Television Review

Television Review

Episode 1, Golden Parachute, CSI: Miami

Summary of the Plot and Major Events

A plane crashes into the Everglades and the CSI: Miami team then undertakes an investigation. The plane has eight passengers in total, but only one survived the crash. The other passengers are later found near the plane in a swamp found in Florida. The surviving passenger is the pilot who is initially in a comma but is questioned when he wakes up. The dead bodies are analyzed by the forensic scientists who use machinery to recognize the victims and match the scattered body parts with their corresponding victims. The scientists also use fingerprint processing programs to identify whether they match with any fingerprints in the database. BULLETPROOF, which is a database, is also used for the investigation of any use of a gun to kill one of the passengers. The team analyzes the causes of death and determines that the only woman on board the plane was killed on the plane before the crash. A database called DILAUDID is also used to develop a hair chemical profile o the woman that was probably murdered. This helps them to get her identity, background information, and why she could have been killed. When the pilot comes to, he reveals that the woman had suicidal tendencies and that she had tried to commit suicide before the plane crash. At the episode’s end, the team gets to know that the woman had been keeping legal secrets for the pilot.

When she threatened to reveal the secrets on the plane, she got into an argument with the pilot. The pilots hit her using a fire extinguisher, which made her fall out of the plane and dies. The pilots find out that the team knows the truth, checks himself out of the hospital, goes home, and hangs himself to avoid a trial.

Critical Assessment of Major Issues Covered

Most of the events in the episode seem realistic. For example, the use of databases to get the victims’ identities is practical and logical. The pilot also went into shock immediately after he was found by the team, which is typical for victims who have experienced traumatic incidences such as a plane crash. Some of the events that I find to be unrealistic in the episode include the pilot checking himself out of the hospital on the same day that he wakes up from a coma, and the short search for the dead bodies by the team. Usually, when a person wakes up from a coma in a hospital, it is not possible to check out and go home on the same day. The patient has to stay for longer in the hospital for observation. It is, therefore, unrealistic that the staff allowed him to check out. Additionally, the team stopped the search for the remaining bodies after two days, which is too short, considering that they wanted to find all the evidence that they could get.

Two Pieces of Forensic Issues Covered in the Episode

One forensic issue covered in the episode is the use of hair to identify the female victim. Hair is composed of proteins that have origins in the hair follicle. A large percentage of hair is made of up long amino acid chains. These chains are joined by peptide bonds, which are chemical bonds. The database used in the episode to investigate the hair is DIAUDID, and its working mechanism is identifying the chemical bonds in the female victim’s hair to identify her. In real life, hair analysis is done on individual hairs from the originating body. They are then traced to determine the shape, color, or chemical composition. The race of the individual can also be identified in case it is not clear from the body. This evidence helps to narrow down and get the individual’s identity (Kintz, Salomone & Vincenti, 2015). If the hair root is still attached, DNA testing helps identify the individual. A hair comparison is only used to exclude people.

 

Another forensic issue that is covered is the use of fingerprints to identify the victims. The team uses fingerprint processing programs to determine whether they match with any of those in the database. In the real world, fingerprints are examined using Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) systems, which make it possible to compare fingerprint patterns with others of known criminals in the databases to look for any similarities. For prints that are small or only partial, the identification requires going through possible suspects and looking for specific print characteristics to make matches (Mike Groen & Berger, 2017). If the print does not match that of any criminal, fingerprint impressions are obtained from the person, and a trained fingerprint expert then identifies at least 10 points of comparison, which are then matched with the suspect’s prints.

Conclusion

The episode does an excellent job of recreating a criminal investigation and representing the procedures which are followed by forensic scientists. The tools and actions that were followed were mostly accurate in comparison to daily investigative procedures.

Characters

Lieutenant Horatio Caine- director of the MDPD Crime Lab

Lieutenant Megan Donner – Horatio’s partner.

Detective Calleigh Duquesne- a ballistics specialist who specializes in DNA recovery.

Detective Eric Delko- a fingerprint and drug specialist.

Detective Timothy Speedle- a specialist in impressions and trace.

Assistant Chief Medical Examiner Alexx Woods- the coroner at Miami Dade County hospital.

 

References

Kintz, P., Salomone, A., & Vincenti, M. (2015). Hair analysis in clinical and forensic toxicology. Academic Press.

Mike Groen, W. J., & Berger, C. E. (2017). Crime scene investigation, archaeology, and taphonomy: reconstructing activities at crime scenes. Taphonomy of Human Remains Forensic Analysis of the Dead and the Depositional Environment: Forensic Analysis of the Dead and the Depositional Environment, 476-494.