A 3D Printed Murder Conviction

[Brian_Krassenstein]

We've seen it before, where 3D printing has been used to help convince a court of a crime. In the UK however, detectives, prosecutors and experts worked together to use 3D scanning and printing technology to convict the perpetrator of a gruesome murder. Lorenzo Simon murdered and then chopped up his housemate. Prosecutors had the task of linking a done found in a suitcase in a canal to a charred bone found in an oil drum outside Simon's house. To do this they 3D scanned and printed each piece and then presented the evidence to the jury. A perfect match was found, convicting Simon, which has led to him being sentenced to life in prison. More details on this story can be found here: http://3dprint.com/62471/lorenzo-simon-3d-print

Below is a picture of the two 3D printed bone parts:

[Paul Heathcote]

I was probably the first person to use a 3D print of a bone in a court case in the UK. It was during a civil case in 1999 when I entered a print of my collar bone into evidence to prove that what expert witnesses for my opponents claimed were drill holes from surgery on CT scans were not drill holes. The 3D print of my bone was provided by a firm called Materialise from Belgium.