Inside basement lab of Jacksonville's forensic artist

Jim McMillan prepares evidence for trials in Jacksonville courtrooms

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – You've seen those crime shows where the officer finds the murder weapon and the shooter is arrested, but what happens to that weapon before it is presented to a jury at a trial?  Often it is processed by a ballistics lab. Sometimes, it's turned over to a forensic artist. 

Jim McMillan is the forensic artist for the 4th District State Attorney's Office in Jacksonville. He is also the son of Sheriff Jim McMillan, who ran the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office from 1986-1996.

In a basement office lab called trial support services, McMillan has prepared everything from shell casings in recent homicides to Cherish Perrywinkle's orange dress and Donald Smith's pants that were used in that high-profile trial.

"It depends on what the particular project is, what kind of evidence I am working with for a trial," McMillan said.

McMillan creates the many platforms to present this evidence in court. He said crime scenes in homes are his most challenging projects.

"You have to go to the crime scene. I take my own photographs. I take measurements of the entire structure and gather any technical reports that I can," McMillan said. 

After the leaving the crime scene he comes back to his office, makes blueprints for the entire home, and then he builds a model from scratch.

When complete, it's a scale model of the murder scene, down to details like the furniture and pillows in the room.

On of his replica houses was used in the trial of Marissa Alexander, whose 20-year conviction for firing shots into the ceiling during a domestic abuse with her husband became made national news.

The scale model has every detail, including where the bullet traveled in the home.

"This shows where the bullet hole was. These are the measurements and it was fired here and up through the wall and into the ceiling," McMillan pointed out in his model.

It's an art form. But this was not his life plan.

"I used to do wildlife paintings and landscapes," McMillan said. "I thought that's where my direction would be."

Instead, he became a sketch artist for the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Then, one day the State Attorney's Office asked him to make a clay model of a body. 

"I feel like if I can present the evidence or help the attorney present the evidence in a way that the jury can understand and follow the course of events or whatever, it might be in the case. Then they have the best opportunity to come to the right outcome, whatever that may be."

Despite all the replicas and massive shadow boxes McMillan has created, he has never never stepped  inside a courtroom. He lets the evidence speak for itself. 

After the trial, the evidence is retained inside the police property room for a period of time in case it is needed to be used for an appeal.


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