Expert witness testimony. Fire arms

• Detective Noble, would you please take for the record your full name, your rank and your current job classification?

• Certainly. My name is Frank Ernest Noble. I’m a detective first class with the Monroe county sherif’s department and I currently function as the department’s armorer.

• And what does being an armorer entail, briefly?

• Well, briefly I place all small arms orders for the department, issue fire arms to department personnel, oversee secure storage, of unissued weapon, – that sort of thing. I’m also in charge of maintenance of all of the department’s small arms.

• Would you say then, detective Noble, that you’re an expert on the subject of small arms?

• Well, I would say so, yes.

• And another subject, detective Noble: are you a hunter? That is – do you hunt game for recreational purposes?

• I go duck hunting occasionally. I used to hunt deer, but not so much anymore.

• Would you say though that you’re at least reasonably familiar with various common kinds of hunting and the fire arms used for each?

• Yes, I think that’s fair to say.

• I’d like you to take a look at this, detective. It’s People’s exhibit A, a list of fire arms and related items confiscated from the defendant’s residence on March 17 of last year. I’d like you if you would, detective, to read this list out loud for the jurists to hear, and I’d like to ask you a few questions about that, OK?

• Certainly. Let’s see. OK. Two colts 45 caliber semi-automatic pistols, one box of hollow point 45 caliber ammunition, one smith-and-vesson 3,57 magnum revolver, one box of partially consumed hollow point 3,57 magnum ammunition, one double-barrel sawed-off shotgun 12 gauge, a box of 12 gauge shotgun shells loaded with double-ought buckshot, 3 colt AR15 rifles with six banana clips and approximately 1500 rounds of steel-jacketed ammunition, one collision card AK47 rifle with two banana clips and approximately 250 rounds of steel-jacketed ammunition.

• Have you personally inspected each of the items listed, detective Noble?

• Yes, mam, I have.

• Good. Then, with respect to the 3 handguns, the 2 colt 45s and the 3,57 magnum – did your inspection reveal anything unusual about this weapons?

• No, mam, all three appear to be in good working order and unmodified.

• I see. Detective Noble, give in your experience as a hunter, would you say that these 3 handguns are fire arms that would be suitable for hunting purposes?

• Well, not for ducks or deer – if that’s what you mean. I have heard of some folks using high-powered handguns for wild boar hunting. You see, boars are usually found in areas of real heavy brush, and you may be less likely to get tangled up there with a handgun then with a rifle.

• I see. Detective, when was the last time you heard of a wild boar being taken in the state of New Jersey?

• Objection.

• Withdrawn. Assuming, detective Noble, that you were setting out to hunt wild boar in heavy underbrush and assuming further that you set out to do so with a 3,57 magnum, would you use hollow point ammunition?

• No, mam.

• No? And why is that, detective?

• Well, a hollow point slug, when it hits its target, it expands very rapidly. It spreads out a way from the hollowed-out portion.

• And that’s not good for hunting?

• Well, in the sense it’s very lethal it is. A hollow point slug is designed to do maximum damage to a living target, but the problem, from the hunting point of view, is that that kind of damage involves a whole lot of internal bleeding, which ruins the meat around the wound. What a hunter wants is a good clean kill.

• So then, if hollow point ammunition is no good for hunting and yet it’s designed to inflict damage on a living target, I guess you’d have to say it’s designed to kill people, wouldn’t you, detective?

• Objection, your honor.

• Withdrawn. Let’s move on to the shotgun, detective. Is that, in your opinion, suitable for hunting?

• Well, if it hadn’t had its barrels sawed-off shot, it would be a perfectly good fowling piece. As it is so, it’s useless for hunting. The range is too short, and then, of course, a sawed-off shotgun is illegal anyway.

• Yes, let’s get to that. Can you tell the court, detective, what the legal definition of the sawed-off shotgun is in this state?

• Yes. For legal purposes, a sawed-off shotgun is any shotgun or rifle with barrel that’s less than 16 inches long or any shotgun or rifle where the whole weapon is less than 24 inches long.

• And what is the length of the barrel of the shotgun listed in “People’s exhibit A”?

• 14 inches.

• That weapon then meets the legal definition of the sawed-off shotgun?

• Yes.

• You’ve already testified, detective, that the shotgun in question is useless for hunting because of its limited range. What possible advantage than would there be to modify a weapon in that way?

• Well, it’s easy to conceal and it’s exceptionally lethal a close range.

• Say, within the confines of a liquor store?

• Your honor, I object.

• Withdrawn, your honor. Let’s move on again, detective, to the 3 AR15 rifles. Perhaps you could tell us first, detective, what the letters AR stand for in this context?

• Yes, mam. AR stands for assault rifle.

• I see. Most of us in the court room have probably heard of the M16 rifle used by the US Army, Is the AR15 at all related to the M16, detective?

• Yes, very much so. They’re almost the same weapon in fact. The M16 is the military version. It’s standard issued to US armed forces. The AR15 is the civilian version of just about the same rifle.

• And how do the AR15 and the M16 differ?

• Well, there’re a number of small differences. The main difference though is that the AR15 is designed for semi-automatic fire only. The M16 can be switched between semi-automatic fire, and, in the earlier models, full automatic fire, or, in more recent models, three-shot burst mode.

• Without going into a great deal of detail, detective, can you explain to us the difference between semi-automatic and fully-automatic firing?

• Certainly. When you fire a semi-automatic weapon, you have to pull the trigger one time for each shot you fire. You don’t have to reload after each shot or manually work the bolt, but you do have to use multiple trigger pulls for multiple shots. When you fire a fully automatic weapon, you can just hold down a trigger and hose down a whole area until you run out of ammunition.