SJC hears arguments on fingerprints

Justice Robert J. Cordy called them ''teeny little bits" of humanity, defense attorney John H. Cunha Jr. declared them unreliable, and Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Donna Jalbert Patalano argued for maintaining the status quo.

The legal arguments before the Supreme Judicial Court yesterday all focused on the same evidence -- crime scene, or ''latent," fingerprints left by suspects that are recovered by forensic teams.

For 100 years, fingerprints have been acceptable evidence, but Cunha asked Cordy and five other SJC justices yesterday to declare the current techniques of analyzing latent fingerprints junk science and ban them from criminal cases until new scientific testing proves them reliable.

But Patalano, representing the office of Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley and prosecutors statewide, urged the SJC not to make changes.

She said standards used to match crime scene prints to a suspect can vary from one fingerprint examiner to another, but she insisted that the underlying theories are based on solid science.

The immediate issue is the pending prosecution of Terry L. Patterson, who, along with Sean K. Ellis, was convicted of participating in the 1993 murder of Boston Police Detective John J. Mulligan. The SJC upheld Ellis's conviction, but in 2000 ordered a new trial for Patterson, citing errors by his former defense attorney.

Patterson is now represented by Cunha, who wants to knock out the most damaging evidence: Patterson's fingerprints were allegedly found on the driver's side door of Mulligan's sport utility vehicle. Mulligan, who was working a paid detail in Roslindale, was shot to death Sept. 26, 1993, as he sat behind the wheel of his SUV.

Patalano was peppered with questions from the justices, including one from Cordy asking whether new scientific testing should be done to confirm that latent fingerprints are valid.

But she defended them, saying that a lower court judge has found that current information shows fingerprinting is reliable and should remain in criminal trials.

Watching the oral arguments was Ursula Hamman, a Revere woman who said she has recently gotten to know Patterson and visits him regularly at the Nashua Street Jail.

Hamman, who said she was accompanied by Patterson's stepfather, said after the hearing that she was optimistic Patterson will soon be freed.

''I don't really know any of the details" of the Mulligan case and the evidence against Patterson, she said. ''My heart is just with him. . . . He's really being positive about this."

Attorneys familiar with SJC appellate arguments say it is difficult to draw conclusions about how the court will rule based on questions that justices ask.

The court is expected to issue a ruling in the case later this year.

John Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com.