projectile

Question
QUESTION: I am working for a criminal defense lawyer on a murder case.  The victim was shot in the head with a .380.  The warrant describes a projectile being recovered on the pillow and another one in a bowl on the floor.

I think "projectile" in this instance means the "spent casing" that is ejected when the gun is fired.   The attorney wants to know what your definition of "projectile" is in this case and could it, would it be the "bullet?"

ANSWER: When speaking of guns, firearms, ammunition, or a cartridge, etc., the projectile is the bullet.  That is what is fired from the gun.

With an autoloading type of handgun (also called semi-automatic), the spent case does indeed get ejected to the side of the gun after firing, but it is not called the projectile.

Although, in a scienfific explanation of such an event, one could possibly say that "the spent casing was ejected from the gun, and that projectile landed on the floor".  Accordingly, one could call the spent casing a projectile only if he explicitly identified it as such, but a person making such a statement would be ignoring normal use of the word "projectile" in the context of firearms.

Hope this helps!

Dave

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I agree so far but I am working with several police agencies and several different warrants and descriptions.  Therefore, let me explain further.

The deceased was shot twice in the back of the head.  A projectile was recovered on the pillow and another one on the floor next to the bed, in a bowl.  So did the murdered excise the "bullet" "projectile" from the deceased head and drop it in a bowl on the floor? Was the "bullet" projectile" shot in the bowl?

Answer
I doubt the police would make the mistake of calling anything a projectile, other than a bullet.

I would expect that most bullets from a handgun would have little energy remaining after passing through someone's head.  I would therefore guess that one spent bullet ended up resting on the pillow, and the other one bounced off the bed and into the bowl.

But I'm no expert in forensic science (only what I see on CSI).

Hope this helps!

Dave