Court Opinion

ID: 9536189
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 06:56:04.192854+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:28.806744
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE SHEA
concurring in the foregoing dissent:
I agree with Justice Sheehy that the trial court should have granted a change of venue and I would reverse this case with the proviso that the case be tried in another county.
*431While I do not feel that the self-defense instructions submitted by the State and adopted by the court, were erroneous when taken as a whole, they were not model instructions by any means and I would not recommend that they be used again. The State is engaging in the practice of gilding the lily and this can only lead to unfortunate reversals if the practice is continued.
I believe, furthermore, that the polygraph examination results should have been admitted in evidence, and that it was a reversible error not to do so. It is unfair to the extreme for the State to insist on a polygraph examination, and after the witness has taken one, to resist its admission in evidence. For whatever value the polygraph results would have had to the jury, they should have been admitted. I note in this regard that the time has come when the courts should not be so rigid in their steadfast resistance to the use of polygraph examination results. With proper restraints, polygraph test results can be a valuable aid in the fact-finding process.