Opinion ID: 2675921
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Polygraph Examination Prior to Trial

Text: 5 See North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 91 S. Ct. 160 (1970). 11 Case: 12-14505 Date Filed: 05/28/2014 Page: 12 of 15 Pericles also claims that his counsel was defective by not arranging for Pericles to take a polygraph test until after trial. It was not unreasonable for Pericles’s attorney to not arrange for him to take a polygraph test, as, subject to a few exceptions, polygraph tests are generally inadmissible. See Piccinonna, 885 F.2d at 1536. Pericles’s attorney’s performance was not deficient based on a failure to obtain evidence that the attorney reasonably anticipated could not be used at trial. In any event, Pericles cannot show prejudice. The polygraph tests results would not have been admissible at trial, and they would not have caused the government to dismiss the charges against Pericles. As for this first point, polygraph test results are admissible in two circumstances: (1) “when both parties stipulate in advance as to the circumstances of the test and as to the scope of its admissibility”; or (2) when the evidence is “used to impeach or corroborate the testimony of a witness at trial.” Id. Here, Pericles concedes that “the government probably would not have stipulated to the introduction of the polygraph.” The polygraph evidence also would not have come in as corroboration or impeachment evidence. Pericles did not testify and thus could not have used polygraph evidence to corroborate or impeach testimony never given. Even if Pericles had testified, Pericles has not shown the polygraph evidence would have been admitted in any event. As the 12 Case: 12-14505 Date Filed: 05/28/2014 Page: 13 of 15 district court already noted in denying Pericles’s motion for a new trial, “the nature and phrasing of the polygraph questions would have raised serious questions about their admissibility under the Federal Rules of Evidence.” 6 And we also reject Pericles’s claim that the results of the polygraph test of him could have been used to impeach other witnesses. As for the second point, Pericles points to nothing in the record remotely indicating that the government would have moved to dismiss the indictment in light of the polygraph test results.