DOJ Report Faults FBI Over Mayfield Fingerprints
Posted on Sat Mar 11, 2006 at 04:02:45 PM EST
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A 330 page report (pdf version here) by the Inspector General for the Department of Justice was released yesterday on the FBI's erroneous fingerprint analysis in the Brandon Mayfield case. Mayfield is the Oregon attorney who was detained pursuant to a material witness warrant after the Madrid, Spain train bombings.
In addition to criticizing the FBI for its errors in fingerprint analysis, the report examines the role of the Patriot Act in the investigation. The enhancement of Government power in the Patriot Act did contribute to the unjust treatment of Mayfield....and but for some of its provisions, a different result might have been obtained. While finding that the Patriot Act changes to FISA did not contribute to the errors, other provisions did, specifically those that (1) allow information sharing between intelligence and law enforcement agencies and (2) provide for relaxed standards for the issuance of National Security letters. (See page 14.)
Past problems with the FBI Crime Lab have not been solved. The report finds there are still "systemic issues" with the crime lab that contributed to the errors in the Mayfield case.
Criminal defense lawyers and those concerned with civil liberties violations will want to read through at least the entire Executive Summary of the report.
The report is not slanted. It goes out of its way to refute alleged errors in many respects. It is careful to mention the errors were not intentional. Nonetheless, they were preventable.
This is a report that needs to be studied. It makes recommendations that need to be implemented. What happened to Brandon Mayfield could happen again.
All of TalkLeft's coverage of Brandon Mayfield's case is accessible here.
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