They?ve been criticized as an unreliable, fake science.
But fingerprints came to the aid of prosecutors Monday when a murder suspect pleaded guilty after his prints were found on a car at the crime scene.
“The fingerprints were the only thing they had to tie Mr. Banks to this particular incident,” said Jane Loving, the attorney for Kevin Banks, 22, of Baltimore, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
Baltimore County Circuit Judge Patrick Cavanaugh, who rejected Loving?s challenge to the fingerprint evidence in the case, sentenced Banks to 30 years in prison.
Prosecutor Kim Detrick said without the fingerprint evidence she would have been forced to drop the case.
“Sixty-five percent of this case was the fingerprint evidence,” she said.
Banks admitted to robbing Jamar Mackie on Walden Poplar Court in Woodlawn on March 31 as his co-defendant William Chapman, 17, of Baltimore, shot the man. Chapman will stand trial Feb. 6.
Cavanaugh?s decision to allow fingerprint evidence marked a departure from a controversial decision made by Circuit Judge Susan Souder in October.
Saying fingerprints have faced “relatively little scrutiny,” Souder disallowed prosecutors from using such evidence in a death penalty case.
