Washington Times staff writers Jabeen Bhatti and John Drake report. Excerpt:
D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey called a private lie-detector test given to Rep. Gary A. Condit worthless, saying the police department has finished examining the test and has turned it over to the FBI.
The District’s top police official said yesterday that the test “doesn’t mean anything” and expressed doubts on whether police will be able to determine the validity of the exam.
Because police researchers have little more than a graph that can’t be associated with any specific question, there is no way of knowing if the question administered was “Are your shoes black?” or “Did you kill Chandra Levy?” he said.
Mr. Condit’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, revealed last week that the California Democrat paid for and took a lie-detector test that he passed. But neither police nor the FBI were allowed to participate. Police officials have said they want the congressman to undergo a polygraph administered by the FBI, but they have no legal leverage to force him to submit to one.
“If they chose to do it this way, well then, they chose to do it this way,” said department spokesman Sgt. Joe Gentile. “The FBI is going over it now. But the test wasn’t administered by law enforcement. It is worthless.”
Billy Martin, the attorney for the Levy family, challenged Mr. Condit weeks ago to take the polygraph.
Mr. Condit’s private test won’t satisfy him or Miss Levy’s parents, said their spokesman, Michael Frisby.
“Mr. Martin and the family are looking for him to come forward and satisfy what the police need to do, so that they can move on with their investigation,” Mr. Frisby said. “Unfortunately, him going off and taking a private lie-detector test doesn’t come close to satisfying that.”