Court Opinion

ID: 9735439
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 18:15:29.138407+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:58.666948
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE CHAPMAN, dissenting: I cannot agree that reference to the polygraph was harmless. The polygraph evidence was admitted through the testimony of John Clutter and Diana King, and portions of that evidence directly concerned the defendant. Although testimony that a coconspirator had taken the polygraph examination does not mean defendant had either taken or failed the test (People v. Poliquin (1981), 97 Ill. App. 3d 122, 132, 421 N.E.2d 1362, 1370), given the circumstances of this case the implication that defendant had taken the test was put before the jury. John Clutter’s testimony that defendant informed him how to pass the test and that polygraph examinations were easy suggests that defendant had taken the test. There is also the logical implication that because defendant advised Clutter how to take the test, it was defendant who advised him to state during the examination that Clutter knew nothing about the fire. The problem in this case is that we have no way of knowing the extent to which the jury was affected by the knowledge of the polygraph examinations and the reasonable inferences flowing from the polygraph testimony. (See People v. Yarbrough (1982), 93 Ill. 2d 421, 426, 444 N.E.2d 493, 495.) While the effect upon the jury of the polygraph evidence may have been subtle and unconscious, it was at the same time potent. People v. Taylor (1984), 101 Ill. 2d 377, 393, 462 N.E.2d 478, 485. The polygraph evidence in this case went beyond a demonstration of the fact that the witnesses had taken a polygraph and the results of their exams. Subtle suggestions that the defendant had taken a polygraph were admitted. Further, there was an implication of defendant’s guilt when Clutter testified that the defendant advised him how to pass the examination. The supreme court has held that the prejudicial effect of polygraph evidence substantially outweighs its probative value because no other form of evidence is as likely to be considered as completely determinative of guilt or innocence as a polygraph examination. (People v. Baynes (1981), 88 Ill. 2d 225, 244, 430 N.E.2d 1070, 1079.) The use of the polygraph evidence in this case necessarily interfered with the integrity of the judicial process, and its use requires reversal regardless of the weight of the other evidence. See People v. Thomas (1984), 123 Ill. App. 3d 857, 867, 463 N.E.2d 832, 840.