Background
Michael Haag's introduction to forensics was at a very young age as his father, Lucien Haag, had already established himself as the leading shooting reconstructionist in the 1970's. Even earlier than Michael's high school years, he and Luke would spend weekends conducting research projects and case investigations. In high school, Mike began to work part time for Forensic Science Services, Luke's independently created and owned corporation. Here Michael learned about firearms identification, trajectories, wound ballistics, trace evidence, the scientific method, and many other topics.
In 1992, Michael set out for the University of Arizona to obtain his degree in chemistry. With the intent of entering forensics as a career, he earned a Bachelors of Science in chemistry, with a math and physics minor. During college, Michael also published his first paper in the area of forensic firearms. He also used some of his independent research projects for forensic studies.
After his graduation in 1996, Mike returned to Forensic Science Services as a full-time employee. For a year and a half, Luke further trained him in techniques of firearms identification, research, crime scene reconstruction, and many other areas. Michael attained a license for blood alcohol analysis, and ran hundreds of samples during this time.
Michael received outside training at the Bloodstain Evidence Institute, and attended many conferences and seminars such as those given by the California Association of Criminalists (CAC), the UK Forensic Service, the Southwestern Association of Forensic Scientists (SWAFS), the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts (IABPA) and the Association of Crime Scene Reconstructionists (ACSR).
He has attended numerous Association of Firearms and Tool Mark Examiners (AFTE) meetings, and began a long string of presentations in front of this distinguished organization. He attended ballistics trajectory workshops held at the US Army Yuma Proving Grounds from the late 80's through the late 90's.
Beginning in September of 97, Mr. Haag began an internship with the German Bundeskrimalamt, that country's federal forensic investigation branch. During this time, he conducted research in trajectories, impacts, velocities, and gunshot / primer residues.
After returning from Germany, Michael applied with a large metropolitan crime lab, where he was additionally trained in shoe and tire evidence examination and analysis. His primary areas of work included firearms identifications, tool marks, serial number restorations, and crime scene investigations. Here, he was also trained as an operator on the original DrugFire database, and later the NIBIN system. Since ~2010, he has remained a bench-working Firearm and Tool Mark Examiner, while supervising controlled substances, blood alcohol, breath alcohol, and firearms and toolmarks.
Michael has been heavily active in the Association of Firearm and Tool Mark Examiners (AFTE). Not only is a Distinguished Member of AFTE, and a past Member of the Year, has he served on many committees, including the training committee, and as an Assistant Editor for this organizations peer reviewed scientific journal. For 10 years, he has remained one of only a few Examiners who has completed the practical and written testing to become an AFTE Certified Examiner in all three offered areas: Firearm Evidence Examination and Identification, Tool Mark Examination and Identification, and Gunshot Residue Evidence Examination and Identification.
In 2000, Michael established Forensic Science Consultants, a non-biased, independent company specializing in casework and training in shooting incident reconstruction. One of Forensic Science Consultant's most sought-after services is the 40 hour Shooting Incident Reconstruction (SIR) course. This SIR course has been presented in Switzerland, the UK, Canada, and throughout the United States. This live-fire, empirically driven course provides an in-depth, hands on look at how to properly and thoroughly investigate shooting incidents of all kinds.
As a private consultant, he has also been involved in the investigation of numerous high-profile investigations, including the shooting of President Chen Shui-ban of Taiwan in March of 2004, and the examination of physical evidence from the room where Billy the Kid was allegedly killed, the prosecution of Aaron Hernandez, and he was featured on the PBS Nova program, "Cold Case JFK" for the 50th anniversary of this most famous of shooting cases. He has also been a repeated guest on Fox News' "On the Record", and has made appearances on Court TV, Science Friday, and the Discovery Channel, and several others.
Michael has examined thousands of bullets, cartridge casings, and firearms, and gone to numerous shooting scenes, ranging in location across the United States and internationally. He has worked on hundreds of cases, civil and criminal, and for both prosecution/plaintiff, and defense.
Shooting Incident Reconstruction, written by both Lucien and Michael, is a main staple of crime scene investigation, being required reading for the Association for Crime Scene Reconstruction's (ASCR) past reconstruction certification, and the BATF's National Firearm Examiner's Academy (NFEA) module O.