CLPEX Chat Board

From a recent article on the Web:

Fingerprints lifted from murdered reggae icon ####### Chrysler were fresh prints, although one was slighted smudged, the ####### High Court heard on Wednesday.

Fingerprint expert ######## said it appeared that the person who left their prints on the rear left door of Dube's car was pushing the door open when he left his palm prints.

This is the same person also believed to be the shooter.

"The palm prints were slightly smudged, probably because of the pressure applied on the door. They were fresh prints," said ######.

I wonder if this is an accurate quote and if it is-------how in the heck does one determine the prints were fresh----unless by some extraneous means.

I found a bunch of articles on that trial, Charles. The palm print was refered to as "fresh" in several of them, but then I found this:

"Only seven features [in a fingerprint] are sufficient to prove an identity of a person beyond reasonable doubt. In Gxowa's case, eight were found," said (the fingerprint expert).

When asked why he had decided to take the fingerprints a day after the murder, (the fingerprint expert) explained that the car was wet on the day the crime was committed.

Okay, so he needs seven points and he found eight in the palm print, so it is way ident. But the thing that confuses me is that he didn't dust the car the day it was recovered, presumably the day of the murder, because it was wet. But the next day when it was dry and he dusted it, he was convinced the print was "fresh."

I'm puzzled by the circumstances that could yield that opinion. It's curious, isn't it?

Of course, "fresh" is relative. But if they were anything like my car, I might consider them "fresher" than the layer of dust they displaced.

And then there are the common alternative definitions:

1. newly made or obtained: fresh footprints.
2. new; not previously known, met with, etc.; novel: to uncover fresh facts; to seek fresh experiences.
3. retaining the original properties unimpaired; not stale or spoiled: Is the milk still fresh?
4. not faded, worn, obliterated, etc.: fresh paint; a fresh appearance.

I would think that a latent palm print with only eight features would be pretty small, or very unclear.