Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Rachel Dissell of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Alison Floyd has ordered the victims in four sexual assault cases to submit to polygraph “testing.” In addition, Floyd has ordered the perpetrators of the assaults, who have already been found guilty, to submit to polygraph tests for sentencing purposes. It …
Basing her decision in part on polygraph evidence admitted at trial against the prosecutor’s objection, Summit County Common Pleas Judge Judy Hunter on Monday, 20 August 2007 found Sahil Sharma of New York City innocent of felony sexual battery and two misdemeanor charges. While the text of Judge Hunter’s decision is not yet available, AntiPolygraph.org …
A report about Computer Voice Stress Analysis (CVSA) on the website of Central Ohio television station WBNS (“Tool Catches Fibbing Suspects”) concludes by mentioning that the Special Forces are using CVSA to interrogate suspected terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan. The entire report is reproduced here: More and more police departments in Ohio are turning to …
L. Roberson reports for the central Ohio Chillicothe Gazette: It’s his job to distinguish fact from fiction. Forget the darting eyes or nervous twitch — Tony Wheaton has another way to determine when a suspect is lying. He straps them to a machine and charts each time their heart skips a beat. After more than …
Christopher Bobby reports for the Warren, Ohio Tribune Chronicle. Excerpt: WARREN – Murder defendant Gentry Freeman has agreed to take a polygraph exam that his attorney says could free him. Common Pleas Judge Andrew Logan authorized the agreement last week between prosecutors and defense attorney Sarah Kovoor. The test will be administered sometime Wednesday by …
Akron, Ohio Beacon Journal staff writer Julie Wallace reports. Excerpt: A Summit County Board of Elections employee quizzed as part of a probe into a candidate’s missing petitions failed two polygraph tests after admitting using drugs and alcohol before the tests, law enforcement officials said. Several sources familiar with the investigation identified the employee — …
Akron, Ohio Beacon Journal staff writer Lisa A. Abraham reports. Excerpt: The chairman of the Summit County Board of Elections wants all board members to take polygraph tests voluntarily to protect the board’s integrity. Russell Pry made the suggestion at a board meeting Tuesday night. The county Democratic Party chairman said he would put a …
Beacon Journal staff writer Craig Webb reports in an article titled, “Falls police dispatcher loses job.” Excerpt: The Cuyahoga Falls police dispatcher whose allegations about her bosses led to a major departmental shake-up is no longer on the job. Mayor Don Robart said Tuesday that Kathleen M. Ball was fired as the result of a …
Beacon Journal staff writer Julie Wallace reports. Excerpt: The investigation into the missing petitions at the Summit County Board of Elections has moved to a new level — lie-detector tests. This week, investigators from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office started picking employees from the roughly 35 full-timers and 21 part-timers and asking them to submit …
Phil Trexler of the Beacon Journal reports on the exoneration of Jimmy “Spunk” Willams, who was wrongfully convicted of raping a child, in an article titled “A wrong is officially righted.” Williams was convicted in part on the basis of his having failed a polygraph “test.” Excerpt: Further harming Williams’ case was an agreement between …