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
Mr. LATONA. No, sir; because I know that two points, even though they
would not be duplicate points, could be arranged in such a fashion that
it might possibly give me the impression that here are two points which
appear to be the same even though they are are not.
Mr. DULLES. But it is somewhere between two and seven--somewhere in
that range?
Mr. LATONA. That is right. Where that is, I do not know. And I would
not say whether I would testify to six, would I testify to five, would
I refuse to testify to four.
Mr. DULLES. You say you would--or would you?
Mr. LATONA. I don't know. That's a question I could not answer. I would
have to see each case individually before I could render a conclusion.
Now, going outside of the United States, we have been approached--I
mean the FBI--have been approached by other foreign experts in an
attempt to set a worldwide standard of 16 characteristics, a minimum of
16, as opposed to 12, which is generally referred to by people in this
country here. Now of course we would not subscribe to that at all. And
I think----
Mr. DULLES. That would be 16 on the fingerprint of the same finger?
Mr. LATONA. That's right.
Mr. DULLES. Obviously, if you have two fingers that would alter the
number--if you had three on one and two on the other, would you
consider that five?
Mr. LATONA. We would.
Now, whether the foreign experts would not, I don't know. In other
words, if we were to go along with this European theory of 16 points,
we would not testify to this being an identification. That is really
what it would amount to. Yet to me, in my mind, there is no question
that these prints here----
Mr. EISENBERG. Which is what exhibit?
Mr. LATONA. The enlargements in Exhibit 634--are simply reproductions
of the left index fingerprint of Lee Harvey Oswald.
Representative FORD. There is no doubt in your mind about that?
Mr. LATONA. Absolutely none at all. The fact that there are only the
nine points charted--and I feel this way, it is purely a matter of
experience. They simply do not have the experience that we have in
the FBI. The FBI has the world's largest practical fingerprint file.
We receive on an average of 23,000 to 25,000 cards a day which are
processed within a 3-day period.
Mr. DULLES. In a 3-day period?
Mr. LATONA. In a 3-day period.
Mr. DULLES. And by processed do you mean they are filed according to
certain characteristics?
Mr. LATONA. They are. At first they are recorded as having been
received from a particular agency, as to the number that we have
received, as to the type of the card. Then they are checked to see if
the impressions which are on the fingerprint card are complete and
legible, that they are placed in their proper sequence, that is they
are properly classified.
Then they are checked through our files to see if the person has or has
not a prior criminal record. Then a reply is prepared and forwarded to
the contributor. That is done in a 3-day period.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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