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19 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 705 (2002-2003)
The Challenge of Fingerprint Comparison Opinions in the Defense of a Criminally Charged Client

handle is hein.journals/gslr19 and id is 733 raw text is: THE CHALLENGE OF FINGERPRINT COMPARISON OPINIONS IN THE DEFENSE OF A CRIMINALLY CHARGED CLIENT Michael Mears* Therese M. Day INTRODUCTION Just before 2:00 a.m. on September 19, 1910, an unknown man slowly walked down South State Street in Chicago until he came to West 104th Street. He turned west onto the street and kept walking until he came to the home of Clarence Hiller. Near the front door of the Hiller house he spotted an outside stairway that led to an upstairs bedroom. Grasping the handrail on the stairway, he slowly walked up the stairs and entered the bedroom occupied by Clarence Hiller's ten-year-old daughter, Florence. As the intruder attempted to fondle her, she awakened and screamed. Clarence Hiller raced into the bedroom to assist his daughter, and after a brief struggle, the assailant shot him twice before fleeing back down the stairway.1 Police apprehended Thomas Jennings near the residence a short time later and charged him with the murder of Clarence Hiller. He proclaimed his innocence but the facts made him a prime suspect: he had only recently been released from Joliet State Prison after serving time for burglary, scratches on his arms showed signs of a recent 2 struggle, and he did not live in the neighborhood. He went to trial in the Criminal Court of Cook County on the charge of murder. During the trial, the prosecutors called several witnesses who testified about their comparison of photographs of finger marks left * Georgia Multi-County Public Defender since 1992. J.D., University of Georgia School of Law (1977); M.A., Mississippi State University (1969); B.S., Mississippi State University (1968). Mr. Mears is a member of the State Bar of Georgia and has served as lead trial counsel in over sixty criminal cases in which the state has sought the death penalty. ** Fellowship Attorney, Office of the Georgia Multi-County Public Defender. J.D., University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law; B.A., San Francisco State University (1993). 1. See People v. Jennings, 96 N.E. 1077 (El. 1911). 2. See id. at 1079.

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