Absolute Confidence Quotes
In 2005 terrorists exploded bombs in the Spanish Railroad system. Fingerprints were found on bombs. The FBI found that the prints belonged to Brandon Mayfield, an Oregon attorney who married an Islamic Egyptian woman; he also had a Muslim client. He was arrested and held without bail based on the FBI testimony about the quality of the fingerprint match the quotes from which are above. The Spanish police did not think that there was a match and kept investigating and found the bomber whose fingerprints matched the samples perfectly. Based on this embarrassing fact, Mayfield was released. The quotation shows that there were no accepted forensic science standards. Each fingerprint examiner, sets his own standards for what he will describe as a “perfect match” of 100% reliability. The FBI sworn expert testimony was 100% wrong. Forensic testimony came under suspicion; public opinion changed when people realized that fingerprinting is not the objective reliable identifier that they thought. See linked quotes.
