Opinion ID: 2336670
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: references to the lie detector test.

Text: In the Assistant Prosecutor's opening to the jury, he detailed certain inculpatory admissions about the killing which Driver was said to have made to his mother-in-law, Mattie Lee Scott. The jury was told that her statement with respect to the admissions had been recorded on tape by the police and that later the recording was run for the defendant to hear. Then, according to the opening, when Driver disputed their truthfulness, he was asked to clear this up. Take a lie detector test, and he refused. The Assistant Prosecutor pursued the matter further, saying that as various portions of the tape were played for Driver the request for such a test was repeated and every time he refused. No objection was made by defense counsel but we regard the references as so highly improper as to constitute plain error. The State's case against Driver was based upon circumstantial evidence to a substantial degree and alleged oral admissions by him. In such a case particularly, to tell a jury of laymen at the very outset of the trial that defendant refused a number of times to take a lie detector test was to create a probable aura of prejudice which would permeate the proceeding to the very end. The results of polygraph tests, whether favorable or unfavorable to an accused, are uniformly held inadmissible. We are aware of no jurisdiction which holds to the contrary, and none has been cited by the State. Basically, the reason for rejection is that the lie detector has not yet attained scientific acceptance as a reliable and accurate means of ascertaining truth or deception. State v. Walker, 37 N.J. 208, 214, 216 (1962); State v. Arnwine, 67 N.J. Super. 483 ( App. Div. 1961); State v. Varos, 69 N.M. 19, 363 P. 2 d 629 ( Sup. Ct. 1961); State v. Trimble, 68 N.M. 406, 362 P. 2 d 788 (1961); Mattox v. State, 240 Miss. 544, 128 So. 2 d 368 ( Sup. Ct. 1961); State v. Foye, 254 N.C. 704, 120 S.E. 2 d 169 ( Sup. Ct. 1961); People v. Aragon, 154 Cal. App. 2 d 646, 316 P. 2 d 370 ( S.Ct. App. 1957); People v. Wochnick, 98 Cal. App. 2 d 124, 219 P. 2 d 70 ( D. Ct. App. 1950); Annot. 23 A.L.R. 2 d 1306; 1960 A.L.R. 2 d Suppl. Service 1998; 1962 A.L.R. 2 d Suppl. Service 580; compare State v. Levitt, 36 N.J. 266, 275 (1961). If the results of polygraph examinations are not competent evidence, a fortiori, refusal by a defendant in a criminal case to submit to one cannot be made the subject of testimony. In terms of degree of prejudice, the average jury, unfamiliar with the present scientific uncertainty of the test, might very well be even more affected by proof of a defendant's refusal to take the test than by the evidence of results adverse to him coupled with proof of its scientific imperfection. A refusal might be regarded as indicating a consciousness of guilt  undoubtedly the reason here why the Assistant Prosecutor placed such emphasis upon it in his opening. Moreover, his remarks were calculated to prejudice the jury by implying that the mechanical device was the ultimate in tests for the truth. In State v. Kolander, 236 Minn. 209, 52 N.W. 2 d 458, 465 ( Sup. Ct. 1952), evidence of the defendant's unwillingness to take the test was admitted but with a cautionary instruction that no adverse inference was to be drawn therefrom. The Supreme Court reversed with quotable pertinence to the present case: The state concedes that the results of a lie-detector test would not be admissible, but contends that it may nevertheless be shown that defendant refused to take such test, since such refusal is evidence of a consciousness of guilt similar to evidence of flight. With this we cannot agree. Much the same proposition was advanced in People v. Wochnick, 98 Cal. App. 2 d 124, 219 P. 2 d 70, supra. In that case, an officer testified that defendant had been told that he had been placed on the lie detector for a test and that there was a violent reaction when he was shown a certain exhibit; and that when he was asked for an explanation of such reaction he stated that he could not explain it. The trial court instructed the jury that it could not consider that portion of the conversation relating to the lie-detector test as indicating whether or not there was any reaction to any technical test. In holding that it was reversible error to admit the evidence, the California court said   : `Despite the instruction of the court, the evidence of the partial results of the lie detector test with respect to defendant's reaction upon being shown the murder weapon was indelibly implanted in the minds of the jurors and could not but have had a prejudicial effect.' The same is true here.    The impact upon the minds of the jurors of a refusal to submit to something which they might well assume would effectively determine guilt or innocence, under these conditions, might well be more devastating than a disclosure of the results of such test, if given after a proper foundation had been laid showing how the apparatus functioned. See also, Mills v. People, 139 Colo. 397, 339 P. 2 d 998 ( Sup. Ct. 1959); Commonwealth v. Saunders, 386 Pa. 149, 125 A. 2 d 442, 445 ( Sup. Ct. 1956); People v. Aragon, supra, 316 P. 2 d, at p. 379; State v. Foye, supra, 120 S.E. 2 d, at pp. 172, 173. Under the circumstances, we regard the remarks in the opening concerning the lie detector test as possessing such horrendous capacity for prejudice against the defendant as to constitute plain error. Mattox v. State, supra, 128 So. 2 d, at p. 373; State v. Varos, supra, 363 P. 2 d, at p. 631; Mills v. People, supra, 339 P. 2 d, at pp. 999, 1000; and see, State v. Corby, 28 N.J. 106, 108 (1958). The shadow cast by the improper opening remarks deepened during the course of the trial. The Prosecutor had told the jury that the tape recording of Driver's mother-in-law's statement was played to him in sections. At the completion of an inculpatory admission attributed to him, he would be interrogated about it and, on his denial