Although I am by no means one to support a individual with the reputation of Skeeter Kerkove, I still find myself having to ask the question...

Is it possible he passed the polygraph examination because he told the truth about the issue at hand??

In yet another self-lauditory press release ("Polygraph Test Clears Prisoner," 30 August 2005), Lou Rovner repeats his unsupported claim that almost no one can beat a polygraph "test." Rovner also maintains that "[w]hen a polygraph test is conducted properly, the results are accurate as much as 96% of the time." Of course, it might also be said that palm readings are accurate as much as 96% of the time when conducted properly: when they turn out to be wrong, well, they obviously weren't conducted properly.

Dr. Rovner apparently chose not to issue a press release regarding another recent client, pornographer Arland Dale "Skeeter" Kerkove, a director whose films include such titles  as 2 Anal 4 U, Skeeter Kerkove's Teen Patrol, and Shitty Shitty Bang Bang. According to the website AdultFYI.com, Kerkove, whose ex-wife, Bridgette Kerkove, had accused him of sexually abusing their young daughter, passed a polygraph "test" administered by Dr. Rovner. Kerkove reportedly dubbed Rovner, "one of the king ding-dongs in the United States." I guess that's supposed to be a compliment.


One wonders whether foreknowledge the results of the medical examinations might have influenced the outcome of Dr. Rovner's "test?"

http://www.adultfyi.com/read.aspx?ID=10894

7/29/2005         
15:24 PM PST

Skeeter Kerkove Takes Lie Detector Test-final passes with flying colors; was Skeeter framed?
     
--Gene Ross

Porn Valley- Someone may be lying but it's not Skeeter Kerkove. This morning Skeeter took a two hour lie detector test that covered a number of questions including whether he had sexually molested his 2 1/2 year old daughter as has been charged by Metro contract director Bridgette Kerkove.

Skeeter, who was tested by one of the top three polygraph experts in the country, passed the test with flying colors. But it's only the latest victory in a series of legal battles that Skeeter has been waging with his former wife. Earlier this month, authorities uncovered the whereabouts of Shalaura Lee Hartwell, Skeeter's first wife, whom Metro contract director Kerkove claimed Skeeter killed and later disposed of the body. www.adultfyi.com/read.aspx?ID=10478.

Hartwell has been found living in Ceritos. And there was yet another Metro contract director Kerkove allegation proved false- the one in which she charged that Skeeter on June 11, 2003 made death threats against her. Metro contract director Kerkove filed a police report at the Devonshire Police station.

Kerkove said Skeeter had also assaulted her, and offered her face as proof. Except, Metro contract director Kerkove received plastic surgery the same day from Dr. Randall Higbee Hayworth in Beverly Hills in which she got an upper lip reduction which required cutting, stitches and fat injection into her nose. Police verified that procedure, and Metro contract director Kerkove later admitted that she was high on Vicodin at the time she made those allegations and that she was put up to it by her mother Debbie Felkel.

Then about two weeks ago, Metro director Kerkove made more comments about Skeeter in the presence of a number of witnesses. In a conversation, Metro director Kerkove stated that she was planning on taking Skeeter out with a shotgun if he ever walked through her door again. Director Kerkove also claimed that she had deputy sheriffs at her home seven nights a week from dusk till dawn in the event that Skeeter came around. Kerkove claimed that she was given a shotgun for protection so she could splatter her ex-husband who's now seeing Kelly Wells.

This morning's round of questioning was at Skeeter's request. According to Skeeter, the procedure is a far cry from the TV depiction. "It's done with computers and a thing that goes around your stomach," he says. "Another thing goes around your chest and they measure the sweat on the fingertips of your left hand. Your blood pressure is taken the entire time. It's videotaped and audio'ed."

The passing score is 6 but Skeeter's final score came between 11 and 13. If a judge accepts this in a court room, he accepts a passing score of six, according to what Skeeter was told. Skeeter was also told that his body is an easy read and that people do respond differently to the test. Also determined in the test was the fact that Skeeter's probability of deception is .01- as low as it goes.

"It's really wonderful," said Skeeter stating that he was also hit with character questions he didn't expect. "They resulted in me crying. I had no idea it was going to be this extensive." Skeeter was told that it would take 3 to 4 hours to assemble the entire report on the test, and if given the go ahead, will make the contents of the test public information. Skeeter says the guy who administered the test gives seminars around the country. "He teaches students how to beat his lie detector test and they can't beat him. That's why he's one of the king ding-dongs in the United States. This guy is real cool. He warned me that I might not like the results, but if I was lying he'd know it."

