Episode Details

The State’s amended supplemental expert disclosure for Idaho State Police forensic scientist Tina Walthall outlined the latent-print testimony prosecutors expected to present in Bryan Kohberger’s case. Walthall was identified as a forensic science expert specializing in fingerprints and friction-ridge evidence, and the disclosure said she would explain how latent prints were deposited, developed, preserved and compared, as well as the limitations that affected whether usable prints could be recovered from an object. Most importantly, Walthall processed the Ka-Bar leather knife sheath recovered from Madison Mogen’s bedroom and did not observe or develop any latent fingerprints from it. She also processed several other items in the case, identified as items 66, 68 and 69, with the details contained in separate laboratory reports.

The disclosure also laid the groundwork for Walthall to explain why the absence of a fingerprint did not necessarily mean an object had never been handled. She was expected to testify that latent-print recovery depended on numerous variables, including the texture and condition of the surface, pressure and duration of contact, sweat and oil production, contamination, smearing, environmental exposure and what happened to the item after it was touched. Walthall would also explain the ACE-V comparison process, verification procedures and the Multi-Modal Biometric Identification System used to search fingerprint databases when necessary. The significance for the Kohberger case was straightforward: prosecutors were preparing to acknowledge that the knife sheath contained no usable latent prints while using Walthall to explain scientifically why the absence of fingerprints could not, by itself, establish that Kohberger or anyone else had never handled it.



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source:

030326+REDACTED+Exhibits+S-1+through+S-13+to+States+Amended+Supp+Resp+to+Rqst+for+Disc+RE+Expert+Testimony.pdf