A follow up to my July 16 post “Is Fingerprint Evidence ‘Fryed’ in New Jersey?”
- Why was fingerprint evidence challenged?
- How will the evidentiary hearing be conducted?
- Who will conduct it?
- Can Carl Lewis run?
Why?
Significantly, the defense cited two recent reports that cast doubt on the old notion that fingerprint match determinations are infallible.
“Before trial, the defense moved to bar fingerprint testimony, relying heavily on two major scientific critiques: Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward (NAS Report) (2009) and Forensic Science in Criminal Courts: Ensuring Scientific Validity of Feature-Comparison Methods (PCAST Report) (2016). The trial court denied the motion without conducting an evidentiary hearing. Defendant was convicted.”
How?
Once the higher court determined that fingerprint evidence requires review, it set up the mechanism for that review.
“Rather than immediately reversing the convictions, the Court:
“Appointed a Special Adjudicator(Hon. Carmen Messano, retired Chief Judge of the Appellate Division) to conduct a plenary hearing and develop a full record.
“Directed the adjudicator to determine:
“whether the fingerprint evidence satisfies State v. Olenowski (Olenowski I), 253 N.J. 133 (2023);
“whether limitations/guardrailsshould govern fingerprint testimony; and
“if so, what those guardrails should be—explicitly including potential revised model jury charges.”
No idea when this hearing will take place.
Who?
Ballotpedia has an entry for retired judge Carmen Messano.
“Carmen Messano was a judge for Part E of the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division. He assumed office on November 20, 2006. He left office on May 23, 2023.”
And Messano has at least one celebrity case to his name.
“Carl Lewis Cannot Run
“On Monday May 2, 2011, three appellate judges Philip Carchman, Ronald Graves and Carmen Messano upheld New Jersey Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State Kim Guadagno’s decision to remove nine-time Olympic gold medalist and former New Jersey State Senate candidate Carl Lewis from the 2011 ballot because he failed to show he could meet the four-year New Jersey residency requirement. This ruling came after Lewis filed a federal complaint against Guadagno, claiming her initial decision, which found him ineligible, was in error.”
But Messano has been busy in retirement.
“The Supreme Court has appointed a retired chief judge of the Appellate Division to chair the panel that investigates allegations of unethical conduct against judges, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner announced today.
“Effective Sept. 1, Judge Carmen Messano succeeds retired Justice Virginia A. Long as head of the Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct (ACJC).”
But his future work will focus on fingerprints and ACE-V.
Which raises the question of whether this case will move to the feds if the state denies fingerprint evidence. But I’m not sure if there’s a federal law that applies to this case, which involves two September 2018 burglaries of a Moorestown, New Jersey restaurant.
Bredemarket 