As for the new Bleeding Zimmerman photo....

[Junkdrawer]

The question was asked during the Duke lacrosse incident:

Can the time stamp on a digital photo be altered?

Lawyers released digital photos of a Duke lacrosse team party to the media this week, in an attempt to discredit the exotic dancer who has accused several players of rape. Time-stamped images show the woman performing at the party and then smiling on the back porch at 12:30 a.m. Can you trust the time stamp on a digital image?

Nope. When you take a picture with a digital camera, the exact date and time of the shutter-release are recorded to your image file, along with many other bits of "metadata." Every time you take a picture, your camera will also save information about your exposure time, f-stop setting, ISO, focal length, and so on. (It will even store a second time stamp for the moment the image file gets written to your memory card—which usually happens just a few moments after you take the picture.) But the time stamps are only as accurate as the clock in your camera; if you forgot to set it an hour ahead for daylight savings, your metadata would be an hour off. You can also modify any of the metadata with a simple computer command if you have the right software.

....

That doesn't mean it takes a serious computer hacker to adjust the numbers. Within a span of about 20 minutes, the Explainer was able to download a utility called ExifTool from the Web and edit the time stamps on all his photos: Each and every one now appears to have been taken at 12:30 a.m. on the night of the Duke lacrosse team party.

If a lawyer wants to use time-stamp metadata in court, he'll be much better off if the police seized the digital camera that took the pictures. That way he can argue that the pictures on the camera couldn't have been modified, and he can also demonstrate that the clock inside the camera wasn't improperly set. He can also try to corroborate the time stamps with the images themselves: One of the photos in the Duke case purportedly shows a player's wristwatch with the time matching that given in the metadata.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2006/04/are_the_duke_lacrosse_photos_legit.html

Looks to me less like a "head wound due to a beating on the pavement" and more like an amateurish attempt with an eyedropper and stage blood.

[Junkdrawer]

1. As for the Sanford PD....

I hate to have to remind everyone that Police Chief Bill Lee and States Attorney Norm Wolfinger either voluntarily or by a No Confidence vote were removed from the case. For good cause.

We are in a very weird dimension where it's not a "Conspiracy Theory" to question everything and anything that comes from that quarter. And that hurts BOTH sides.

Early on, Mike Papantonio said that this case is so bollixed, that a conviction seems unlikely. I see what he means now.

[cr8tvlde]

2. Precisely. The deal went down that night. Obstrution.

We're not dealing with amateurs here.

That's often the difference between "State's Rights" which is usually the "Good Ol' Boys and Girls" and "Federal Law", "The Outsiders". The latter is harder to broker around.

[cr8tvlde]

3. make that "obstruction"

[Junkdrawer]

4. Doubt we'll ever find out, but depending on exactly what went down....

it could be Accessory after the Fact to Murder.

Serious, serious charges.

My guess? Bill, Norm and George thought they had a dead burglar in the morgue. Much more on that later.

For hints, see this post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=557812

[snagglepuss]

5. Did the police confiscate the camera the night of the shooting?

Why wasn't the photo released immediately or at least made reference to?

[Junkdrawer]

6. Good question.

Also, would a quick cleanup in a police cruiser lead to the completely clean head we saw in the precinct video?

I mean, unless they stopped at the YMCA for a shower....

Amateur Hour

[snagglepuss]

10. Tiny nicks on my legs from shaving bleed profusely and swabbing them clean doesn't stop the

the bleeding. If tiny nicks need bandaids why wouldn't cuts on the heads that are profusely bleeding require bandaids? The absence of bandages or bleeding in the police station after so much bleeding minutes earlier raises a lot of questions. It makes no sense.

[FreeState]

7. Any competent police office would use tracking software

The FBI and police around the world use digital management software that can prove the file and time stamps have not been altered in court. I doubt this town uses them however.

See: http://www.foray.com/
http://www.mideosystems.com/
http://www.dataworksplus.com/
http://www.porterlee.com/
http://www.justicetrax.com/
http://www.veripic.com/
http://www.linear-systems.com/
http://www.quetel.com/
http://www.fileonq.com/
http://www.sungardps.com/
http://www.trackerproducts.com/

[zbdent]

8. well, you did say "Any COMPETENT police office" ...

about the only thing they seem to be "competent" at is covering up for connected, non-black "friends" ...

[Ecumenist]

9. OMG!! THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT WHEN I SAW THAT PHOTOS AND TOLD MY HUSBAND

EXACTLY THAT!!!