The Seven Deadly Sins in Film Seven

The film Seven takes place in the mid-1990s, in an unknown city, occupied by two detectives. William Somerset, a soon-to-be-retired detective, is partnered one last time with a newbie, David Mills. After moving to the city with his pregnant wife Tracy, Mills and Somerset are appointed to a case of investigating several murders inspired by the seven deadly sins that are later discovered to be all linked back to one man, a sadistic serial killer who identifies himself as John Doe.

One of the methods used to collect evidence that helped to pinpoint John Doe to the murder was fingerprint lifting at the crime scene of Eli Gould. Aside from the blood stain that spelled out “GREED” on the carpet, fingerprints were found by Somerset behind a hanging painting. Somerset used the method of charcoal dusting, where he dusted charcoal over the fingerprints to make them visible to the naked eye. He then took the tape to lift and save the fingerprints for analysis to compare the prints from a suspect to the ones left on the scene. Forensics then came and superglue fumed all the fingerprints left, which revealed the words “Help Me” created by the placement of fingerprints. The powder lifting, like the one performed by Somerset, is usually used to identify latent prints on non-porous materials. When the powder is dusted along the surface, it adheres to the prints, resulting in their visibility. Investigators often perform cyanoacrylate, or more commonly known as superglue fuming, on a surface before applying powders or dye stains. This process is usually performed on non-porous surfaces, such as the wall in the office. The superglue fumes will adhere to any prints present, which will leave a white printable to be seen and analyzed. Aside from fuming prints found in an airtight tank, superglue fuming can also be performed at the crime scene, as seen in the movie. Crime scene investigators use a handheld torch that heats up super glue, along with fluorescent dye. This technique allows prints to be more easily accessible and preserved.

Due to the movie being created not that long ago, the techniques are the same. With the dusting of the fingerprints being done with charcoal on non-porous materials like the wall in the movie, the same technique is used today to retrieve the fingerprints from a crime scene. The superglue fuming is also the same. This technique was also used on the wall because it is also done on non-porous materials just like the charcoal. The superglue is sprayed on whatever substance the fingerprint is on and after a few minutes, it leaves a white print that can be analyzed by investigators. Despite there being a couple of years between when the movie was made to today, the techniques have remained virtually the same.

In the case Smith vs. the United States, Officers Dioni Fernandez, Thomas Sheehan, and Matthew Jones responded to a “radio run” for a six-foot-tall black male with a gun, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt and located in an apartment complex in the 6600 block of Georgia Avenue, in the Northwest quadrant of the District. In the apartment, Mr. Smith amidst a group of five or six people was the only person in the group who matched the description given on the radio run, he was holding, perhaps sitting on or straddling, a bicycle. Upon seeing the officers, he dropped the bike and began walking away “at a fast pace” while holding his waistband. Officer Fernandez returned to the bike that he saw Mr. Smith holding and found a pouch underneath the seat. He rode the bike, with the gun zipped in the pouch, to the nearby police station for processing. Officer Holly Paige used an ultraviolet blue powder2to process the gun for fingerprints. The test revealed one fingerprint. Officer Paige was unable to process the bike for fingerprints because Officer Fernandez contaminated it when he rode it to the police station. During cross-examination, Officer Paige admitted that the District of Columbia's MPD had issued a Special Order requiring officers to use the Superglue fuming method to recover latent fingerprints from guns that were not found on the defendant's person. Mr. Smith intended to call his own fingerprint expert, Mr. Wynn. Mr. Wynn would testify that superglue fuming is a superior method to the powder method used in this case.