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01-1092 U.S. v. Havvard

By: dmc-admin//July 23, 2001//

01-1092 U.S. v. Havvard

By: dmc-admin//July 23, 2001//

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“Havvard argues that fingerprint comparisons are not reliable because the government admits that the basic premise that all fingerprints are unique remains unproven, and because there are no objective standards for defining how much of a latent fingerprint is necessary to conduct a comparison or for evaluating an individual examiner’s comparison. Havvard relies heavily on a National Institute of Justice solicitation, issued in March 2000, which sought proposals for fingerprint research studies to be performed and published under its guidance. The National Institute of Justice’s stated goal was ‘to provide greater scientific foundation for forensic friction ridge (fingerprint) identification,’ which Havvard characterizes as an ‘admission’ by the government that more research needs to be done in the area of fingerprint analysis. This document, however, was not part of the record in the district court and cannot now be relied upon here. See McClendon v. Ind. Sugars, Inc., 108 F.3d 789, 795 (7th Cir. 1997). The same is true for a 1995 report of the Collaborative Testing Service, which Havvard cites to suggest a higher error rate for fingerprint comparisons than was testified to by Meager. Like the National Institute for Justice solicitation, the Collaborative Testing Services’ study was available prior to the Daubert hearing and could have been made part of the district court record or been used as a basis to cross-examine Meager.

“The district court recognized that establishing the reliability of fingerprint analysis was made easier by its 100 years of successful use in criminal trials, and appropriately noted that nothing presented at the hearing undermined Meager’s testimony. Most importantly, it is clear from the district court’s thorough order that it properly considered the Daubert factors in analyzing Havvard’s motion and concluded that fingerprinting techniques have been tested in the adversarial system, that individual results are routinely subjected to peer review for verification, and that the probability for error is exceptionally low. See Kumho, 526 U.S. at 150.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Hamilton, J., Bauer, J.

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