Tom Squitieri and Kevin Johnson report for USA Today. Excerpt:
WASHINGTON – The parents of a missing government intern want Rep. Gary Condit to take a lie-detector test now that the California congressman has reversed himself and admitted he had an affair with their daughter. Billy Martin, a lawyer for the parents of Chandra Levy, will call for a polygraph test today, said a spokesman from Martin’s office. “The family is concerned about whether the congressman is giving investigators the full and complete story regarding his relationship with their daughter, as well as what he might know about the last days before she disappeared,” spokesman Michael Frisby said.
Rep. Gary Condit would be wise to reject any offer to take a polygraph “test” — whether or not he has given investigators the full and complete story. Passing will not remove suspicion, but failing a polygraph “test” (which has an inherent bias against truthful persons) will be highly prejudicial. By the same token, considering that polygraph “tests” are easily beaten through the use of simple countermeasures that polygraphers cannot detect (see Chapters 3 & 4 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector), the Levy family’s legitimate doubts should not be dispelled by Rep. Condit submitting to and passing a polygraph interrogation. The answers the Levy family seeks are not to be found in polygraph charts.