Forensic Animation Gets More Realistic

D A L L A S, XXXX -- Michael Serge, a retired Scranton, Pa., police officer, claims he was "only protecting himself" when his wife came at him with a knife and he shot her.

But for the first time in a Pennsylvania criminal case, the prosecution showed the jury an animated re-creation of the crime.

‘Thought You Saw a Murder’

Serge is depicted shooting his wife — first in the back and then again as she lay dying on their living room floor.

"They watched my client execute his wife," said Joe D'Andreas, Serge's defense attorney. "When the animation ran for the few minutes that it ran, there was silence, absolute silence. It was eerie. You thought you saw a murder."

Forensic animators knew the exact trajectory of the bullets from the autopsy reports and the location of the slugs in the wall. Based on gunpowder burns and precise measurements gathered at the crime scene, they said the animation was as accurate as possible.

"I just considered it to be a colored diagram," said Andy Jarbola, the district attorney. "It enabled us to give the jury a better picture of what actually occurred."

Fairness Questioned

It was a visual interpretation that cost $250 per second. For the prosecution in the Serge case, the bill was $18,000.

"The defense can't afford that stuff," D'Andreas said. "So if they want to create special effects, they are going to be able to buy their convictions."

The first forensic animation was shown to a jury nearly 20 years ago. But with the use of new 3-D computer technology, it has become much more common and compelling. Lawyers use it to help juries understand the pain of a spinal cord injury, the circumstances of an automobile accident, or how a pedestrian stepped into a truck's blind spot.

As with the use of any expert, there is concern with how the facts are interpreted.

Andres Stuart of 21st Century Animation said he has had clients ask him to tweak animation to meet their benefit. But when such requests come up, he doesn't comply, he said.