That Is Not My Fingerprint, Brandon Mayfield Story

Intro Statement

Mayfield illustrates how a fingerprint identification can go absolutely wrong and cause injustice, even when the best and most highly trusted practitioners in the field conduct the analysis.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Brandon Mayfield Background
• The Madrid Bombing
• SNP - INTERPOL - FBI
• DOJ Office of Inspector General - A Review of the FBI's Handling of the Brandon Mayfield Case
• FBI Laboratory Personnel
• IAFIS
• Fingerprint Comparison
• FBI Portland Division
• Thoughts to Ponder
• Causes of Mis-identification
• Aftermath:
• Mayfield
• LAB Personnel
• LAB Accreditation
• SWGFAST 2013
• OSAC 2017
• OSAC 2018
• Conclusion

Background

BACKGROUND

• Mayfield was accused of being the bomber in the 2004 Madrid train bombings.
• Born July 15, 1966 in Oregon, grew up in Kansas.
• Served in the United States Army as a reservist and then as an officer, from 1985 to 1989.
• In 1986, met his wife, an Egyptian and converted to Islam shortly after wards.
• In 1999, he received his law degree from Washburn University and practice law in Portland area.

Background

BACKGROUND

• September 11, 2001 - 9/11

• Performed work for the Modest Means Program, which matches attorneys who are willing to work at reduced rate for low-income clients.

• In 2003, he offered legal aid to Jeffrey Leon Battle, one of the Portland Seven, a group of people convicted of trying to travel to Afghanistan to help the Taliban.

• March 11, 2004 - Madrid, Spain bombing

• May 6, 2004 - he was arrested by the FBI at his office in Portland, Oregon suburb.

Madrid Bombing

News Clip

INTERPOL

The International Criminal Police

Organisation,

more commonly known as INTERPOL,

is an international organization that

facilitates worldwide police cooperation

and crime control with 194 participating

countries. World's largest police organization.

Spanish National Police (SNP)

FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation

Recovery of Latent Print

Recovery of Latent Prints

• Spanish National Police (SNP) located a stolen van near one of the train stations.

• SNP recovered blue plastic bag containing several detonators and remnants of explosives.

• SNP processed the blue plastic bag for fingerprints. Numerous fingerprints were found on the bag.

• Only 2 were of sufficient quality to be useful for identification.

• Designated as Latent Fingerprint Number 17 (LFP 17) and 20 (LFP 20).

• SNP forwarded digital images of fingerprints to INTERPOL.

FBI LABORATORY UNITS

LAB PERSONNEL

The Latent Print Unit (LPU) consists of the Latent Print Support Unit (LPSU), the Latent Print Operations Unit (LPOU) located in Quantico, Virginia.

IAFIS

• Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System

• Maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since 1999.

• An automated system that permits computer searches of FBI databases containing the fingerprints of over 47 million individuals.

• 3 databases within IAFIS:
• Criminal Master File - criminal arrests
• Civil File - non criminal context; military and government employment
• Special Latent Cognizant File - suspected terrorists

COMPARISON

COMPARISONS

• March 15 - IAFIS search generated 20 candidates.

• IAFIS generated a "score" indicating the degree of similarity detected by the computer.

• The final indentification decision is made by the examiner, not by computer.

• March 16 - Green began his comparisons of the latent prints from Spain with the IAFIS candidates.

• Green completed his examination and reached the conclusion that LFP 17 was a match on the list from the Criminal Master File.

LPU 17

Latent Finger Print 17 Comparison

SNP & DAOUD

SNP ID OF DAOUD

• April 3 – SNP raided an apartment building in Madrid to arrest the bombing suspects.

The suspects blew themselves up.

• Evidence found bearing Daoud’s fingerprints.

• The right middle finger was the point of identity – LFP 17.

• Daoud’s right thumb was the source of LFP 20.

? ? ? ?

THOUGHTS TO PONDER

• Is fingerprint identification so inexact that honest errors occur?

• Did the FBI throw caution to the wind in going after Mayfield?

• Was Mayfield targeted because he is a Muslim?

• How can fingerprint analysis be so unreliable that 3 FBI experts and an independent analyst could mistake the print for the wrong person?

Office of the Inspector General Assessment of the Causes of the Misidentification:

Major Contributing Causes of Error:

• The unusual similarity of the prints – Mayfield vs Daoud

• Circular Reasoning, bias from the exemplar prints – 10 points of similarity

• Faulty reliance on Level 3 Detail – pores, ridge edge shapes, small between ridge details

FBI LAB STAFF

• All three examiners (WIENERS + GREEN + MASSEY) were suspended from performing case work on May 28, 2004, shortly after the error was discovered.
• Green and Winers were cleared to return to casework on August 13, 2004 after completion of the corrective action plan. Both are in supervisory positions (March 2006).
• Massey is no longer on contract with the FBI.
• No disciplinary action beyond the corrective action is required.
• Review of the error determined that the misidentification was a mistake and not intentional or due to negligence, therefore disciplinary action was NOT required.

American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board subsequently renewed the FBI Laboratory accreditation after corrective actions have been satisfied (November 2004).

FBI LAB ACCREDITATION

SWGFAST 2013:

Specific words and phrases conveying absolute certainty are inappropriate or misleading and should NOT be used to express conclusions:

• Exclusion of all others

• 100% certainty (as an absolute fact)

• Zero error rate / infallible method

SWGFAST & OSAC

CONCLUSION

There are 2 kinds of error than an examiner can make in reaching a conclusion about a latent fingerprint:

An erroneous individualization (false positive)

or

Missed Identification (false negative)

According to SWGFAST Quality Assurance Guidelines, “an erroneous identification is the most serious error a latent print examiner can make in a casework.”

Take heed of the lessons from the Mayfield Case. May we all learn from this... s. dormitorio