An analysis from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive (ATF) could not conclusively connect a bullet fragment recovered during Charlie Kirk’s autopsy to the rifle found near the scene of the rightwing political activist’s killing – and the FBI is running additional tests, lawyers for Kirk’s accused murderer said in recent court filings.

In the court filings, Tyler Robinson’s defense team also asked for a delay to a preliminary hearing scheduled in May, saying they need time to review the bullet analysis as well as an enormous amount of other material that could contribute to the suspect’s defense.

The ATF’s bullet analysis report has been kept private, but attorneys have cited snippets in other public filings that say the results were inconclusive.

The defense said in its motion that it may try to use the analysis to clear Robinson of blame during the preliminary hearing while prosecutors aim to show they have enough evidence against him to proceed with a trial.

  • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I have read somewhere that the whole “bullet forensics” process is mostly pseudoscience anyway. A quick search found this article:

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-field-of-firearms-forensics-is-flawed/

    If a shell casing wasn’t ejected on the scene (like with a bolt-action not cycled) then all they would have to analyze is the what’s-left-of-bullet which is possibly just a mess of lead and copper. May or may not have rifling marks left on it

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      Yeah, shits not like on TV.

      In fact, one of the big reason it’s like that on TV, is just so when cops lie in real life, idiots believe them.

      They consistently tell suspects “we know your gun fired the bullet” but they don’t, at most for handguns they can say “a glock fired it” because they use weird octagon rifling.

      Matching it to a specific firearm is impossible unless the barrel is real fucked up in a unique way.

      A 30-06 will have such massive deformation, I’d be shocked if any rifling is identifiable.

      That doesn’t mean the person they claim is the shooter really is tho, all types of shit happened immediately after that only make sense if there was a cover up.

      But anyone expecting a bullet to be “matched” to a rifle been watching too much CSI

        • kolonel@lemmy.world
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          Is that the scene the other fellow ‘helps’ by also typing on the same keyboard?! 🤣

        • Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works
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          I was so sad when I found out she was a fake Goth Girl.

          Not as bad as when I met Elvira at a signing in the '00s and a middle aged blond woman wearing Mom Jeans and a sweater had taken her place.

          Now I’m older and realize that Elvira is very busy and can’t be everywhere at once, so that’s why she hires helpers to fill in for her sometimes.

          • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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            Now I’m older and realize that Elvira is very busy and can’t be everywhere at once, so that’s why she hires helpers to fill in for her sometimes.

            🤭

      • Zak@lemmy.world
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        A 30-06 will have such massive deformation

        The article describes a fragment, which is beyond mere deformation. That’s unsurprising with a high-velocity rifle round and would typically be impossible to conclusively match to the weapon that fired it. It could be possible to exclude a particular weapon (wrong caliber, obviously different rifling, etc…).

        • AlDente@sh.itjust.works
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          They don’t seem to be denying fragmentation/massive deformation. In fact, the crux of their comment relies on that fragmentation.

          That massive deformation of the bullet comes from massive force, that didn’t happen to kirk’s neck.

          The point is that, with the amount of force in applied to fragment this bullet, we do not see a similar amount of force applied to Charlie’s neck. There was no large exit wound, and the projectile did not appear to impact his spine.

      • teyrnon@sh.itjust.works
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        That massive deformation of the bullet comes from massive force, that didn’t happen to kirk’s neck.

        Have you even looked at the evidence?

        • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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          Article says “fragment”. Have you seen otherwise?

          Did the bullet stop in some conveniently placed ballistics gel behind Kirk?

            • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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              Hunting rifles like that are usually going to make a small entrance wound and larger exit wound. I haven’t seen exactly what happened to kirk because I don’t like to watch people die. But I can say from experience with deer hunting that it’s plausible for that rifle to make a narrow wound channel through a person, while being extremely deadly to them, not making a huge wound outside.

              Basically those high powered rounds are made to penetrate well through large animals, tougher than humans. Expanding and deforming of the round is intended to begin well after penetration, unlike the way handgun bullets are designed.

              So I think it’s totally possible that Robinson did it even though the bullet isn’t able to be matched

              • teyrnon@sh.itjust.works
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                The demonstrations I have seen with this rifle, with all types of ammunition including Old World War One ammunition that is less powerful, there’s a fist sized exit wound and bones in the neck would be broken.

