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Can Prints Lie? Yes, Man Finds to His Dismay
NY Times ^ | May 31, 2004 | BENJAMIN WEISER

Posted on 05/31/2004 12:44:30 AM PDT by neverdem

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There's another recent story about getting as much DNA samples as possible, regardless of innocense or guilt.
1 posted on 05/31/2004 12:44:31 AM PDT by neverdem
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To: fourdeuce82d; Travis McGee; El Gato; JudyB1938; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Robert A. Cook, PE; lepton; ...

PING


2 posted on 05/31/2004 12:47:12 AM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi min oi)
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To: cyborg; Clemenza; Darksheare; NYC GOP Chick; NYCVirago

Pardon me. This is a forensic science, administrative error and IT propagation error ping. Talk about bad luck.


3 posted on 05/31/2004 12:55:22 AM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi min oi)
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Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

To: neverdem
Lost my interest at;

Mr. Sanchez cried out in Spanish, pounding a fist into his palm.

If you can't speak English you don't belong in America for longer then a short visit.

Goodbye Mr Sanchez and enjoy living where everyone speaks your language.
5 posted on 05/31/2004 1:04:15 AM PDT by swilhelm73
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To: neverdem

I spoke with one of my constituents, a Mr. Benson, who is currently suing the manufacturer of the fingerprint reading machine in the jail. His fingerprints read that he was a convicted felon out of Oregon in error. There was also a case of a restaurant owner in Oregon, Miguel Espinosa, who read as Franklin Cruz - a felon. Espinosa ended up losing his restaurant.

Apparently, some guy named William Kellog has had his crimes attributed to more than 200 people - according to this Mr. Benson.


6 posted on 05/31/2004 1:28:57 AM PDT by marsh2
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To: swilhelm73

Who says he can't speak English?

Good god man, are you really so intolerant that you won't even let the man swear in his native tongue?


7 posted on 05/31/2004 1:32:54 AM PDT by John Valentine ("The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein)
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To: John Valentine
I said "ay carumba" the other day.

They'll be deporting me tomorrow.

8 posted on 05/31/2004 1:45:04 AM PDT by Bonaparte
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To: John Valentine
Mr. Sanchez said through an interpreter that he was not Mr. Rosario.

I rest my case. Bye Bye - don't let the door hit you on the way out.
9 posted on 05/31/2004 1:45:16 AM PDT by swilhelm73
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To: neverdem
The judge, Alan L. Page

Is that the former Vikings defensive lineman? (I know he became a judge in Minnesota, and I think he was appointed to some federal position a while back. But I don't know what he's doing now and I didn't see where this took place.)

10 posted on 05/31/2004 2:06:16 AM PDT by Gil4
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To: marsh2
I spoke with one of my constituents, a Mr. Benson, who is currently suing the manufacturer of the fingerprint reading machine in the jail.

Fingerprints, like ballistics, is about 80% science, and 20% black art, despite all the gee-whizz stuff they show on TV. I was at a police equipment show, and received a demo of a thumbprint scanner that was supposed to prevent mixed-up identities in jails. The salesman made a an image of my thumbprint, which was laminated into an ID card. He put the card in a reader, and then placed his thumb on the scanner. The hardware said we were identical.

He was very embarrassed, so he made a print of his own thumb, and then compared it to mine. Our prints were identical enough for the quickie system to proclaim them one and the same. Of course, our other nine fingers didn't match, but our thumbs were close enough that it would take a real expert several minutes to tell them apart.

Ten good prints gets you to a folder with 2 or 200 sets of prints that match the "quick" classification. It then takes a real expert to go through the entire bunch to look for a match.

Of course, if the wrong prints are assigned to the wrong name, and the government is too lazy to do anything about it, all the technical expertice in the world won't help you.

11 posted on 05/31/2004 3:11:15 AM PDT by 300winmag (FR's Hobbit Hole supports America's troops)
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To: 300winmag

"Of course, if the wrong prints are assigned to the wrong name, and the government is too lazy to do anything about it, all the technical expertice in the world won't help you."

Trying to get any government type to consider something like this is like beating your head against the wall. I once had to tell a tax office employee at least six times that a shed which was on an aerial photograph of my property was there when I bought the property. She asked over and over what it cost to build and why I wasn't paying taxes on it. I kept repeating that it was there when I bought the property and I paid taxes on the basis of their tax bills which they sent me for the property. I suppose it would have been easier to tell her that I built it myself out of fifty dollars worth of scrap materials.


12 posted on 05/31/2004 3:30:44 AM PDT by RipSawyer (John Kerrey evokes good memories, OF MY FAVORITE MULE!)
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To: neverdem

The moral of the story is: they don't convict for DWI in New York City.


13 posted on 05/31/2004 3:34:36 AM PDT by Imal (Enough of this! Let's hear more about Abu Ghraib.)
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To: Gil4

Different Alan Page. As of yesterday, the former Vikings Alan Page was still an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

http://fusion.stolaf.edu/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=NewsDetails&id=2288


14 posted on 05/31/2004 4:07:13 AM PDT by Catspaw
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To: neverdem
"Nobody has ever been able to prove that there are two people out there with the same exact set of prints," Judge Page said. "And they were using fingerprinting, I think, for approximately the last 100 years, or more." He added: "He's Leo Rosario. There's no other conclusion I can reach."

I hope the judge was speaking legally here and not as an actual person. That said, I can't imagine an English speaking person having this much trouble. I'm in no way trying to smear Spanish speakers; you just don't want to be caught in a legal tangle in a foreign tongue.

There is a huge difference between a defendant's saying "judge, I am not that person" and "lakoiuhtl pouhoi lnshtohnm" followed by a translation.

15 posted on 05/31/2004 4:18:48 AM PDT by Mr. Bird (Ain't the beer cold!)
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To: neverdem
The first mistake was made by Mr. Sanchez, a legal immigrant from the Dominican Republic. On July 15, 1995, he was pulled over in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan and charged with driving while intoxicated.

When did he become an immigrant? If within the 2 year probation period, he should have been deported.

16 posted on 05/31/2004 6:12:40 AM PDT by ikka
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To: Bonaparte

Bonaparte wrote:

I said "ay carumba" the other day.

They'll be deporting me tomorrow.




Bart Simpson is already in custody...


17 posted on 05/31/2004 6:13:30 AM PDT by tiamat ("Just a Bronze-Age Gal, Trapped in a Techno-World!")
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To: neverdem
The first mistake was made by Mr. Sanchez, a legal immigrant from the Dominican Republic. On July 15, 1995, he was pulled over in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan and charged with driving while intoxicated.

Been here at least nine years. Speaks no English. Drunk driver. Appears he has made no attempt to become a citizen. Why is he here? Oh right, he's doing jobs that no American will do.

18 posted on 05/31/2004 7:28:13 AM PDT by ladyjane
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To: Imal

No, the moral of the story is that a national ID using biometric data will be a nightmare that will destroy the lives of innocent people.


19 posted on 05/31/2004 8:27:49 AM PDT by meatloaf
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To: neverdem
I dunno about "error"...

So Mr. Sanchez, in late 2000, was sent back for another week in a grim detention center in Lower Manhattan, severed from his family and livelihood, because his fingerprints had been mistakenly placed on the official record of another man.

I tend to ask "cui bono?" when faced with the odd in government, and this:

Leo Rosario, a drug dealer and a prime candidate for deportation

suggests the possibility of bribery or other form of collusion and corruption.

20 posted on 05/31/2004 9:34:26 AM PDT by King Prout (the difference between "trained intellect" and "indoctrinated intellectual" is an Abyssal gulf)
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