Skeeter was also told there was a confidentiality agreement and no one would see the test unless Skeeter gave the say-so. Skeeter is giving the say-so. "He told me this in advance on video," says Skeeter. "But I go regardless of what happens, I want it on the Internet. I want authorities to see this. Then he videotaped me running down the events that happened that night."

Metro contract director Kerkove claims that Skeeter molested his youngest daughter on April 25. Except Kerkove didn't report the incident to police until April 27. Phone records also show that Metro director Kerkove was in constant contact with a Metro employee during that period and Skeeter wants to get to the bottom of that to determine if it had any relevance to his being framed. Subsequent head-to-toe examinations at two hospitals show that Skeeter's daughter had not been touched, sexually, and that any redness in her vaginal area was consistent with diaper rash.

Most Sheriffs and Police Departments use polygraph testing on an ongoing basis, as well as the FBI, CIA, NSA, DOE and many other federal and state agencies. They use it to determine whether a suspect is likely to be guilty or innocent.

Unfortunately, there are some people who want to make a profit by making law enforcement’s job harder.

When Williams states that you can learn to sting the polygraph, he means that you can learn to fool it, to make the polygraph think that you’re not lying when you actually are. 

You’re probably already thinking that innocent people aren’t interested in stinging the polygraph. They don’t want to fool the instrument. They want it to confirm their innocence. ...
He is, in essence, saying to those who are guilty of crimes, [or to those who are truly innocent] “Let me help you get away with it. Let me help you conceal your crime and fool the authorities.” This is not exactly what most of us would characterize as a noble calling.

Mr. Williams tells us three things about the polygraph that he 
“knows to be true”: 

(1) The polygraph test has a built-in bias against a truthful person, 

(2) It is certainly not capable of determining truth or deception, and 

(3) It can be beaten rather easily. 

Now, I don’t know how good an examiner Mr. Williams was when he was a police officer, nor do I know what other examiners thought about the quality of his work. However, I do know that no competent polygraph examiner in the world would agree with any of his three statements. 

No examiner wants to call a truthful person a liar, any more than he would want to send an innocent person to prison.

We all know that the polygraph instrument does not determine truth or deception. The polygraph examiner comes to a conclusion of truthfulness or deception by careful analysis of the polygraph charts.

Your department should not make policy decisions about any aspect of polygraph use based on Williams’ claims.

One last thing. On his web site, Mr. Williams presents numerous testimonials from people who claim to have “stung” the polygraph after having read his pamphlet. Curiously, none of these peoples’ names appear with the testimonials. I wonder why not. Don’t you? 

Dear Dr. Rovner,

In a Rovner & Associates press release distributed today by PR Newswire, you are quoted as saying that "[a]lmost no human being can beat a polygraph test." I challenge you to support this claim with any peer-reviewed research (or any other evidence on which you may base it). In peer reviewed studies by Charles R. Honts and collaborators, some 50% of polygraph subjects were able to beat the polygraph with no more than 30 minutes of instruction. (Citations and abstracts are provided in the bibliography of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector.) Moreover, spies like Ignatz Theodor Griebl, Karel Frantisek Koecher, Larry Wu-tai Chin, Aldrich Hazen Ames, and Ana Belen Montes all passed the polygraph while lying about relevant issues. So, too, did Gary Ridgway, A.K.A. "The Green River Killer," the deadliest serial murderer in U.S. history. The results of the aforementioned research, and the real world examples provided, are hard to reconcile with your assertion that "almost no human being can beat a polygraph test."

Your press release additionally avers that "lie detection technology has become so sophisticated that a polygraph can now detect a person's efforts to try to beat the test." On what basis do you make this claim? I am not aware of any peer-reviewed research (or indeed, any published research at all) that would support this conclusion.

Finally, you also claim that you "are confident that polygraph tests have a 96% accuracy rate when done properly." If you truly believe this, and are confident in your ability to do a polygraph test properly,  why not accept Dr. Drew C. Richardson's standing polygraph countermeasure challenge? As of today, this challenge has gone 1,001 days without takers.

Sincerely,

George W. Maschke
AntiPolygraph.org

PS: A copy of this message will be posted to the AntiPolygraph.org message board.