Warren Commission (04 of 26): Hearings Vol. IV (of 15)United States. Warren Commission
History
Warren Commission (04 of 26): Hearings Vol. IV (of 15)
United States. Warren Commission
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963 -- Assassination; Oswald, Lee Harvey
When this salt material, which is left by the fingers on the paper,
is immersed in the silver nitrate solution, there is a combining, an
immediate combining of--the elements themselves will break down, and
they recombine into silver chloride and sodium nitrate. We know that
silver is sensitive to light. So that material, after it has been
treated with the silver nitrate solution, is placed under a strong
light. We utilize a carbon arc lamp, which has considerable ultraviolet
light in it. And it will immediately start to discolor the specimen.
Wherever there is any salt material, it will discolor it, much more so
than the rest of the object, and show exactly where the latent prints
have been developed. It is simply a reaction of the silver nitrate with
the sodium chloride.
That is all it is.
Mr. EISENBERG. Do you frequently find that the silver nitrate develops
a print in a paper object which the iodine fuming cannot develop?
Mr. LATONA. Yes; I would say that is true, considerably so. We have
more success with silver nitrate than we do with the iodine fumes.
The reason we use both is because of the fact that this material which
is exuded by the fingers may fall into one of two main types--protein
material and salt material. The iodine fumes will develop protein
material. Silver nitrate will develop the salt material.
The reason we use both is because we do not know what was in the
subject's fingers or hands or feet. Accordingly, to insure complete
coverage, we use both methods. And we use them in that sequence. The
iodine first, then the silver nitrate. The iodine is used first because
the iodine simply causes a temporary physical change. It will discolor,
and then the fumes, upon being left in the open air, will disappear,
and then the color will dissolve. Silver nitrate, on the other hand,
causes a chemical change and it will permanently affect the change. So
if we were to use the silver nitrate process first, then we could not
use the iodine fumes. On occasion we have developed fingerprints and
palmprints with iodine fumes which failed to develop with the silver
nitrate and vice versa.
Mr. EISENBERG. Now, Mr. Latona, looking at that bag I see that almost
all of it is an extremely dark brown color, except that there are
patches of a lighter brown, a manila-paper brown. Could you explain why
there are these two colors on the bag?
Mr. LATONA. Yes. The dark portions of the paper bag are where the
silver nitrate has taken effect. And the light portions of the bag
are where we did not process the bag at that time, because additional
examinations were to be made, and we did not wish the object to lose
its identity as to what it may have been used for. Certain chemical
tests were to be made after we finished with it. And we felt that the
small section that was left in itself would not interfere with the
general overall examination of the bag itself.
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