[T'wit]

All I could think of was a light load and/or a frangible slug -- is that the right word? The slugs that guards pack in airliners to keep from penetrating the outer shell of the plane. Or, conceivably a spent ricochet -- but off of what? Very odd.

Meanwhile, darned if I can see a real privacy issue here :-) The perp is withholding evidence in a criminal case. If Bubba Clinton could be obliged to offer a DNA sample to compare to residues on the blue dress, this little thug should get his forehead fat emptied. (Since when do teen gang members have access to fancy civil rights lawyers?)

[8mmMauser]

If it were frangible, it would have shattered and caused great damage, I think, the energy spent and dispersed locally by the action of the fragmentation. That is why I thought it was a metal jacketed bullet which could ricochet off his forehead if at an angle without penetrating the skull and hitting any serious matter. Perhaps it passed through something already before striking, so that its velocity was sharply curtailed.

Think of a rock skipped across the water or across a fat head.

Isn't the perp in possession of private property, a bullet properly belonging to the victim? How can he keep something not his? Unless he thinks of it as a gift...