Madison Press staff writer Steve Smith reports. Excerpt:
LONDON — A young man facing up to eight years in prison will have an opportunity to avoid that sentence if a polygraph examination shows he is telling the truth about his involvement in the theft of a crossbow from a West Jefferson garage.
Beau A. Stephenson, 18, of 707 W. Main St., West Jefferson, was indicted on a second degree felony charge of burglary. The theft occurred in March and West Jefferson police were contacted in April after the bow was sold to another West Jefferson man for $50. Police Lt. Rodney Chenos contacted experts and discovered that the bow, which was returned to police on April 9, was worth $632.
Stephenson claims that although he sold the crossbow, he did not enter the garage and steal it, Assistant Prosecutor Eamon Costello said during a hearing Monday in Madison County Common Pleas Court.
Costello said Stephenson was offered a chance to take a polygraph exam and he agreed. Costello asked Judge Robert D. Nichols to postpone Stephenson’s trial until after an Aug. 2 examination at the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
“If Mr. Stephenson passes the polygraph, it is our intention to offer him a fifth degree felony — receiving stolen property” in a plea bargain, Costello said. That charge would carry a penalty of 12 months in prison. If he fails the state will continue to pursue the second degree felony.
Prosecutors should not make decisions on what charges to bring against a defendant based on the outcome of pseudoscientific polygraph “tests.” It is fair neither to the suspect nor to the victim.