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Today in 1911,the first criminal conviction based on a fingerprint match in the United States occurred in New York. Our first convict? Thomas Jennings, who was convicted of murder. Jennings appealed his conviction to the Illinois Supreme Court on the basis of a questionable new scientific technique. The Illinois Supreme Court cited the historical research and use of fingerprints as a means of reliable identification in upholding the conviction, and thus establishing the use of fingerprints as a reliable means of identification. Jennings was executed in 1912.
Today in 1964,the State Department disclosed that 40 hidden microphones had been found in the US embassy in Moscow.