Fingerprints

Fingerprints are the type of evidence which need only be properly identified before their admission into evidence. Roland v. State, 137 Ga. App. 796 (1976). A proper foundation for the admission of a fingerprint lift card is established through the testimony of the person who prepared it at the scene. Gildea v. State, 184 Ga. App. 105 (1987). A fingerprint card may be admitted into evidence without the showing of a chain of custody since it can be readily identified by reference to the subject's fingerprints. Hill v. State, 254 Ga. 213 (1985); White v. State, 268 Ga. 28 (1997). Where there is no evidence explaining how a defendant's fingerprints came to be at a crime scene, the jury may conclude that they were put there during the commission of the crime. Wright v. State, 310 Ga. App. 80 (2011); Rivers v. State, 271 Ga. 115 (1999). A detective's testimony regarding the percentage of cases he had worked where fingerprints were not obtained, even if erroneously admitted, is harmless error. Key v. State, 146 Ga. App. 536 (1978); Barbee v. State, 308 Ga. App. 322 (2011).