                But there are other problems with the story, for one thing they claim he disassembled the rifle in one minute and put it in a tiny pack and jumped off the roof with it, and he does not otherwise have it hidden in his pants you can tell. For another thing they brought a bomb / gun sniffing dog through the area where they later found the gun, right by it, the sheriff did, and did not find this weapon, but then the FBI shows up and finds it in the first minute. And obviously they claimed he disassembled it because there is no possible way he could have been carrying a rifle in the video footage of him leaving the scene, but they find it fully assembled. Rather odd, one could say incredible. As in not a credible story. Utah police know it’s a bullshit story this is an FBI fucking Frame Up.

                • atzanteol@sh.itjust.works
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                  I’m asking you because you said

                  That massive deformation of the bullet comes from massive force, that didn’t happen to kirk’s neck.

                  Have you even looked at the evidence?

                  It sounds like you’re saying the bullet wouldn’t have been deformed and that you’ve seen some evidence to that end.

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      Same with fingerprinting and blood spatter analysis. There is very little within the field of forensics that is backed by science. Fingerprints are not admissible evidence in many courts.

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        “We’re 100% certain the one responsible for destroying the eucalyptus bush is either you or this koala. Why don’t you just admit it now and save yourself some trouble?”

      • teyrnon@sh.itjust.works
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        There are points of similarity in fingerprinting, and every state has their own number of points to be a match. They all accept them as evidence.

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          There are points of similarity in fingerprinting, and every state has their own number of points to be a match.

          You mean they bring in an “expert” to testify that the fingerprints match… and when you give 2 “experts” the same set of fingerprints to compare, they literally come to disagreeing conclusions in 50% of tests

          It is not a scientific or analytical process with scientifically identified “points of similarity”, its just a person who is deemed an “expert”, who looks at 2 fingerprints and says “yeah these look similar, and they look similar in X different places so 👍”

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            There are the actual standards, then there are prosecutors perverting them. Prosecutors are the least trustworthy people on the planet. Total pieces of shit, no argument here. But fingerprints themselves aren’t junk science as I’ve read, not like past hair analysis, blood spatter, bite mark analysis, 911 voice recording analysis, or any number of other junk sciences. As I understand it.

            But don’t let me dismiss your point out of hand, what gave you this opinion, did you read something as such, you have a source on this?

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        I searched and couldn’t find any information about fingerprints not being admissible in any courts. I’ve found a lot of stories about how they aren’t 100% accurate (closer to 95-99 percent), but not one story about how fingerprints were not admissible.

        Where are these “many courts” that don’t accept fingerprints?

  • RamRabbit@lemmy.world
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    Bullet tracing is mostly a TV fiction. This headline is just the natural state of things.

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      The whole bullet gun fingerprint thing is total bullshit, but it’s not completely impossible to determine caliber depending on the size of the fragment which could rule out a specific firearm.

      Edit: I dont fucking trust the forensic analyst either and the article stated there were few specifics. I agree with you but just wanted to point out that it is feasible to rule out some things

    • Gorilladrums@lemmy.world
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      I doubt it. It doesn’t make sense to go after him specifically. His reach wasn’t really that big prior to his death. He like many other conservative grifters peaked in 2016, and he’s been declining ever since. It also doesn’t make sense because he’s a big Trump ass licker, and he never really wavered from that. There’s no reason to target him over someone like Tucker Carlson for example.

      I think the simplest explanation is often what turns out to be the correct one. I think it’s more likely that some rando who hated him for either being too far right or not far right enough took the opportunity to kill him when they had the chance. Considering how the shooting took place in Utah, there’s definitely no shortage of whackos who would do such a thing.

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    Every high profile murder that happens from now on will be conspiracy-theoried to death. Articles like this fuel it. I think it often makes sense to doubt the story we’re told. But many Lemmy users for example, are not “doubting”. They “know” what happened.

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        From your comment history:

        It’s also rumoured, for a long time, decades, that the US has kill switches in most of the world’s computers. A fusible link they can send a message to that bricks it.

        Yikes.

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            That is one of many windows into your thought process including your response to me here. I didn’t even state an opinion on the conspiracy theories, you just got mad that you thought someone implied they doubted them.

            As for my comments being worthless, it would be much easier to block me than imply you’ve been stalking me and hate me. I’m taking my own advice here just momentarily.

    • GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world
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      Completely and totally unrelated question to the topic because your username interests me.

      What kind of communist is Tasslehoff Burrfoot?

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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        A kender. All kender society is communist to the extreme. There’s not much in the way of currency, and what does exist, exists because of states outside of Kenderhome. All public property is communal. Hell, the “jail/palace” is only used if you manage to FORGET TO HAVE SEX with another kender, because they are so fucking ADD that is an actual issue.

