● Frye standard: court must decide if questioned procedure, technique, and principles are
“generally accepted” by a meaningful segment of the relevant scientific community
● Daubert: judges themselves determine if something is admissible
● Method vs manner of death: method is exactly how the guy died (ie. stabbing), manner
of death is circumstances of death (ie. suicide)
● Class characteristics are characteristics shared by at least one other thing (ie. saying a
wooden block in a set of wooden blocks is made of wood)
● Individual characteristics are characteristics unique to one item (ie. one wooden block
has an A on it which no other block in the set has)
● 3 kinds of “mortises”
○ Rigor mortis: body muscles stiffen up after death
○ Livor mortis: settling of blood in lower parts of body after death
○ Algor mortis: cooling of body to room temperature after death
● Lividity
○ Dependent lividity: blood flows to dependent parts of body just after death and
settles
○ Fixed lividity: after some time, blood becomes fixed in its location and won’t
move, even if body gets moved
● Stages of human decomposition
○ Fresh: just after death
○ Bloated: putrefaction
○ Decay: black putrefaction
○ Post decay: butyric fermentation
○ Putrefaction: rotting, butyric fermentation: break down of certain compounds to
produce gas
● Autopsy only required for sudden natural/violent death or unexplained death
○ Suicide is included
● Amount of pressure needed to cause asphyxiation:
○ Jugular veins: 4-5lbs
○ Carotid arteries: 11lbs
○ Trachea: 33lbs
○ Vertebral Arteries: 66lbs
● Important medical terminology:
○ Anterior = front of body
○ Posterior = back of body
○ Aorta: larger artery connected to the heart which distributes blood to other
arteries
○ Artery: thicker walled blood vessels, under pressure, carry blood form heart to
body
○ Cardiac: heart related
○ Cerebral: brain related
○ Cerebrospinal fluid: fluid around brain and spinal cord
○ Coronary arteries: the blood vessels supplying the heart
○ Dorsal: towards back of body
