Court Testimony

Hello judges, jurors, and everyone else present in this

court room today. My name is Dr. Alyssa Diaz and I am an expert

witness. I was called here to testify on this court case. Also I

am here to inform you how examining a piece of hair from a

suspect from a crime can help to find out who actually did commit

the crime.

There are some basic things that people should know about

hair. A persons hair contains their DNA. Also there are several

different parts of a persons piece of hair. Some different parts

of hair are the root, cuticle, cortex, shaft, and medulla. I know

you all are probably wondering what exactly are these different

parts of the hair. Well the root is the part of the hair that’s

embedded in the hair follicle. The hair follicle is the structure

that hair grows out of. The shaft is made up of

3 layers, the cuticle, cortex and medulla. The

cuticle is the outer covering of the hair.

Inside of the cuticle is the cortex, the cortex

has the

pigments that gives your hair the color

it is. The medulla is the part of hair that

appears as a central canal running length of the

hair. Four different types of medullas are fragmented, interrupted, continuous and absent. These different

types of medullas are what classifies the hair from all different

types of organisms. There are certain characteristics or traits

to look for when analyzing macroscopically or microscopically.

When analyzing the hair macroscopically you should look at the

length, color, sheen, whether it’s wavy or straight, and the

presence or absence of follicle tissue or not. Also you should

try to determine the body location the hair came from. When

analyzing hair microscopically you need to determine if it’s

animal, vegetable, or synthetic in origin. Also you need to check

if the hair was dyed, bleached, or chemically treated. You should

also check if it was pulled out or