thereof, he would be asked to take a lie detector test on the subject. When he refused, the next portion of the recording was released and the same performance followed. The exact number of times that happened until the end of the tape was reached does not appear. The clear impression from the Prosecutor's remarks is that there were several such instances. He said they played various portions of the tape and every time defendant refused the polygraph test. Thus the jury was alerted for what the prosecution had planned to prove in connection with the mother-in-law's recorded statement. When the State was endeavoring to introduce Driver's unsigned confessions in evidence, a separate hearing, out of the presence of the jury, was held to consider their voluntariness. In the course of the testimony of the police officers, there were many references to the refusal to submit to a lie detector test, particularly while the mother-in-law's recording was being discussed. Ultimately, the trial judge informed the Prosecutor that if the unsigned statements were found to be voluntary and it therefore became necessary to repeat the evidence on that aspect of the case for the jury, it would be improper to refer to or attempt to prove defendant's refusal of the lie detector test. Later, following the court's decision to admit the statements, and the jury's return to the court room, the State did not attempt specifically to offer the banned testimony. But the manner of presenting the playing of the various portions of the mother-in-law's recording and Driver's attitude toward them during the police interrogation made the air pregnant with the Prosecutor's opening remarks about the lie detector test. For example, when Lieutenant James F. Keegan was describing Driver's conduct while listening to the various portions of the recording, he explained that upon playing a part of the tape containing an alleged admission, Driver would deny the statement attributed to him by his mother-in-law, and the captain [who was participating in the interrogation] then asked him this question that I'm not supposed to say. And (by the Assistant Prosecutor): Q. Then again this question was asked and again Driver gave an answer, and then there was a conversation about that question and answer?
Again, a little later in the examination concerning the recording:    but we saw him again a little after 8:00 o'clock and went into this subject I am not supposed to mention   . Comment of the same type was made by Captain John Bojarski in giving his testimony. To a lesser extent it ran through that of Sergeant Frederick M. Porter, Jr., also. Both of these officers took part in the extended interrogation of Driver. And the Prosecutor's numerous references to the question and answer which could not be mentioned served to keep the matter in the consciousness of everyone. (All of these improprieties and insinuations can and should be avoided by pretrial preparation. See People v. Aragon, supra, 316 P. 2 d, at pages 378, 379.) Moreover, John J. Toth, a State Police officer, was produced by the State, and an effort was made to show that his purpose in appearing at a June 1958 interrogation of Driver was in connection with a lie detector test. The attempt (which came after the court had ruled earlier in the trial that such a test was inadmissible) was frustrated after a side bar conference. Even after that took place, the Assistant Prosecutor went on to prove that Toth's appearance there was not for the purpose of interrogating anyone. Then, in summation, he said:    Toth wasn't even there for the purpose of questioning this man or of interrogating him. He was aiding Latowiec, and because of the defense motion I can't tell you why Latowiec was there and Toth was there. They were participating in no way in any questioning of the defendant and he was in observing, observing for what I can't say. Finally, on this subject, another matter must be mentioned. A recording was made of a September 8, 1959 interrogation of Driver. It was admitted in evidence over objection and the jury allowed to hear it. The police officers prepared what they said was a transcript of the tape and produced it at the trial. It was not admitted in evidence, although handed to the trial judge for use in connection with his private audition. Following argument of the appeal in this Court, the tape was run for us and the transcript (which was included with the State's exhibits) was made available to us. A specific reference appears therein to Driver's refusal to take a polygraph test. Although the audibility of the recording will be treated hereafter, it is sufficient to say at this time that the question and answer relating to the test were not audible to us. We cannot say if the trial court heard them. Presumably he did not, because he had already declared such evidence incompetent, and therefore we must assume that he would have had that portion of the tape eliminated before allowing the jury to hear it. But if the reference to the test is on the tape, as the police assert, we cannot say the jury or some of its members did not hear it. The entire handling of the lie detector test aspect of the case clearly reveals prejudicial overzealousness on the part of the prosecution, and leaves an appellate court with no recourse but vacation of the conviction. As the court said in Mills v. People, supra , speaking of the State's introduction in evidence of defendant's refusal to take a lie detector test: All too frequently this court is compelled to reverse judgments of guilt in important criminal cases because of over-zealous prosecution. It is the duty of prosecuting officers to guard against the introduction of incompetent evidence. Over-prosecution of the accused should not be permitted by the trial court. In the instant case the district attorney insisted at great length upon introduction into evidence of testimony which is uniformly held to be incompetent, in an unbroken line of authorities throughout the nation.   . 339 P. 2 d, at pp. 999, 1000.