"Is it not true," Jake began, "that in the tradition of modern law, fingerprints are regarded as the most positive method of identification?"
"That is correct."
From a mass of data on his desk, Jake extracted a single sheet of photostatic copy and handed it to Judge Hayward.
"I have here," he said, "a certified copy of one Tony Corfino's fingerprints—taken at the time of his arrest and conviction five years ago on a charge of Grand Theft, Auto...."
The Judge accepted the photostat and handed it to the clerk for entry into the record. Jake then retrieved it, and gave it to his witness.
"Now, Sir," he went on, "will you please take the defendant's fingerprints and compare them to this photostatic copy."
The jurors craned forward curiously as the fingerprint expert opened his kit and went methodically about the business of fingerprinting Tony Corfino. When he had finished, and returned to the witness stand with the new prints, Jake Emspak demanded:
"Is there any similarity between those fingerprints and the fingerprints of one Tony Corfino?"
The expert looked from one set of prints to the other, and quickly replied:
"There can be absolutely no doubt about it—these are not the same prints."