Opinion ID: 1445324
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Expert Testimony on Fingerprint Identification

Text: Calderon-Segura contends that the district court erred in admitting at trial expert testimony on fingerprint identification, which the government presented to prove the fact of his 1999 removal. The government's expert was an instructor in fingerprint identification and testified that an inked thumb-print exemplar he took from Calderon-Segura matches the inked thumb-print appearing on his 1999 warrant of removal. Calderon-Segura originally raised his objection in a motion in limine, contending that fingerprint identification testimony does not satisfy the test of evidentiary reliability or scientific validity required by Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 590 n. 9, 593, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993), and is unduly prejudicial under Federal Rule of Evidence 403. The district court reviewed Calderon-Segura's documentary evidence and heard oral argument on the motion, but it denied both his request for a full  Daubert hearing and the motion itself. The court explained that the motion in limine was based almost exclusively on evidence demonstrating the unreliability of latent fingerprint identification, whereas this case involved only the examination of two inked fingerprints, the reliability and admissibility of which is long-established. As the expert testified, a latent print must be developed or dusted using chemicals and then lifted from whatever surface it happens to be on to enable examination, whereas an inked fingerprint is taken under controlled circumstances using an ink pad and white paper and it produces a black and white image that is sufficient for examination. But while the court denied the motion to exclude, it did afford the defense the opportunity to voir dire the government's expert before trial and to cross-examine him during trial regarding his qualifications and his comparison of the exemplar fingerprints in this case. We review the district court's decision to admit expert testimony for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Alatorre, 222 F.3d 1098, 1100 (9th Cir.2000). This includes not only the court's ultimate admissibility determination under Daubert and Rule 702, but also its decisions regarding the type of proceedings required to conduct the gatekeeping inquiry in a particular case. See id. at 1101, 1105. We find no abuse of discretion here. Calderon-Segura's contention that the demonstrated problems with latent fingerprint identification apply equally to exemplar fingerprints is unsupported by the evidence submitted in support of his motion in limine. Cf. Daubert, 509 U.S. at 591, 113 S.Ct. 2786 (stating that scientific validity for one purpose is not necessarily scientific validity for other, unrelated purposes). The record evidence and even Calderon-Segura's own arguments suggest the contrary. And, more importantly, he fails to show that any of the asserted problems affected the fingerprint identification in this case. See Kumho Tire Co., Ltd. v. Carmichael, 526 U.S. 137, 150, 119 S.Ct. 1167, 143 L.Ed.2d 238 (1999) ([T]he. gatekeeping inquiry must be tied to the facts of a particular case. (quotation marks and citation omitted)). For instance, he argues that there has never been any [empirical] testing to establish the reliability of identifications which are made from latent fingerprint fragments. Yet the fingerprints in this case were exemplars taken under controlled circumstances and were complete, not fragmented. As other, courts have recognized, fingerprint identification methods have been tested in the adversarial system for roughly a hundred years. See United States v. Crisp, 324 F.3d 261, 266 (4th Cir.2003). Calderon-Segura also argues that there are many real-life examples of false identifications and a shockingly high rate of misidentifications on latent print examiner proficiency exams. Yet he fails to show that the same can be said of comparisons involving two inked fingerprints. Although the methods for examining ridge details of latent prints and inked prints are basically the same, latent prints must first be developed and lifted from any variety of surfaces, are ordinarily less clear than inked prints, and may have fewer available points of comparison due to smudging or fragmentationall of which increase the potential for errors and misidentifications. Moreover, although he offers evidence that inked prints can be less clear than latent prints in some cases, Calderon-Segura has failed to show that the exemplars at issue in this case lacked clarity, were fragment ed, or contained any other defects or artifactual interference that might call into question the accuracy or reliability of their identification. He next argues that there is complete disagreement among fingerprint examiners as to how many points of comparison are necessary to, make an. Identification, and that there is no relevant scientific community, beyond fingerprint examiners themselves, that have displayed any kind of general acceptance for the proposition that reliable identification can be made from small distorted latent fingerprint fragments. But, again, this case did not involve fragments, and the government's expert positively matched the two exemplars without qualification regarding any minimal number of points of comparison. Indeed, without rebuttal from the defense, the expert testified at trial that the exemplars are identical and that it is impossible for two people to have the same fingerprint. Cf. Crisp, 324 F.3d. at 267 (affirming the admission of fingerprint evidence, while noting that the expert in that case was unable to reference any study establishing that no two-persons share the same fingerprint; she was able only to testify that no study had ever proven this premise false); United States v. Havvard, 117 F.Supp.2d 848, 854 (S.D.Ind.2000), aff'd, 260 F.3d 597, 601 (7th Cir.2001) ([I]f anyone were to come across a case in which two different fingers had identical fingerprints, that news would flash around the legal world at the speed of light.). As the district court was presented with no evidence calling into question the evidentiary reliability of exemplar fingerprint identification, neither generally nor regarding the exemplars in this case, there is no merit in Calderon-Segura's contention that, the district court abused its discretion in failing to conduct a more searching examination of the Daubert factors or in declining his request for a full Daubert hearing. In Kumho Tire, the Supreme Court instructed: The trial court must have the same kind of latitude in deciding, how to test an expert's reliability, and to decide whether or when special briefing or other proceedings are needed to investigate reliability, as it enjoys when it decides whether or not that expert's relevant testimony is reliable. . . . Otherwise, the trial judge would lack the discretionary authority needed to avoid unnecessary reliability proceedings in ordinary cases where the reliability of an expert's methods is properly taken for granted, and to require appropriate proceedings in the less usual or more complex cases where cause for questioning the expert's reliability arises. 526 U.S. at 152, 119 S.Ct. 1167. Given the familiar subject matter and the defense's failure to show cause for questioning the evidentiary reliability of exemplar fingerprint identification methods, this is just the sort of routine case where evidentiary reliability was properly taken for granted. See Crisp, 324 F.3d at 268-69 (holding that the district court was well within its discretion in accepting at face value the consensus of the expert and judicial communities that the fingerprint identification technique is reliable). The procedures adopted by the district court for determining evidentiary reliability, and for permitting the defense to inquire into the expert's qualifications and bases for his proffered opinions, were well within' the court's discretion in fulfilling its gatekeeping function. See Alatorre, 222 F.3d at 1104-05. Thus, the expert testimony was properly admitted.