Question

Please read and answer the question:

A. What was the physical evidence in this case?

B. How did Brandon Mayfield become a suspect?

C. How many points of comparison were used in this case?

D. Which agency originally analyzed the fingerprints in this case?

E. What was the problem with this identification and "match" to Brandon Mayfield's fingerprints?

CASEFILES0- THE MAYFIELD AFFAIR On March 11, 2004, a series of ten explosions at four sites occurred national, and Mayfield's case was thrown out. The FBI issued him on commuter trains traveling to or near the Atocha train station in a highly unusual official apology, and his ordeal became a stunning Madrid, Spain. The death toll from these explosions was nearly 200, embarrassment to the U.S. government. with more than 1,500 injured. On the day of the attack, a plastic bag The Mayfield incident has been the subject of an investigation by was found in a van previously reported as stolen. The bag contained the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), U.S. Department of Justice copper detonators like those used in the train bombs On March 17, the FBI received electronic images of latent finger- concluded that a "series of systemic issues" in the FBI Laboratory prints that were recovered from the plastic bag, and a search was in contributed to the Mayfield misidentification. The report noted that tiated on the FBI's IAFIS.A senior fingerprint examiner encoded seven the FBI had since made significant procedural modifications to help minutiae points from the high-resolution image of one suspect latent prevent similar errors in the future, and it strongly supported the FBI's fingerprint and initiated an IAFIS search, eventually matching the decision to develop more objective standards for fingerprint identi print to Brandon Mayfield. Mayfield's prints were in the FBI's central fication. An internal review of the FBI Latent Print Unit conducted in database because they had been taken when he joined the military, the aftermath of the Mayfield affair has resulted in the implementa- where he served for eight years before being honorably discharged tion of revisions in training as well as in the decision-making process (www.usdoj.govloig/special/ls0601/final.pdf). The OIG investigation for determining the comparative value of a latent print, along with as a second lieutenant. After a visual comparison of the suspect print and file prints, more stringent verification policies and procedures.2 the examiner concluded a "100 percent match." The identification he impact of the Mayfield affair on fingerprint technology as was verified by a retired FBI fingerprint examiner with more than currently practiced and the weight courts will assign to fingerprint thirty years of experience who was working under contract with the matches in the future remain open questions. bureau, as well as by a court appointed independent finger print examiner (see the photos). Mayfield, age 37, a Muslim convert, was arrested on May 6 on a material witness warrant The U.S. Attorney's Office came up with a list of Mayfield's po- tential ties toMuslim terror- ists that they included in the affidavit they presented to the federal judge who ordered his arrest and detention. The docu ment also said that, although travel records were found for Mayfield, "t is believed that Mayfield may have trav eled under a false or fictitious (a) name." On May 24, Spanish in- vestigators linked the print from (a) Questioned print recovered in connection with the Madrid bombing investigation. Sirchie Finger Print the plastic bag to an Algerian Laboratories (b) File print of Brandon Mayfield. Department of Justice

Answer 1

1.

The physical evidences where the finger prints on the bag containing copper detonators.

2.Brandon Mayfield became suspect because his finger prints matched to that of the bag containing detonators, FBI had these recorded stored from the day when Mayfield had joined the Military Services.

3.

There were seven minutiae points of high resolution of comparison in this case.

4. FBI's IAFIS was responsible for analysing the finger prints.

5.

The problem with this identification and match was a series of systamic issues in FBI laboratory.