I have now watched the Dr. Phil lie detector series that aired on 6-7 November 2006 and think a few points are worthy of note. First, it appears that Howard Swabash polygraphed Jeremy after he had already passed Krista Mehl and her mother, Bonnie Dyjasek. The results of those examinations would have tended to bias the outcome of Jeremy Park's polygraph result.
Second, it seems odd that Krista was apparently polygraphed sitting in a normal, hotel room chair:
Krista in normal chair
but Jeremy was polygraphed in a more traditional polygraph chair with flat armrests:
Jeremy in polygraph seat with flat wooden armrests
In the episode that aired on 6 Nov., it is revealed that Howard Swabash believed that Jeremy employed polygraph countermeasures. Here is a partial transcript:
Polygrapher Howard Swabash
Quote:Dr. Phil: Now in the audience is licensed forensic polygraphist and investigator Howard Swabash. Now, sex offender testing is one of his specialties. He is a former Michigan State Police polygraph examiner with twenty years of lie-detecting experience. You believe that these tests are fair and accurate and highly reliable given the instrumentation that you've used and the protocol that you've used, correct?
Howard Swabash: Yes sir.
Dr. Phil: Now Howard you first determined that Jeremy had not smoked marijuana or taken any illegal drugs 24 hours before the test, correct?
Howard Swabash: That's correct.
Dr. Phil: And we had all the results double-checked by a independent review board, correct?
Howard Swabash: Yes sir.
Dr. Phil: We took your protocols, your printouts, your procedures, everything, had it reviewed by independent people --
Howard Swabash: Yes sir, that's correct.
Dr. Phil: -- at that point. Now, I noticed that you were telling Jeremy to be still during this and stop moving around. Ah, what was going on there?
Howard Swabash: What I was doing at that point was I wanted to make sure that he did not employ any countermeasures to defeat the test.
Dr. Phil: Were you concerned that you were seeing some countermeasures?
Howard Swabash: Yes sir, I was.
Dr. Phil: And you can learn these things, what, where, by going to the Internet? What--?
Howard Swabash: Yes, there's at least one thousand sites on the Internet that teaches people how to beat polygraph, but what people don't know is that I read those sites, and I also go to federal and state institutions to learn how to counteract countermeasures, so I've been taught how to do that.
Dr. Phil: In your opinion, were you observing countermeasure efforts on Jeremy's part?
Howard Swabash: Yes I was.
Dr. Phil: So you think he was attempting to defeat the test?
Howard Swabash: Yes sir.
Dr. Phil (to Jeremy): Is that true?
Jeremy: Huh. I wouldn't... Like I said, I wouldn't have any idea how to do that.
Dr. Phil: Do you have access to a computer?
Jeremy: At the library, yeah.
Dr. Phil: Do you know how to use a computer?
Jeremy: Ah, I know how to get on the e-mail, that's about it.
Dr. Phil: Do you have an e-mail address that is analbastard@[redacted].com?
Jeremy: Yeah, I do.
Dr. Phil: All right. (Holds up a sealed manila envelope with Jeremy's polygraph results.) I'm gonna read 'em when we come back.
[A video montage from the polygraph examination includes Howard Swabash saying: "I read Jeremy as being a very manipulative person, very theatrical. He seemed to be crying for a few seconds and then the tears went away.]
Dr. Phil: Well, in my hand I hold Jeremy's lie detector results. A study published in February of 2006 by Johns Hopkins University says that results using this instrumentation and software, properly administered, has a 92% accuracy rate.
[Results are read, Jeremy failed 4 out of 5 relevant questions, discussion ensues]
Dr. Phil holding Jeremy's polygraph results
Here are the relevant questions that Jeremy was asked:
1. Have you ever put your tongue into Kaylee's mouth while kissing her?
2. Have you ever touched Kaylee's vagina for your own sexual gratification?
3. Do you know for sure how Kaylee's labia became torn?
4. Have you ever put your penis or anything else into Kaylee's vagina?
5. Have you ever taken pictures of Kaylee's bare vaginal area or buttocks?
During a video montage from Jeremy's polygraph examination, only one of the "control" questions asked was revealed.
"Have you ever done anything that you're ashamed of that you can think of right now?"
Dr. Phil doesn't explain to the audience that polygraph "tests" are scored by comparing reactions to relevant questions with reactions to "control" questions to which the examinee is secretly expected to lie. It is not hard to imagine that any father wrongly accused of sexually molesting his three-year old daughter might well react more strongly when answering any of the above five emotionally charged relevant questions truthfully than when deceptively answering a "control" question such as the one above.
Quote:Dr. Phil (to Jeremy): ... Did you attempt to evade this test or defeat this test with what our examiner calls countermeasures?
Jeremy: No.
Dr. Phil: So, you didn't move around, you didn't hold your breath, you didn't... (addressing Howard Swabash) What did you observe?
Howard Swabash: I observed a couple things. Number one is, when he was breathing, he'd breathe different. He'd pant for a while and then he'd take long, deep breaths, and start panting for a while. He was moving around in the chair when I told him to remain still and quiet, and also I put two finger platelets on his fingertips and he was always manipulating his fingers.
Dr. Phil: And that's what you read if you Google up "beat a polygraph," it tells you to do those things.
Howard Swabash: Yes sir, it does.
Dr. Phil: But you didn't attempt to defeat the test?
Jeremy: No.
Jeremy's behaviors that Howard Swabash characterized as "countermeasures" are things that no one who understands polygraph procedure would ever do. And if you "Google up" (as Dr. Phil puts it) "beat a polygraph," the first result returned is AntiPolygraph.org. We certainly do not suggest such things as panting, deep breaths, and fidgeting as polygraph countermeasures. If Jeremy did these things, it seems a pretty good indication that he was telling the truth when he said he "wouldn't have any idea" how to defeat a polygraph test.
Howard Swabash also appears in the segment that aired the following day (which was taped on the same day as the previous segment). Toward the end, Dr. Phil questions him:
Quote:Dr. Phil: You have no doubt.
Howard Swabash: No doubt at all.
Dr. Phil: You have no doubt that he is molesting his daughter.
Howard Swabash: No sir.
Dr. Phil: And you base that on his results, but also his test behavior.
Howard Swabash: Many years of experience dealing with people who are sexual predators.
Dr. Phil: Uh, and, you know from twenty years of experience dealing with it, well more, but testing 'em for that long, you know that the kind of high-horse arrogant behavior here is also very indicative of---
Howard Swabash: Correct.
Dr. Phil: --those people. So, is there another possibility? Frankly, there is. You can never be sure unless you, you just keep piling up data. I think we're making a responsible run at it, and I appreciate you--
Howard Swabash: Thank you very much.
Dr. Phil: --and thank you for your time and effort.
So here we have an admission by Howard Swabash that he uses non-polygraphic data in reaching his conclusions. I must disagree with Dr. Phil's notion that relying on such quackery as lie detectors constitutes "making a responsible run" at determining the truth.
Finally, at the very end of the show, Dr. Phil appears alone with an announcement:
Dr. Phil makes a last minute announcement
Quote:Dr. Phil: Since taping this program, Jeremy took another lie detector test, one that he did pass, which raises more questions. We've been following this family, and we will have everyone back here to continue our quest to uncover the truth and protect this precious child.