Discover the truth about polygraph tests! Join Christina Williams and David Mann as they debunk the myth of the foolproof lie detector.
Find out why polygraph tests are not admissible in court and learn how they can be used as a clever trick. Don’t fall for the polygraph trick; subscribe now for more legal insights!
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Transcript
Speaker 1
00;00;00;01 – 00;00;00;27
Hi, everybody. Today, we’re going to talk about why you shouldn’t fall for the polygraph trick. This is Christina Williams with Just Criminal Law.
Speaker 2
00;00;08;24 – 00;00;09;25
And this is David Mann, legal storytelling specialist. Okay. The polygraph test. What we’ve seen in the movies,a lie detector test. So, I thought that was, like foolproof. But you’re saying it can be used sort of as a trick.
Speaker 1
00;00;20;14 – 00;00;21;00
Right. So, you know, a lot of times, people mistakenly think that polygraph tests are admissible in court and the long and short of it is they are not admissible unless both the defense and the state stipulate to allow the results in a trial. And there’s a Wyoming case that is right on point. It’s kind of an interesting story.
Speaker 2
00;00;45;19 – 00;00;47;07
All right. So what happened?
Speaker 1
00;00;47;07 – 00;00;50;22
We have a wife who shoots her husband and claims self-defense. Now, she immediately gets an attorney, and her attorney and the prosecutor enter into an agreement. And it boils down to, she would agree to take a polygraph test. And if the results favored her, then the state would allow her to put the polygraph test into evidence and she could talk about them and her claims of self-defense. Also, the state would agree to charge her with manslaughter instead of first degree murder, which was huge. However, if the results came back and they did not favor her, the state could also use those results in prosecuting her. So it was definitely very high stakes and, at the end of the day, the polygraph indicated that she was being deceptive when it came to her claim of self defense.
Speaker 2
00;01;55;24 – 00;01;56;19
Wow. So she volunteered, or she agreed to do a polygraph test and then it ended up hurting her in the end, which I imagine is something that people sort of accidentally do sometimes, right?
Speaker 1
00;02;09;01 – 00;02;12;24
Right. So I’ve seen scenarios where somebody is called down to the police station and they’re being questioned by the police. The police start interrogating them; that is, you know, accusing them of a crime. And they repeatedly deny it. And, you know, kind of in an act of frustration, law enforcement says, ‘Well, would you be willing to take a polygraph test?
Speaker 2
00;02;36;21 – 00;02;37;05
Okay. So at that point, what they should do is not say anything, but I’m sure many people do. And what happens then?
Speaker 1
00;02;44;24 – 00;02;47;05
Well, I mean, first of all, I’m going to, you know, say what I always say. They shouldn’t have gone down to the police station in the first place without a lawyer. But in this particular situation, when the police ask them to take a polygraph test, they also watch to see what their answer is. And, you know, all of this is about, ‘I’m agreeing to talk to the police and they’re declining. The polygraph may actually come in as evidence against them. But the long and short of it is, it’s a no-win proposition because the officers ask them to take a polygraph test and they say no, and that raises everybody’s suspicion, or they say yes. And then the officers keep questioning the accused and they kind of give up and start to confess, thinking there’s a looming polygraph in the back, you know, which the police never actually bring out. Or they say yes and they’re so nervous about,you know, whether or not the results are going to be accurate, even if they’re innocent it can come back with a false positive; that is, falsely saying they’re being deceptive because the machine is not infallible.
Speaker 2
00;04;12;04 – 00;04;13;21
Hmm. Wow. You know, you really never think of all those options. But yeah, that’s one of those things that’s going to happen if you’ve gone down to the station and open your mouth and started to talk. So, at some point, they’re going to need a lawyer. And how do they get ahold of you?
Speaker 1
00;04;27;04 – 00;04;27;18
Sure. We’ll include a link in the descriptio, where they can call, text, or chat with a member of my team – any time, day or night. Here at Just Criminal Law, we know you only get one shot at justice. So make yours count!
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