Opinion ID: 1155625
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Exclusion of Evidence About a Proposed Polygraph Test

Text: On the day of his arrest, and after advisement and waiver of his constitutional rights under Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436, 439 [16 L.Ed.2d 694, 704, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 10 A.L.R.3d 974], defendant talked to Detective Anthony Coultress of the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department about the murders of Nancy R. and Rayna R. Initially, defendant disclaimed any knowledge of the murders and denied knowing either the two victims or Alfredo Reyes. Later that day, defendant agreed to take a polygraph examination at the Department of Justice in Sacramento. Just before the polygraph examination, defendant asked to speak privately with Detective Coultress. After telling Coultress in Spanish that he wanted to get something off his chest, defendant said he was present when Nancy R. and Rayna R. were killed, but that Alfredo Reyes, acting alone, had killed them. Thereafter, Detective Coultress arranged for defendant to return to Stockton to make a formal statement before a court reporter. In that statement, defendant admitted that he and Alfredo Reyes took Nancy and Rayna to a remote location in San Joaquin County, where defendant had consensual sex with Nancy, after which Reyes killed the two girls. Before trial, the prosecutor asked the court to prohibit any reference to the polygraph examination that had been offered to defendant. The court took the matter under submission. Before the court ruled on the issue, defense counsel told the jury in his opening statement that the evidence would show that defendant had agreed to submit to a polygraph examination. Immediately, the court ordered counsel's reference to the polygraph examination stricken from the record, and admonished the jury not to consider it. Later, out of the jury's presence, the court warned counsel against any mention of the polygraph examination without first obtaining a ruling from the court. Twice thereafter, the court told the attorneys not to refer to the proposed polygraph examination of defendant without first making an offer of proof outside the jury's presence. During his cross-examination of Detective Coultress, and without seeking any prior ruling from the court, defense counsel mentioned defendant's trip to Sacramento, where the polygraph test was to be administered. The court adjourned to chambers with both counsel, defendant, and Detective Coultress. The court told Coultress not to mention the lie detector test unless it was with the court's permission, adding there was a statutory prohibition (see Evid. Code, § 351.1) against the admission of polygraph-related evidence. Thereafter, defense counsel offered to waive any rights defendant might have under the statute in question; defendant personally agreed to this waiver. Defense counsel explained he wanted the jury to know that there was an offer of a polygraph [test] and that [defendant] was taken to the place where the polygraph was. When trial proceedings were resumed, there was no further mention of the polygraph. (1a) Defendant now contends the trial court's exclusion of evidence that defendant was facing a polygraph examination when he made the statement to Detective Coultress was unsupported by state law and violated his right to due process under the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal Constitution. Assuming defendant has adequately preserved the issue for appeal, we conclude these contentions lack merit. Evidence Code section 351.1 provides that the results of a polygraph examination shall not be admitted into evidence in any criminal proceeding ... unless all parties stipulate to the admission of such results. The statute also excludes evidence of an offer to take or the failure to take such a test. (2) The statute, which was enacted in 1983 as an urgency measure by a two-thirds vote of the membership in each house of the Legislature (see Sen. Bill No. 266, Sen. Final Hist., 1983-1984 Reg. Sess., p. 185; Stats. 1983, ch. 202, § 1, pp. 667-668) was intended to create an exception to the truth-in-evidence provision of Proposition 8 (Cal.Const., art. I, § 28, subd. (d)) that relevant evidence shall not be excluded in any criminal proceeding. (See Assembly Com. on Crim. Law and Pub. Safety, staff comments on Sen. Bill. No. 266 as amended Mar. 16, 1983 (1983-1984 Reg. Sess.), for hg. on June 8, 1983, p. 2.) (1b) In precluding the use of polygraph results in criminal proceedings, unless stipulated to, Evidence Code section 351.1 codifies a rule that this court adopted more than 30 years ago in People v. Jones (1959) 52 Cal.2d 636, 653 [343 P.2d 577], in which we said that polygraph test results do not scientifically prove the truth or falsity of the answers given during such tests. Subsequent to Jones, in People v. Thornton (1974) 11 Cal.3d 738, 764 [114 Cal. Rptr. 467, 523 P.2d 267], we upheld the exclusion of evidence of a suspect's willingness to submit to a polygraph examination, rejecting the defense argument likening such willingness to a `badge of innocence.' As we explained: [B]ecause lie detector tests themselves are not considered reliable enough to have probative value, `a suspect's willingness or unwillingness to take such a test is likewise without enough probative value to justify its admission. The suspect may refuse to take the test, not because he fears that it will reveal consciousness of guilt, but because it may record as a lie what is in fact the truth. A guilty suspect, on the other hand, may be willing to hazard the test in the hope that it will erroneously record innocence, knowing that even if it does not the results cannot be used as evidence against him.' ( Ibid. ) Evidence Code section 351.1 and our decision in People v. Thornton, supra, 11 Cal.3d at page 764, amply support the exclusion of evidence about the proffered polygraph test. In an effort to distinguish this case from People v. Thornton, supra, 11 Cal.3d 738, defendant argues that evidence that he was facing a polygraph examination when he made the statement to the police was not so much a badge of innocence as an esential factor in assisting the jury in its assessment of the truth or falsity of that statement. In that statement, defendant admitted his involvement in the events leading to the deaths of Nancy R. and Rayna R. but disclaimed responsibility for their killings. Defendant asserts that the fact he was facing a lie detector test when he made that statement enhanced the credibility of his version of the facts. Defendant fails to persuade us that his case is distinguishable from Thornton, supra, 11 Cal.3d 738. There we rejected defendant's contention that evidence of his willingness to take a polygraph examination showed his innocence; here, the argument is that the evidence of the proffered test supports the truth of defendant's claim of innocence. The distinction defendant draws is one without a difference. Defendant argues that even if exclusion of the evidence was proper under state law, it violated his right to due process under the federal Constitution. In support, defendant cites certain decisions of the United States Supreme Court holding that the application of state procedural or evidentiary rules that barred a defendant from making an effective challenge to the prosecution's case or from presenting crucial exculpatory evidence violated the federal Constitution. (See Davis v. Alaska (1974) 415 U.S. 308, 318 [39 L.Ed.2d 347, 354-355, 94 S.Ct. 1105] [prohibiting defendant from confronting and cross-examining adverse witnesses]; Chambers v. Mississippi (1973) 410 U.S. 284, 294-295 [35 L.Ed.2d 297, 308-309, 93 S.Ct. 1038] [same]; Washington v. Texas (1967) 388 U.S. 14, 23 [18 L.Ed.2d 1019, 1025-1026, 87 S.Ct. 1920] [prohibiting the defense from calling a favorable percipient witness]; Green v. Georgia (1979) 442 U.S. 95, 97 [60 L.Ed.2d 738, 741, 99 S.Ct. 2150] [precluding presentation at the penalty phase of a capital case of evidence that a codefendant had admitted sole responsibility for the murder].) These cases are distinguishable from the situation here. Exclusion under Evidence Code section 351.1 of defendant's offer to take a polygraph test at most prevented presentation of evidence that might have bolstered defendant's credibility. Defendant was, however, not foreclosed from effectively challenging the prosecution's case or from presenting crucial exculpatory evidence. There was no due process violation.