Lawsuit Against FBI : Mistaken Fingerprint Match

A Justice Department report that faulted the FBI for sloppy work may strengthen a lawsuit filed against the agency by a Portland man who was arrested after his fingerprints were mistakenly identified during the investigation into the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine faulted the FBI for mistakenly matching a fingerprint found on a bag of detonators near the Madrid bombing site to those of Mayfield.

Mayfield was jailed for two weeks in May 2004 — even though Spanish investigators disagreed with the FBI’s fingerprint analysis. The FBI acknowledged the mistake on May 24 and apologized to Mayfield.

He sued the Justice Department and the FBI in October 2004, claiming he was singled out because of his Muslim faith and that searches of his home and other locations were in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.

Precht, who recently left the University of Michigan to return to private practice in New York, said the pressure on investigators and prosecutors is enormous once they believe they have the right suspect.

“This is a textbook example of people having assumed a person’s guilt, and then they look for evidence to confirm it,’’ Precht said

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