Court Opinion

ID: 9625015
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:24:51.370963+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:06:38.291749
License: Public Domain

Jordan, Justice,
dissenting.
The law has been settled for years in Georgia that results of polygraph tests are inadmissible and without probative value. This is based on the lack of scientific proof of the accuracy and reliability of such tests. Now, without any scientific authority or other rational basis, this court would open the door for the admissibility of such tests. While some jurisdictions have arrived at the same result, the rule in most jurisdictions comports with the Georgia view. See Stack v. State, 234 Ga. 19, 21 (214 SE2d 514).
There is simply no "lie detector,” machine or human. The first recorded lie detector test was in ancient India where a suspect was required to enter a darkened room and touch the tail of a donkey. If the donkey brayed when his tail was touched the suspect was declared guilty, otherwise he was released. Modern science has substituted a metal electronic box for the donkey but the results remain just as haphazard and inconclusive.
The state should not be able to convict nor the defendant to gain acquittal on the basis of such tests, even though both are willing to stipulate its admissibility.
I respectfully dissent.