Opinion ID: 1155936
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: the court's attempt to cure deletion from the videotape

Text: The court, after the viewing by the jury, concluded that the reference to the charge and lie detector test in Michigan should be deleted from the videotape and the jury informed of the deletion. The jury, therefore, was instructed at the close of the case as follows: You are instructed that a certain portion of State's Exhibit 21, the same being a video tape recording, admitted into evidence has been deleted. You are therefore instructed that the deleted portion must not be considered by you as evidence. Appellee contends that improper reference to the Michigan charge and polygraph was cured by the above instruction. Appellee concedes, however, that where appellant's credibility plays a vital role in the case, the reference to the polygraph may be prejudicial. Thus, a criminal conviction was reversed because of references by a prosecution witness to a polygraph examination of the defendant, despite a cautionary instruction to the jury to draw no inferences from the references. United States v. Brevard, 739 F.2d 180 (4th Cir.1984). The court noted that [t]here are instances where the jury is exposed to inadmissible evidence which could make such a strong impression that instructions to disregard it may not remove its prejudicial effect. Id. at 182. See also Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 135, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 1627, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968); Throckmorton v. Holt, 180 U.S. 552, 569, 21 S.Ct. 474, 481, 45 L.Ed.2d 663 (1901). Here Dr. Schmunk's credibility was crucial. He offered nothing but his own profession of innocence to rebut the inference from the testimony of the State's experts regarding the quantity of narcotics present in Mrs. Schmunk's body. The improperly admitted evidence implicating him in some mysterious crime and disclosing his failure to pass a polygraph test would have so affected the jury that no instruction could restore Dr. Schmunk's credibility or overcome its prejudicial effect.