>It turns out the fingerprints belonged to somebody else...
It's more complex than that.
The problem was the fingerprints of the real bomber and Mayfield's prints were identical, each print was exact match to the other person. Exact at least to the satisfaction of the multiple fingerprint examiners each of those examiners followed a different procedure since there is no science of what's conclusive.
The problem was the FBI absolutely denied any two people could ever have the same prints although there was no way to prove that.
Even after the case was solved a test was done where the prints were sent for analysis again and the same examiners came to a different conclusion given the same prints!
It's more complex than that.
The problem was the fingerprints of the real bomber and Mayfield's prints were identical, each print was exact match to the other person. Exact at least to the satisfaction of the multiple fingerprint examiners each of those examiners followed a different procedure since there is no science of what's conclusive.
The problem was the FBI absolutely denied any two people could ever have the same prints although there was no way to prove that.
Even after the case was solved a test was done where the prints were sent for analysis again and the same examiners came to a different conclusion given the same prints!
Frontline on PBS covered this situation http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/criminal-justice/rea...