appellate case regarding the admissibility of fingerprint
expert testimony. The appellate court concluded
that fingerprint identification is a science and that expert
testimony was appropriate to aid members of the court in
understanding fingerprint evidence.
In 1911, Lieutenant Joseph Faurot, a New York Police
Department fingerprint expert presented testimony in a
burglary case. He individualized defendant Charles Crispi’s
fingerprint on a pane of glass removed from a door at the
crime scene point of entry. In a dramatic courtroom
demonstration, Faurot took the inked prints of the 12
jurors and other court personnel and then left the room.