Newbold's Case Summary

In a Chronological list of cases, Newbold stated that because of this case in “1911 The first conviction is achieved on the basis of fingerprints. The case involves Thomas Jennings, found guilty of murder in Cook County, Illinois” (1999). The case of People v. Jennings happened in 1911 after Clarence B. Hiller was murdered in his own home one night. Hiller and his family were all asleep in their home when it happened. It wasn’t until Hiller woke up and found that their gas light was no longer on that he thought something was wrong (Acree, 1999). At this time, he got out of bed and headed downstairs where he ran into Jennings on the staircase. Hiller fought against Jennings and was shot twice during the altercation between the two of them.
After the death of Hiller, Jennings ran from the scene and was located later that night by two police officers on patrol. It …show more content…
They all agreed to the fact that they matched one another and that no other person’s prints would match the ones found at the Hiller house. It was because of this testimony that Jennings was found guilty of murdering Clarence B. Hiller. However, after the trial was over Jennings appealed the case on the basis that the fingerprints shouldn’t have been allowed (Acree, 1999).
After the court heard the appeal, they continued to agree with the first decision on the case. They stated that their reasoning for doing so was because fingerprints were proven to be reliable and were used in ancient Egyptian times as a way to sign documents in order to make sure the right person actually signed it (Acree, 1999). Since they were shown to be reliable it meant they were admissible in the court hearing. Fingerprinting, by the time this case had occurred, was a common method of identification and used as evidence in most court cases to present in front of jury