Forensic Firsts (2012)

S1E6 Smoking Guns

A single case rescued a man from execution, while another halted a sniper's deadly spree. Explore two criminal investigations where ballistic evidence was crucial in shaping the outcomes for the accused. Initially, Charles Stielow, condemned to death for a murder in 1915, is exonerated through groundbreaking investigative techniques. Later, after a tense 22 days in 2002, detectives in Washington D.C. manage to solve the sniper case by analyzing bullets recovered from the victims.