 PARRICIDE- any person who shall kill his father,

mother, or child, whether legitimate or

illegitimate, or any ofhis ascendants, or his spouse
shall be guilty of parricide and shall be punished
by reclusion perpetua to death.
 MURDER- any person who, not falling within the
provisions of Article 246 shall kill another, shall be
guilty of murder and shall be punished by
reclusion temporal in it’s maximum period to
death
 HOMICIDE- any person who, not falling within
the provisions of Article 246, shall kill another
without the attendance of any circumstances
enumerated in the next preceeding article, shall be
deemed guilty of homicide and be punished by
reclusion temporal
 AUTOPSY- alsocalled necropsy, postmortem, or
postmortem examinatiuon, dissection and
examination of a dead body and it’s organs and
structures to determine the cause of death; to
observe the effectr of disease, and to establish the
sequences of changes and thus establish evolution
and mechanisms odf disease processes
 DEATH- the total cessation of life processes that
eventually occurs in all living organisms
 HUMAN BEING- a bipedal primate mammal that
is anatomically related to the great apes but is
distinguished by a more highly develop brain,
with a resultant capacity for articulate speech and
abstract reasoning, and by a marked erectness of
body carriage the frees the hands for use as
manipulative memebers.
 The dying declaration
-statement as to the cause of his or her death, made by a
person who has been physically injured at the hands of
another, and who has given up all hopeof recovery and
who subsequently die of such injury.

If the victim was able to speak, attepmt to obtain a

statement in the prescence of witnesses, and try to have the
victim signed thye statement. The victim should first
answerthe ff. questions:
- What is your name/
- Where do you live?
- Do you now believe that you are about to die?
Have you no hope of recovery from the effects of the
injury you have received?
-Are you willing to make a true statement of how you
received the injury from which you are now suffering?
 ESTIMATING THE TIME OF DEATH
Three observations that may indicate the immediate signs
of death. Any one of which can be made in a matter of few
moments and are a reliable and accurate means for
determining the death:
 Cessation of Breathing- with victim lying on his back,
clothing loosened over,observe his chest closely on the
upper part of the abdomen where the lowest ribs meet
the breast bone
 Cessation to Pulse- to feel the pulse, place the tips of the
finger on the under surface of the radius bone. If no
pulse can be felt and the person has stopped breathing, it
is very likely that death has occured.
 Loss of Muscle tone of the Eyeballs and Changes in the
Pupil- touching the eyeball will cause movements of the
eyeball or eyelids unless the person is in a very deep
coma or dead.
 SEVERAL BODY CHANGES THAT TAKE PLACE
AFTER DEATHAA WHICH MAY HELP THE
INVESTIGATOR DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF
DEATH:
-Loss of Body Heat –during life the body temperature
is kept at appproximately 98 degrees Fahrenheit.
-Postmortem Lividity- is a purplish discoloration of the
body that occurson thyose parts of the body which are
nearest the floor. This discoloration is caused by the
settling of the blood by gravity into those areas.
Undermost conditions this discoloration will begin to
be apparent from one to two hours after death.
The observations of postmortem lividity is important
fro two reasons:
-First, it gives a general indication as to how long the
body has been dead.
Second, it sometimesis an indication of whether the
body has been moved or disturbes after death.

-RIGOR MORTIS- is a stiffening of the muscles of the

body due to chemical changes withinn the muscle
tissue itself.Many factors will alter the speed with w/c
it appears andn the length of time before it leaves, but
the ff. Schedule is substantialy correct for the average
case:
- Rigor Mortis develops first in the face and jaws and
the onset usually takes oplace in this area from three
to five hours after death.
- The rigidity gradually extends downward involving
the neck, chest and arms, abdomen and finally the
legs and feet.
-For the entire body to be involved usually requires
from about 8-12 hrs after death
-The body will remain rigid for a variable length of time
but generally from 12-24 hrs.
-Rigor Mortis then begins to leave the body and it
disappears in the same order that it made its onset
-First, the face and neck will again become flaccid and
then the other portions of the body will become limp in
the same order that the rigidity developed
-When the rigidity beginst to disappear, will usually be
entirely gone in from 8-10hrs.
 CADAVERIC SPASM- stiffenng of the hands or
arms may take place immediately at the time of
death
 STOMACH CONTENTS- examination of stomach
contents is another procedure of great importance in
fixing the time of death . If stomach contents are present,
it is possible for the medico-legal officer to tell with
reasonable accuracy of what was the last meal
consisted.The stomach will usually be empty in from 4-
6hrs after a meal has been eaten. If the small intestine is
also empty, death probably took place 12 or more hrs
after food was last eaten.
 INSECTS

-Blow fly, any of the large family of flies known for the
habit of the larvae infesting animal arcasses.
-Blow fly maggots are important in forensic analysis in
cases of homicide and other human deaths. Because the
maggots grow at constant rates, their size and stage of
development can provide clues to the time and conditions
of death
-Cheese Skipper, a shiny black fly found throughout
the world. It is best known for it’s problematic
larvae(newly hatched wormlike forms) that live in
human foods such as dried or processed meat, fish and
cheese.

DEATH DUE TO GUNSHOT WOUNDS

If death seems likely to bre due to gunshot wounds, the
investigator should try to determine the ff:
-Was death due to gunshot wound or an injury due to
other instruments?
-If from a gunshot wound, from what distance was the
firearm discharge?
From what direction were the shots fired?
-What was the position of the body when hit?
-Was it accident, suicide or murder?
Wounds of entry- are typical neat round holeswith an
even gray ring around them and from which emerges
comparatively small quantities of blood
Wounds of exit- are much larger than the bullet, are
ragged , torn, and generally the escape of blood is
much greater than in wounds of entry
Contact wound is a dirty looking wound, considerably
larger than the diameterof the bullet and the skin edges
are ragged and torn.
Smudging- the wound of entry will show deposit of
smoke and soot from the burned powder producing a
dirty, grimmy appearance.
Tattooing- a pattern of unburned powder granules and
partices of molten metal from the bullet embedded into
the skin
DEATH DUE TO CUT AND WOUNDS
Some questions immediately pesent to the investigator
in homicide cases where death has apparently been due
to stabbing or cutting wounds, Some questions can be
answered by him and others by the medico-legal
officer.
-Were the wounds made by knife or some other force?
-Where and in what manner were the knife wounds
administered?
-Was the victim attcaked from the front or rear?
-Did the victim put up any defense?
-How long did he live after receiving the wounds?
-What sort of a knife or cutting edge that inflicted the
wounds?
Type of wound made by a knife-thrust will depend
upon 3 general factors:
-Characteristics of the knife: it’s shape, sharpness of
point, keeness of the edge, whether single or double
edge
-Manner in which it is thrust into the body.
-Location of wound in the body
Before the body is allowed to be moved, written notes,
photographs and sketc should be made of the ff:
-Exact location of the body with relation to other
physical objects
-Clothing condition of the body, whether torn, buttons
missing. etc/.
-Position of the hands, whether or not holding knives
or other objects
-General characteristics of the wounds
-Location of the body
-Description of the wounds whether cuttng or stabbing
or both.
-Presence or absence of defense wounds
-Extent of bleeding
-Condition of the blood
-Condition on the undersurfaces of the body

DEATH DUE TO ASPHYXIA

Asphyxia- is a state of collapse due to deficiency of
oxygen supply in the tissues and parties of the brain.
The interruption in the transportation of oxygen from
the air in the lungs to the tissues may caused in many
ways such as: