Regarding the prominent chin discussion... the other feature that stands out to me in the suspect sketch is the short amount of space between his upper lip and nose. MOO.
Agree. When comparing features, it is always the differences from the norm that are important and the degree of disproportion to the rest of the face.
It's not just that BG has a long, protruding chin so much as it is disproportional to the rest of his face. It's not only that BG has a short space between his nose and upper lip but it is also disproportional to the rest of his face. Those features stood out to the witness.
When comparing photos for identification, there are many factors such as distance between eyes, distance of eyebrow line from eyes, is the eyebrow line curved or straight, thin lips or not, etc. One very identifying feature is our ears, particularly the ear lobes. Are the ears large or small, do they stick out or are close to the head, are the ear lobes large or small? Are the lobes attached straight to the head or are they free?
I'm sure everyone has seen there are certain proportions to the face that have been measured, especially in the age of facial recognition. Forgive the rough analogy, but each difference from the mathematical "norm" is like a mutation. Those mutations are what make our faces unique and recognizable.
It is those unique traits or mutations that artists use to help us identify politicians in political cartoons. Think of how any politician has been portrayed in the media: Nixon with his jowls, long ski nose and receding hairline, Carter with his big toothy-grin, GW Bush with his prominent ears, and on and on. In order to help us recognize the politician the artist has in mind, they
exaggerate the obvious identifying features of a person that are disproportional to the rest of the face and head.
Obviously, the BG sketch is not a political cartoon but an approximation of what a witness could remember. What they remembered were the suspect's identifying features.
The identifying feature of a long, protruding chin and short philtrum (space between nose and mouth) were apparent to many of us when the second BG sketch was released. That was confirmed by the panel on HLN. As experts in their fields, they commented those features were what LE wanted people to notice.
LE wants us to focus on what they have released
now. The first BG sketch was a
red herring of sorts. Whether both sketches are of the same man from a different perspective because of disguise, distance of video enhancement, shadow lighting from the sun or from pixelation, etc., it doesn't matter.
In real life, BG does not look like a 40-plus year old heavy-set man with with a paunch and jowls.
LE wants the people of Delphi and the surrounding communities to know that. The second BG sketch is not for us, it is for them, and for BG and the people who know him.
JMO