How have the courts dealt with a defendant's motion to dismiss a finding of not guilty of murder based on a knife print?

The contention is without merit. The knife was photographed and the tape material used to lift the print reflected the imprint of a knife. Further, the print was lifted almost immediately after the murder and months before the defendant was arrested. More importantly, his fingerprint expert was in court at the time of the motion and, presumably, ready to testify, but the defendant proffered no evidence in support of his arguments. He explained that there were two witnesses then unavailable and he did not want to proceed with "half a Hitch motion." (People v. Hitch (1974) 12 Cal.3d 641, 117 Cal.Rptr. 9, 527 P.2d 361.) The trial court denied the motion without prejudice.