tarnower, occurred precisely as stated by Tarnower’s lover Jean Harris, who, therefore, was unjustly imprisoned for twelve years. MacDonell’s brilliant forensic work, which led to dismissal of attempted-homicide charges against seven Black Panthers—after the murder of their leader, Fred Hampton, by the Chicago police—is documented in photographs. In two cases that continue to be controversial, MacDonell provides evidence that, contrary to popular belief, Joanne Chesimard and Thomas Randolph did indeed commit the murders for which they were found guilty. Unique insight into the infamous Glensheen Mansion murders reveals how police misconduct led to the indictment of the wrong person, resulting in the likely perpetrator being found not guilty.

Several cases are described in which the results of Dr. MacDonell’s work never saw the light of day in court because they did not provide the information hoped for by the sponsoring attorneys. Perhaps most notably, he reveals the details of how Amadou Diallo was shot multiple times by Bronx police officers who—absent MacDonell’s testimony at trial—were acquitted of murder.

The only case-study that he has turned down in his venerable career was offered by Phil Spector’s defense team. The surprising reason is mute testimony to Spector’s guilt in the shooting death of starlet Lana Clarkson.

A dominant aspect of MacDonell’s modus operandi is crime-scene reconstruction, some of which have been elaborate and have provided unexpected insights missed by investigating law-enforcement agencies. "After Holmes" is a unique blend of the horrendous things that people do to others and to themselves, and MacDonell’s quirky view of both. It comprises 110,000 words, 300 pages, 150 illustrations and a chapter index.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940012924834
Publisher:	Allan Eaglesham
Publication date:	05/20/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Herbert MacDonell holds a master of science degree in chemistry and an honorary doctor of science degree from the University of Rhode Island. He has testified, variously for the prosecution and defense, in hundreds of trials in thirty-seven states, three Canadian provinces, Australia, Bermuda, Germany, Italy, and Grand Cayman. In 1994, he testified in Montreal as the first witness allowed to give evidence before an appellate court in Quebec. He has lectured throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Australia, England, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Republic of China, Scotland, Sweden, and Switzerland. From 1975 through 1990, he was a frequent lecturer at the University of Ottawa Law School.

His major areas of expertise are: fingerprint identification (his MAGNA Brush™ invention broadened the types of surface and substance on which fingerprints may be processed); firearm identification and ballistics; and bloodstain evidence (his self-published Bloodstain Patterns is regarded in forensic circles as the bloodspatter bible). For 35 years, he has taught an annual “Bloodstain Institute,” for the benefit of law-enforcement professionals, at Elmira College, NY, as well as at other colleges, universities and forensic institutions. Simply put, Herbert MacDonell is the leading authority on the interpretation of bloodstain patterns.
MacDonell has been the focus of many print articles and has appeared on television more than fifty times (he has lost count). For example, he was interviewed on January 13, 2010, by investigative telejournalist Michael Wilkerson for an HBO show on the on-going controversy over the conviction of US Army Lieutenant Michael Behanna by court martial for murder while on duty in Iraq.

Dr. MacDonell has published over a hundred articles in the forensics literature.

Free-lance editor Allan Eaglesham has a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Bristol, UK, and has edited nineteen books for the International Atomic Energy Agency and eleven for the National Agricultural Biotechnology Council, on scientific topics. He assisted William Matson Law in producing In the Eye of History: Disclosures in the JFK Assassination Medical Evidence (Southlake: JFK Lancer Productions & Publications, 2004).