Michael Baden conducted an autopsy on Brown's body in August at the request of the teen's family and concluded then that the teen could have been shot from as far away as 30 feet. A leaked copy of the St. Louis County medical examiner's autopsy report says microscopic particles of gunshot residue were found in a deep layer of skin, showing that the teen was shot once in his thumb at close range.

Baden said he wants a gunshot residue report, as well as several pieces of evidence, to draw his own conclusions. He said is willing to testify about his findings before a grand jury deciding whether to charge the officer who shot Brown.

"Gunshot residue can look very similar to ordinary dirt on the ground, and his hand, for four hours, was on the ground," Baden said. "So dirt on the ground, the body being moved when they were putting him in the body bag could create the microscopic appearance of gunshot residue."

 I know he has asked for a chance to review such things prior to testifying before the GJ.

  Moreover, as I have said before, I don't believe that whether Brown was shot at close range at the vehicle is dispositive as to the question of Wilson's state of mind/intent when he fired the fatal shot[s] which everyone seems to agree were not fired at close range.  

washing of the body prior to autopsy will diminish or destroy gunshot residues. (Molina et al, 2007)

Baden said there was no gunpowder residue on Brown's body, indicating he was not shot at close range

Brown's body had been washed after the first autopsy, a standard procedure

Politics I'm sure not science got that little piece of dirt into the autopsy report as most logical minds would have ignored it and moved on.

Apparently, Parks, the Brown's family lawyer, made a statement on 8/15 indicating that this 2nd autopsy had already been performed.

However, Baden did not arrive in Ferguson until 8/17.

It looks like perhaps Parks was referring to Baden's assistant, Parcells, who was in Ferguson on the 15th.

Parcells said, according to the pathology blog, that he took photos of the body on the 15th because the body was going to be imminently embalmed because the funeral home did not have a cooler in which to store the body.

The St Louis County ME didn't find any GSR on the thumb, fingers, hand, wrist or anywhere else where it should have been if that microscopic particle actually came from the gun.  

And as good scientists, after their search team secured a microscope powerful enough to find this tiny micro-particle under the skin of the wound, they would have checked and rechecked for GSR on all the skin around it -- alas finding nothing more.

And this was BEFORE they then washed the body [if they did at all] and sent it out to Dr Baden.

Did you get that: BEFORE -- PREwash -- they found nothing -- no GSR anywhere else on the hand where it should have been.

I'm sure they went over that hand with a search team of hound dogs looking for GSR to vindicate the shooter -- but they found nothing but a micro-particle in a wound that lay in contact with the street for 4 hours.

When you only find a miniscule microscopic particle in the wound but nothing around it where there should be a lot more GSR, then you have to conclude, like Dr Baden, that that wound was likely contaminated by the street that it lay in contact with for 4 hours under his body before being collected and tested.

That little particle is much ado about nothing and the ME and the police and the prosecutor know it.

Are you saying that the SLC ME or any ME anywhere in the civilized world would deliberately wash or wipe away the evidence of GSR on a body in a criminal case before it got a chance to collect it and process it???

However, there won't be any stippling if the muzzle was in contact or near contact with the skin when it was fired, because the flames and particles from the gun don't have any time to spread out before they hit. You would normally be able to see a distinctive "star" type pattern, but this was a grazing wound.

Gunshot residue is lead particulate and propellant from the cartridge. It gets thrown everywhere around the gun when it's fired. You would find it on the person who shoots as well as the person who's shot, if he's shot at close range. GSR has a peculiar and distinctive appearance on a microscopic level and it's easy to spot. Plus you ain't going to find lead particulate in dirt on the ground.

Finding gunshot residue inside a wound, but not stippling around it, is very strong evidence that the wound was inflicted with the muzzle touching the skin or very close to it.