Legal Challenges 
to 
Fingerprints
Latent Print Examination
Updated 15 Sep 2005

FINGERPRINT CHALLENGE RULINGS 
Updates courtesy of Attorney Paul Sarmousakis (AUSA Ret.) and FBI Fingerprint Specialist Stephen Meagher
US v. Byron Mitchell; July 7-13, 1999; US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (U.S. v. Mitchell, 2004 WL 908359) 
 
April 2004 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals Ruling
 
US Attorney for Eastern District of PA Website
 1
(Civil matter) Anthony Golden v. County of Los Angeles, September 24, 1999; Los Angeles, CA 2
US v. Hilerdieu Alteme; April 3-6, 2000; Ft. Lauderdale, FL 3
People v. Torres; May, 2000; Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles 4
US v. Stanley Leon Obanion, Jr. and Joseph Brooks Robinson; June, 2000; Beltsville, MD 5
US v. Williams; July 7, 2000; Western District of Washington, Tacoma Division 6
US v. Wade Havvard (note two "v's", not "w" in Havvard); September 11, 2000; Indianapolis, IN 7
See the US v. Havvard Court of Appeals Ruling
 A1
State of California v. Robert Nawi; October 10, 2000; San Francisco, CA  8
State of Georgia vs. Jeffrey Vincent McGee; October 27, 2000; Carrollton, GA 9
US v. William Baker, et al; November 13, 2000; Washington D.C. 10
US v. Graham Rogers; December 6-7, 2000; Richmond, North Carolina 11
US v. Rogers Court of Appeals Ruling
 A2
US v. Martinez-Cintron, March 21, 2001 Puerto Rico 12
US v. Ahmed Ressam, Western District of Washington 13
State of Arizona v. Toribio Rodriquez; April 24 - May 7, 2001, Tucson, Arizona 14
State of California v. David Ake; May 7, 2001; Butte County, CA 15
US v. Sydney Joseph, May 14, 2001, US District Court, Eastern District of LA 16
US v. Deago Lance Cheshier, June 1, 2001; Indianapolis, IN 17
US v. Justin Gabriel Hernandez, July 24, 2001, US District Court for the District of Nebraska 18
US v. Donald REAUX, September 21, 2001 Eastern District of Louisiana 19
U.S. v. Alberto Martinez-Lopez, October 4, 2001, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California 20
State of New York .v Hyatt, October 10, 2001, Supreme Court of the State of NY, County of Kings 21
US v. Gary Ramsey, October 15-16, 2001, US District Court, Eastern District of PA 22
PA v. Andrew J. Vikara, III, October 22, 2001, Lackawanna County, PA 23
US v. Navarro, October 24, 2001, US Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit, on Appeal from the District Court of the Virgin Islands 24
See the US v. Navarro Court of Appeals Ruling
 A3
US v. Ahmed K. Henry, November 20, 2001, Western District of Louisiana 25
US v. Dennis Mooney, December 5, 2001, District of Maine 26
US v. Harry Ralph Neal, January 2, 2002, US District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania  27
US v. Llera Plaza, January 7, 2002, US District Court, Eastern District of PA 

US v. Llera Plaza, February 25-27, 2002, US District Court, Eastern District of PA
 

US v. Llera-Plaza documents at US Attorney for Eastern District of PA website
 28
People of the State of Colorado v. Billy Joe McGhee, February 4, 2002, Colorado Springs, CO 29
US v. Kenneth L. Coleman, February 5, 2002, US District Court, Eastern District of Missouri 30
US v. Brent Merritt, February 19, 2002, US District Court, Southern District of Indiana 31
US v. Salim,  March 11, 2002, US District Court for the Southern District of New York 32
US v. Aaron London, March 12, 2002, US District Court for the District of New Jersey 33
US v. Jerome Washington, March 14, 2002; US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan 34
U.S. v. James M. Broten, et al., March 25, 2002, US District Court for the Northern District of New York 35
Commonwealth v. Owen McCants, April 22, 2002, Boston, MA 36
People of the State of Colorado v. Neris Alvarado Mejia, May 6, 2002, Aspen, CO 37
Delaware vs. Donald Cole, May 13, 2002, Wilmington, DE 38
State of California v. Daniel Phillip Gomez, May 20, 2002, Orange County Superior Court, Sanata Ana, California
 39
U.S. v. Dennis Lee Davis, August 26, 2002, US District Court for the Northern District of OK 40
New Hampshire v. Uno Kim, July 21, 2004, Hillsborough County Superior Court (Northern District), Manchester, New Hampshire 41
New  New Hampshire v. William J. Sullivan, Jr., June 2, 6 and 9, 2005; Hillsborough County Superior Court (Southern District), Nashua, New Hampshire 42

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

What is a Daubert Hearing?
• A term from a civil case entitled:  Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 113 S. Ct. 2786 (1993)
• The opinion governs the admissibility of scientific evidence in Federal court and many state and local jurisdictions which have adopted it.
 Daubert Opinion States that:
• the Federal Rules of Evidence superseded “general acceptance” tests for admissibility of novel scientific evidence;

• the rigid “general acceptance” test, which arose from Frye v United States, 293 F2d. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923), is at odds with  the liberal thrust of the Federal Rules of Evidence.


Daubert Opinion States that: 

• the trial judge must still screen scientific evidence to ensure it is relevant and reliable;

• “the focus, of course, must be solely on principles and methodology, not on the conclusions they generate;” 

• and, factors the court should consider include:

– testing and validation
– peer review
– rate of error
– “general acceptance”
 
 

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What is the correct pronunciation of Daubert?
    The accent is on the first syllable.

    The "Dau" part is pronounced like "Daw" as in Dawson creek.

    The "bert" part is prounced like "Bert" from Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street.
     

Why pronounce it like that when you can instead use some fancy French pronunciation (like dough-bear)?
Because that is how the "Daubert" family pronounces it. They are the folks who filed the Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals case and the term is named after them.