Opinion ID: 76088
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Implementation of Polygraph Testing.

Text: 35 Appellant's remaining arguments 6 regarding the condition requiring submission to polygraph testing can be fairly characterized as challenging the potential abuses in its implementation. Contrary to Appellant's assertions, he has not preserved these arguments for appeal and we are therefore limited to reviewing them for plain error. 7 36 Appellant first asserts polygraph testing would violate the Fifth Amendment based on the principle that it is unconstitutional for the Government to compel him to answer official questions put to him in any... proceeding, civil or criminal, formal or informal, where the answers might incriminate him in future criminal proceedings. Lefkowitz v. Turley, 414 U.S. 70, 77, 94 S.Ct. 316, 322, 38 L.Ed.2d 274 (1973). Seizing on this principle, he argues that if he is asked a potentially incriminating question during a polygraph exam, he will be unconstitutionally forced to choose between answering or refusing to answer at the risk of having his supervised release adversely modified. 8 37 The Supreme Court has stated that a state may generally require a probationer to appear and discuss matters that affect his probationary status without violating the Fifth Amendment. Minnesota v. Murphy, 465 U.S. 420, 435, 104 S.Ct. 1136, 1146, 79 L.Ed.2d 409 (1984); see also United States v. Robinson, 893 F.2d 1244, 1245 (11th Cir.1990) (affirming revocation of convicted currency smuggler's probation where probationer violated condition of release by refusing to answer questions regarding sources of income). The Court in Murphy admitted some exceptions to the general rule, such as where a state forces a probationer to answer incriminating questions over a claim of privilege: 38 The result may be different if the questions put to the probationer, however relevant to his probationary status, call for answers that would incriminate him in a pending or later criminal prosecution. There is thus a substantial basis in our cases for concluding that if the State, either expressly or by implication, asserts that invocation of the privilege would lead to revocation of probation, it would have created the classic penalty situation, the failure to assert the privilege would be excused, and the probationer's answers would be deemed compelled and inadmissible in a criminal prosecution. 39 Murphy, 465 U.S. at 435, 104 S.Ct. at 1146. The Court went on to note, however, that questions put to a probationer [that] were relevant to his probationary status and posed no realistic threat of incrimination in a separate criminal proceeding would not violate the Fifth Amendment. Id. at 435 n. 7, 104 S.Ct. at 1146 n. 7. 9 40 It is undisputed that at this juncture there has been no potentially incriminating question or invocation of the privilege, much less any government compulsion to testify over a valid claim of privilege. Such an eventuality is within the realm of possibility, but hypothetical possibilities do not present a cognizable Fifth Amendment claim. As the First Circuit recently observed in rejecting a similar challenge, it would be pure speculation to assume such facts now simply because they might conceivably come to exist at some future time. See Davis, 242 F.3d at 52 (Should the court revoke Davis's supervised release as a penalty for his legitimate exercise of his Fifth Amendment privilege, he remains free to challenge that action at the time it occurs. That eventuality, however, has not yet occurred (and may never occur).). If and when Appellant is forced to testify over his valid claim of privilege, he may raise a Fifth Amendment challenge. In the meantime, we can only decide whether requiring polygraph testing as a condition of supervised release generally violates the Fifth Amendment so as to amount to plain error. We hold it does not. 41 For the same reasons, Appellant cannot demonstrate plain error in the district court's delegation of authority to the probation officer for overseeing Appellant's mental health treatment, including administration of polygraph exams. The district court's sentence was consistent with the Sentencing Guidelines, which expressly permitted the court to impose a condition [of supervised release] requiring that the defendant participate in a mental health program approved by the United States Probation Office.  U.S.S.G. § 5B1.3(d)(5), p.s. (emphasis added). Furthermore, we have recognized the vital role probation officers fulfill in effectuating the district court's sentence. See United States v. Bernardine, 237 F.3d 1279, 1283 (11th Cir.2001) (For purposes of efficiency, district courts must be able to rely as extensively as possible on the support services of probation officers.) (internal quotations omitted) (citation omitted). Thus, the delegation of authority to the probation officer generally does not constitute plain error. And, while we might again conceive of a scenario where a probation officer abuses or oversteps his lawful authority, there is no reason to suspect at this time that such will be the case here. 42 Accordingly, the district court did not err in requiring Appellant's submission to polygraph testing as a condition of supervised release.