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Fingerprint evidence allowed in bomb trial (This article is reprinted from the January 11, 2001 issue of the Seattle Post.)
By SAM SKOLNIK Fingerprint evidence that had been challenged by defense lawyers may be admitted by prosecutors in the upcoming trial of accused terrorist Ahmed Ressam, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour has ruled. The FBI says Ressam's fingerprints were found on a timing device discovered in the trunk of his rental car along with powerful explosives. Customs agents stopped the car --— and arrested Ressam --— in Port Angeles on Dec. 14, 1999. The device, prosecutors believe, was to be used to detonate a bomb at millennium celebrations in the United States. In September, lawyers for the 33--year--old Algerian national filed a motion challenging admissibility of the fingerprints. “There has been a complete absence of scientific testing of the fundamental premises of fingerprint identification,” federal defender Tom Hillier argued in his brief. On Jan. 4, Coughenour denied the defense request, as expected. “The expert testimony of the government's fingerprint examiner, establishing that the defendant's fingerprint was on the timing device ... will be allowed,” the judge wrote. “The court takes judicial notice that over 100 years, no two different fingers have ever been found to have the same fingerprint, and that fingerprints are permanent and unique to an individual.” Early last year, a federal grand jury indicted Ressam on nine criminal charges, including one count that he conspired to commit a terrorist act in the United States. An alleged co--conspirator, Abdelmajid Dahoumane, was indicted at the same time. Published reports recently have suggested that Dahoumane was arrested in Algeria late last year. Ressam's trial will begin March 12 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. (Editor --— The Ressam case makes the count twelve to zero. As soon as additonal information is gathered, this case will also be posted on the SCAFO website.)
This article was printed in “THE PRINT” |