        Most people don’t understand kender at all, and think they are just annoying. That’s not what we are. We’re the counterpoint to the gnomes. We can take anything and make it into something interesting, we don’t really understand private property, and personal property is shared amongst us, so others don’t like us. We take problems apart like there’s nothing that can stop us. That’s why I was picking locks IRL at the age of 2. It’s not to commit crimes, I don’t know if any of us are actually capable of doing that intentionally without a lot of disillusionment. We just want to explore everything, and fix all the problems we see. That makes us extremely annoying to others.

    • teyrnon@sh.itjust.works
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      Never. That is what it was though. Something similar to that anyway. We should all know it, but plenty on “the left” here silence questioning the obviously false on at least three points fbi information, officially because some on the right also questioned that evidence and therefore they are opposite of that.

  • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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    A disturbing number of people seem to be reading this as:

    “The bullet does not match the gun.” i.e. that there is ‘proof’ that the bullet didn’t come from his gun

    Instead of

    “They can’t say if it is or is not from the gun due to being a small fragment and not an entire bullet”

    It probably doesn’t help that there are a bunch of communities/subreddits who’ve editorialized the headlines to say ‘bullet does not match gun’ and the tendency of people to only read the headline.

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      Under the requirement to prove beyond reasonable doubt, “they can’t say if it is or is not from the gun” is huge, having a gun becomes circumstantial, and requires additional evidence, and depending on the strength of additional evidence, a good lawyer maybe able to get him off the hook.

  • teyrnon@sh.itjust.works
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    This story stinks, totally impossible story by the fbi on three counts at least. No shit they didn’t release the ballistics results, because that rifle would’ve made a very different more dramatic wound than whatever hit kirk.

    • AlDente@sh.itjust.works
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      I found it interesting that after Joe Kent resigned from being Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, he went on the record to say that the FBI prevented them from investigating any foreign links to the Kirk assassination.

      Edit: also, if anyone hasn’t seen this comedy bit on the assassination, it’s worth a watch.

    • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
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      No shit they didn’t release the ballistics results, because that rifle would’ve made a very different more dramatic wound than whatever hit kirk.

      They didn’t release the ballistics results because it is evidence in a case that is in progress.

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    FYI, Kirk was against an attack on Iran, and dared to equivocate Palestinian lives with those of genocidal zionazis, in the sense that perhaps the genocide was a little too heavy. Reportedly, Bill Ackman (head of US mossad zionazi division) tried to donate/persuade him to be more in line with GOP doctrine on the chosen genocidal supremacists, but was rebuffed shortly before the murder.

    Joe Kent, director of counter terrorism, who recently resigned from Government because Iran war is purely for Israel, said that he was denied access to “terrorism investigation” related information in Kirk’s death.

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    It was spontaneously created by the Almighty. You didn’t need proof of the bullet’s firing. You just need strong enough belief. If God came down and snatched the bullet from Trump’s ear, he also placed this one.

  • Kokesh@lemmy.world
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    Who cares? Fuck kirk and his wife wife. And JD vance that fucks her and her sofa.

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    Honestly the only reason that I don’t think he was hit in the way they claim at a minimum is because thirty aught six would usually do way more damage. It’s possible it was a grazing but old leaky neck wouldve had a far larger chunk taken out of his neck if IMO had it been a direct hit with the claimed caliber.

    • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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      I saw an interesting video where there was some frame by frame analysis from multiple angles, and you can see a flash that seems to be from a gun firing reflected off a window, and when you account for the distance and time of flight, the bullet was travelling too slow to be a 30-06.

      And my layer to this conspiracy is that it was a 30-06, but it was moving slower than expected. The (alleged) shooter said he grabbed his grandpa’s gun specifically because it was seldom used and unlikely to be noticed as missing. It’s logical that he was using grandpa’s old ammo too, thus the firearm was not performing nominally. This explains the neck shot too. The shooter was going for the head, and the bullet dropped further than expected because it was traveling slower.

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        Honestly I actually kinda like your hypothesis. Between questionable maintenance due to low use and old ammo it may have very dropped the muzzle velocity of the bullet enough to cause the effects seen. Mind you without the rifle and rounds used being tested it’s still just guess work, but it does fit the criteria for Occam’s Razor since it basically only makes one assumption with the current evidence.

        Still won’t go with anything conclusively since the authorities are known to lie and the investigation was fucked up basically immediately. But I also don’t really care outside of curiosity, I’m glad the shithead is dead and I’m happy it was from him getting shot.