After holding that fingerprint identifications fail to pass muster under Daubert (see Llera Plaza I), Judge Louis Pollack agreed to a rehearing, changed his mind, and then issued this opinion. Here he finds that experts may express the opinion that fingerprints match, but states (at the end of the opinion) that courts must still conduct pretrial review aimed at "insuring that any proposed expert witness possesses the appropriate expert qualifications and that fingerprints offered in evidence will be of a quality arguably susceptible of responsible analysis, comparison and evaluation."

This opinion provides a useful overview of the Daubert issues related to fingerprints, although its Daubert analysis is questionable (see the Faigman commentary). The last bit on assuring that the fingerprint evidence is "of a quality arguably susceptible to responsible analysis..." could support a request for pretrial review of problematic latent print comparisons.