Court Opinion

ID: 9796693
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:02:53.86555+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:51:02.616415
License: Public Domain

THORNE, Judge
(concurring):
112 Although fingerprint evidence has never truly been put to the test in either the courtroom or the scientific community,1 I concur with the decision to affirm Quintana's conviction. I would add, however, one element to the decision: trial courts should be directed to instruct juries about the existing weaknesses of fingerprint examiner training and identification protocol.2
13 Assuming, for the moment, that each fingerprint is unique and identifiable, most evidence points to a lack of consistent training of examiners and an absence of any nationally recognized standard to ensure that examiners are equipped to perform the tasks expected of them. See Jessica M. Sombat, Note, Latent Justice: Daubert's Impact on the Evaluation of Fingerprint Identification Testimony, 70 Fordham L.Rev. 2819, 2850-*17151 (2002) (highlighting the existence of disparate standards throughout the United States, and the world, for making a positive identification through fingerprint evidence). Under other circumstances, this might not be so troubling, but fingerprint evidence has been afforded a near magical quality in our culture. See Tara Marie La Morte, Comment, Sleeping Gatekeepers: United States v. Llera Plaza and the Unreliability of Forensic Fingerprinting Evidence Under Daubert, 14 Alb. L.J. Sci. & Tech. 171, 208-09 (2003) (highlighting studies that show the extraordinary value that jurors place on forensic evidence such as fingerprint examiner testimony). In essence, we have adopted a cultural assumption that a government representative's assertion that a defendant's fingerprint was found at a crime scene is an infallible fact, and not merely the examiner's opinion. See Jennifer L. Mnookin, Fingerprint Evidence in an Age of DNA Profiling, 67 Brook. L.Rev. 13, 28 (2001) ("From its earliest uses as legal evidence, fingerprint identification was generally presented in the language of certainty, rather than in the language of opinion."). As a consequence, fingerprint evidence is often all that is needed to convict a defendant, even in the absence of any other evidence of guilt. See, e.g., id. at 38-89.
14 Unfortunately, our societal acceptance of the infallibility of examiners' opinions appears to be misplaced. See La Morte, supra, at 207-08 (identifying several incidents where an identification, used to obtain a conviction, was a false positive identification, and stating that "fingerprint identification evidence is neither foolproof nor infallible"). Failure on any level clearly shows that examiner opinion is not infallible. Such fallibility, in light of society's trust in forensic certainty, opens our courts to a great risk of misidenti-fication, and after examining the standards used to determine an examiner's proficiency, it is a risk that we should have understood long ago, and should never have allowed without certain precautions. Specifically, we should instruct our juries that although there may be a scientific basis to believe that fingerprints are unique, there is no similar basis to believe that examiners are infallible. In the absence of any nationally accepted credentialing process, the jury may be in the best position to determine whether a purported fingerprint expert properly determined that a latent fingerprint, left at the scene of a crime, matches a defendant's fingerprint.
{15 Until there is a nationally adopted certification system-ensuring examiner proficiency-and a nationally adopted minimum standard for matching latent fingerprints to known samples-minimizing the risk of mis-identification-courts should ensure that juries are instructed that examiner testimony is informed opinion, but not fact.3 However, there was no request for such an instruction in this case.
1 16 Accordingly, I agree with the decision to affirm Quintana's conviction.

. See generally, Jessica M. Sombat, Note, Latent Justice: Daubert's Impact on the Evaluation of Fingerprint Identification Testimony, 70 Fordham L.Rev. 2819 (2002); Jennifer L. Mnookin, Fingerprint Evidence in an Age of DNA Profiling, 67 Brook. L.Rev. 13, 21 (2001) ("[Elven if palm marks [and fingerprints] are different, it does not necessarily mean that experts can identify these differences with a high degree of accuracy.").

. Although, as set forth by the majority opinion, State v. Hamilton, 827 P.2d 232 (Utah 1992), discusses fingerprint evidence as a form of cir-cumsiantial evidence, it discusses neither the subject's mechanics, nor its relevant strengths and weaknesses. See id. at 236-38. Hamilton instead focused on a proposed jury instruction concerning the timing of the placement of the fingerprints, and the defendant's attempt to differentiate fingerprint evidence from other circumstantial evidence. See id. at 238 n. 2. Thus, Hamilton does not, in any way, preclude our requiring an instruction describing the nature of fingerprint examiner testimony as opinion, not fact, and directing the jury to examine the fingerprint examiner's training and credentials in determining whether or not to give credence to the examiner's testimony.
I concede that Hamilton concluded that fingerprint evidence does not share the problems inherent to eyewitness identification. See id. at 237. However, to the extent that this statement is presented as an imprimatur of fingerprint examination and fingerprint examiners, I would invite the supreme court to revisit this issue.

. The trial court provided the jury with a general instruction concerning the weight and value of expert testimony, and through this instruction charged the jury with determining the value of the testimony. However, due to the nature of the evidence involved in the testimony, I believe that the jury should have been specifically instructed that the examiner's testimony was opinion and not fact and that the jurors should examine the fingerprint evidence independently. It is vital that we remove the near mystical awe that fingerprints evoke, and replace it with a more cautious regard for forensic evidence and its overall lack of certainty.