Luckily, there was a palm print on the rifle when the DPD inspected it
on 11/22/63. J.C. Day made a lift of the palmprint on 11/22. Not his
fault there wasn't enough goop left for the FBI to make a second lift
when they got it. (WC Vol. IV)
Shutterbun, you miss that Day claimed there was plenty of "goop" left on
the rifle. Which raises the question...what happened to it?
Now, we can choose to believe that the FBI's expert (Latona) was
incompetent, and could not see a readily apparent palmprint, or that Day
lied. I would go with Day having lied. After all, he 1) failed to submit
his purported lift to the FBI on the 22nd, at a time when he was supposed
to send all important evidence to the FBI; 2) failed to conduct a thorough
comparison between the palm print lift and Oswald's palm print, at a time
when his department retained jurisdiction of the case. I just don't buy
that he'd be so blase about solving the crime of the century.
It is also interesting that, although Day claimed he told Vincent Drain,
Will Fritz, and Jesse Curry about the lift, you won't find any reference
to this lift in any of the initial reports of these men. Nor were any of
them asked about it under oath.