In a rare move of public accountability, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued an apology to Brandon Mayfield, an American lawyer, after mistakenly linking his fingerprint to one discovered near the scene of the 2004 Madrid train bombings. This error resulted in Mayfield’s wrongful imprisonment for two weeks, highlighting significant flaws in fingerprint analysis and raising concerns about civil liberties in the wake of anti-terrorism measures.
The apology, delivered on a Monday, coincided with a judge’s dismissal of the case against Mayfield. He had been held as a material witness in connection to the Madrid bombings, a devastating attack that claimed 191 lives and injured approximately 2,000 others.
Mayfield, then 37 years old and a convert to Islam, voiced strong criticism of the government’s actions. He described his detention as “humiliating” and “embarrassing,” asserting that his religious faith played a role in his targeting. “This whole process has been a harrowing ordeal. It shouldn’t happen to anybody,” Mayfield stated. “I believe I was singled out and discriminated against, I feel, as a Muslim.”
However, Karin Immergut, the U.S. attorney in Oregon, refuted the accusation of religious targeting. She maintained that the FBI had adhered to all legal protocols throughout the investigation.
Released court documents revealed that the initial misidentification stemmed from a faulty match by the FBI’s fingerprint analysis supercomputer. This initial error was then compounded by subsequent misjudgments from FBI fingerprint analysts.
FBI’s Promise to Review Fingerprint Analysis Practices
“The FBI apologizes to Mr. Mayfield and his family for the hardships that this matter has caused,” the bureau declared in an official statement. Furthermore, the agency committed to a comprehensive review of its fingerprint analysis procedures to prevent similar errors in the future.
Steve Wax, Mayfield’s attorney and a U.S. Public Defender, emphasized the need for transparency and understanding. “We need to know more about how this happened. All of us in this country need to know more about how this type of mistake can be made,” Wax stated, underscoring the broader implications of the case.
Mayfield, a former Army lieutenant, had been released the previous week but initially remained under restrictions as the government continued to consider him a material witness. These restrictions were fully lifted on Monday following the case dismissal.
U.S. District Judge Robert Jones ordered the return of all property seized from Mayfield’s residence and mandated the destruction of all copies of Mayfield’s personal documents held by federal authorities.
The Fingerprint Identification Process and the Initial Error
The case originated when FBI fingerprint examiners at Quantico, Virginia, conducted a search for potential matches to a digital image of a fingerprint. This print was recovered from a bag of detonators discovered at the scene of the Spanish bombings on March 11th.
The FBI’s automated fingerprint identification system generated 15 potential matches. Among these was Brandon Mayfield, whose fingerprints were on file due to a 1984 burglary arrest in Wichita, Kansas, when he was a teenager.
Crucially, three separate FBI examiners independently confirmed the match to Mayfield, according to Robert Jordan, the FBI agent in charge of the Oregon office. Adding to the perceived validity, a court-appointed fingerprint expert also concurred with the FBI’s identification.
Spanish Authorities Raise Doubts and the FBI Reverses Course
Despite the FBI’s confidence, Spanish authorities expressed skepticism regarding any connection to Mayfield as early as mid-April. They indicated that the original fingerprint image taken directly from the bag did not align with Mayfield’s prints, according to Wax.
The turning point came when Spanish authorities identified the fingerprints on the bag as belonging to an Algerian man. FBI examiners then traveled to Spain to examine the original fingerprint pattern on paper. Upon review, they conceded that the print was indeed not Mayfield’s, leading to the eventual apology and dismissal of the case.
Scrutiny and Background: Why Mayfield?
Beyond the fingerprint error, the article details the additional factors that contributed to the FBI’s suspicion of Brandon Mayfield. These included:
- Mosque Attendance: Mayfield’s attendance at a local mosque.
- Legal Services Advertisement: Advertising his legal services in a publication owned by an individual suspected of terrorist links.
- Wife’s Charity Call: A phone call placed by Mayfield’s wife to a branch of an Islamic charity with suspected terrorist ties.
- Past Client: Mayfield had previously represented a man in a child custody case who later pleaded guilty to conspiring to support al-Qaida and the Taliban.
These elements, while seemingly circumstantial, were presented by the FBI as supporting evidence for their initial suspicion. Court documents further revealed that FBI agents had initiated surveillance of Mayfield two weeks after the Madrid attacks. Under the Patriot Act, they had even entered his home without his knowledge, inadvertently alerting the family due to an improperly bolted lock and a misplaced footprint.
During a subsequent raid, agents seized computers, a modem, a safe deposit key, personal papers, copies of the Quran, and even Spanish homework belonging to one of Mayfield’s sons, mistakenly labeled as “Spanish documents.”
Despite this intensive scrutiny, Brandon Mayfield, who operated a small law office in Portland, was never formally charged with any crime. His detention was solely as a material witness, based on the flawed fingerprint identification and the circumstantial factors mentioned.
The Aftermath and Implications for Brandon Mayfield and Justice
At a press conference, Mayfield recounted his experiences in detention, including initial solitary confinement and a period in the jail’s mental ward. He also expressed fear for his safety as inmates began to recognize him from news reports.
Mayfield’s attorney, Steve Wax, powerfully summarized the case’s broader significance: “The climate of fear of terror makes this a cautionary tale about the way in which that fear can ensnare an innocent person in the type of abuse to which Mr. Mayfield was subjected.”
The Brandon Mayfield case serves as a stark reminder of the potential for error in even sophisticated forensic techniques like fingerprint analysis. It also raises critical questions about the impact of post-9/11 anti-terrorism legislation on civil liberties and the dangers of profiling and targeting individuals based on religious affiliation or circumstantial associations. For Brandon Mayfield, the apology and dismissal offered a measure of relief, but the ordeal undoubtedly left lasting scars and highlighted the fragility of individual rights in the face of national security concerns.
