The quick answer is that lawyers are not supposed to lie, but they canât necessarily prevent their clients from lying. Iâll get to the details in a minute â honestly--but first Iâm happy to tell you that the podcast version of this article is brought to you by Go To Meeting.
Fingerprints on paper, cardboard and unfinished wood can last for up to forty years (per actual casework histories) unless exposed to water (and contaminate transfer prints can even then sometimes persist).
Most fingerprint experts train for at least two or three years under the watchful eye of experienced Latent Print Examiners before they are allowed to work unsupervised on latent prints from crime scenes. Self-training can equip an ID tech at a small department with the same two weeks of experience, 50 times over.