A. Nathan Darby's Affidavit

The following sworn affidavit was given by fingerprint expert A. Nathan Darby this past spring.

Those following recent developments in the JFK case will recall that Darby, who holds certification by the Internal Association for Identification, concluded that previously unidentified fingerprints taken from cartons on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository on November 22, 1963, were those of Malcolm E. "Mac" Wallace, a convicted killer with ties to Lyndon Johnson. (See Fair Play #23, July-August 1998.)

Darby's identification was made "blindly" --- that is, without his knowing the identity of Wallace, or of the implications of naming him. After making the ID and learning all that was involved, however, Mr. Darby stuck to his conclusions.

Thanks to Walt Brown and JFK/Deep Politics Quarterly for a copy of this affidavit.

1. My name is A. Nathan Darby. I am a resident of Austin, Texas, and I am fully competent to make this affidavit.

2. I have been active in law enforcement for many years, starting with the Texas Department of public Safety as a State Trooper in 1938. I then served with the Austin, Texas Police Department from October 1940, and including my military service, I was with the Austin Police Department until my retirement in August 1979. During that period of service, I rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Commander. I am presently an expert in fingerprint identification, and I hold the designation of Certified Latent Fingerprint Examiner (#78-468), which is issued by the Internal Association for Identification, pursuant to the attached Exhibit DAN #1.

3. I first became interested in fingerprint work in 1942. My direct work in fingerprint identification began soon after, during my military service. I joined the U.S. Army in October 1943 and graduated from Officer Candidate School as a lieutenant in February 1945. I was immediately put in charge of preparing a fingerprint identification system for the Philippine Commonwealth. For my work of setting up their Central Fingerprint Bureau, I was awarded the Philippine Military Merit Medal, the Philippine Commonwealth's highest non-combat award for foreign military personnel. The United States Army also awarded me the Army Commendation Medal. This achievement was further recognized in the 1946 textbook, Lectures in Fingerprints by Fred C. Luchico, then Chief of the Identification Division with the Department of Justice, where he states that I "provided a modern, current, and complete fingerprint file for the Philippine Commonwealth." By 1946 I had risen to the rank of Captain. When my tour of Duty was completed in the Philippines, I returned to the Austin Police Department in November 1946.

4. On 1 January 1948 I was promoted to sergeant and assigned to the Identification Section of the Austin Police Department. On 7 July 1953 I was promoted to lieutenant. In 1956, I was made supervisor of the four employees of Identification and Criminal Records Section of the Austin Police Department. At this time I handled the classification of 176,000 cards and expanded the section to fourteen employees, training and supervising all personnel. In 1970, I worked on advanced record-keeping with the Kodak Miracode system and developed the fingerprint and photograph coding method for the system. During this time I also served on the board of directors of the Texas Division of the International Association for Identification. I hold an Advanced Certificate in Law Enforcement and an Instructor Certificate from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. I have been a member of the Texas Division of the International Association for Identification since November, 1946.

5. Since 1949, I have testified in numerous cases in the State and Federal Courts about fingerprint identification. This testimony included the preparation of latent charts as exhibits. There was never a mistrial or appeal based on my testimony. Attached is Exhibit DAN#2. This exhibit shows the opinions of two District Judges, Travis County, Texas regarding my testimony experience.

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6. Fingerprints are an important part of law enforcement because no two prints are alike. Although no person has been able to calculate the likelihood of a mismatch with statistical certainty, the courts accept the admissibility of evidence from fingerprints. Human fingerprints are from unique ridges, which are useful for gripping and holding. An inked fingerprint is the reproduction of the ridges of the finger. An inked fingerprint is provided by putting black ink on the finger and then placing the finger on a suitable contrasting background surface, such as white paper. A latent fingerprint is the production of ridges when the finger has been placed on a surface. The ridges of the finger leave a residue, body fluids, and chemicals on the surface touched. The latent prints are recovered and compared to the inked prints.

   For an expert to identify a latent print with an inked print, matching formations must be found on both prints. The ridge lines between the matched formation are then counted. This ridge count must be the same count for both the latent and the ink print. There is no fixed documented limit on how many matching points must be made. The identifying marks on the Ink print and the latent print are then marked and numbered. A conclusion and identification is then made based on the location of the characters on the prints, their formation, and the ridge count between them.

7. Recently I received a photocopy of an inked print along with a photocopy of a latent print from [Texas researcher]. After careful and extended examination of the inked print photocopy and the latent print photocopy given to me, I have their identifying characteristics marked and numbered. The inked print is Exhibit DAN #3, and the latent Print is Exhibit DAN #4.

8. In addition to exhibit DAN#3 and exhibit DAN#4, [researcher] gave me a photocopy of a standard form fingerprint card. This is exhibit DAN#5. Exhibit DAN#5 is from an unknown source and has fingerprints of an unknown person to me. The space#10 on exhibit DAN#5 is the same inked print as DAN#3. Space #10 on exhibit DAN#5 is the space used for the left little finger. There are other indications that the print in space #10 on Exhibit DAN#5 is the left little finger.

9. Based on my comparison, I conclude that the unknown person to me who produced the inked fingerprint Exhibit DAN#3 produced the latent print Exhibit DAN#4, and produced the print in space #10 on exhibit DAN #5.

Notary Public for Texas

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