Here is an unofficial transcript of the polygraph portion of the Dr. Phil episode, "Did He or Didn't He?" that aired on 4 April 2007, along with some frame grabs: ---begin transcript---
Dr. Phil: Steven Junior wants to prove his innocence to his family once and for all. He suggested to us that he take a lie detector test, so we set it up for him. We're going to find out what happened when wecome back.
Dr. Phil: Steven Junior is being accused by Pam, his step-mother, and Tashika, his step-sister, of inappropriately touching Julia, Tashika's then three-year-old daughter. It supposedly happened five years ago, and it has ripped this family apart since that time. He says he is 100% innocent and wants to prove it. He suggested -- he volunteered -- to take a lie detector test to clear his name. So yesterday, former FBI agent and polygraph examiner Jack Trimarco administered a lie detector test to Steven for nearly two hours to try and uncover the truth.
Steven (to the camera): I had volunteered actually to take the polygraph. I am looking forward to proving to Pam and Tashika that I did not touch Julia inappropriately.
Jack Trimarco: So you're here to take a polygraph test.
Steven: Yes I am.
Trimarco: All right! One hundred percent truth?
Steve: Yes.
100% truth? But the polygraph "test" itself depends
on the unspoken assumption that even an innocent examinee will be
less than 100% truthful when answering the "control" questions.
Trimarco: All right.
[video montage of beginning of polygraph sequence, Trimarco connects polygraph attachments]
Trimarco: Palm up, and here we go.
Trimarco: Regarding if you ever touched Julia for sexual purposes, do you intend to be completely truthful with me about that?
Steven: Yes.
The "test" begins...
Trimarco: Are you sometimes known as Steven?
Steven: Yes.
Cardio reactions visible at bottom of chart
Trimarco: Have you ever touched Julia for sexual purposes?
Steven: No.
Another glimpse of a chart with cardio reactions...
(End of polygraph sequence)
Trimarco (to camera): I've never seen anything like it. I would say in twenty-seven hundred tests both with the FBI and in the private sector, I've never seen a cardio wave form that is so dramatically explosive.
Jack Trimarco mystified by "explosive" reactions. Was the examinee farting?
(Back in the studio)
Dr. Phil: Were you truthful?
Steven: Yes, I was.
Dr. Phil: Did you ... try to beat the test, deceive the test in any way?
Steven: No.
Dr. Phil: Do you think you were fairly treated by the examiner?
Steven: Yes.
Dr. Phil: Jack, you've been doing this for how many years?
Trimarco: Uh, since 1990, Dr. Phil.
Dr. Phil: You said you saw an "explosive" cardio measure on the chart. Tell me what you saw.
Dr. Phil suspects countermeasures...
Trimarco: Well, the responsibility of Steven or any examinee is to breathe normally and try not to move. If there's any type of movement during the exam, it'll show up on the charts as distortion. Now that doesn't impact the test, we just continue on. However, what I saw with Steven was consistent internal disruption. In other words, there was a major muscle group, or several, at play which was causing those charts to be unreadable.
Dr. Phil: So he was moving.
Trimarco: He was moving, but it was an internal movement, because I was watching him. I was looking for the feet. I was looking at his hands. I was looking at all his externals, and there was no movement apparent. But on those charts, it was very apparent.
Dr. Phil: So are you telling me that the test is compromised?
Trimarco: The test is --
Dr. Phil: It has artifacts -- it has artifact [sic] in it that make the charts unreadable.
Trimarco: Consistent artifact [sic] -- anomalies... It just couldn't be read. No determination of truth or deception could be made.
Dr. Phil: All right. Now you've been doing this for a long time, and you and I both know that people come in, and they try to beat a polygraph test. In your professional opinion, is that what was going on here? Was he trying to defeat this test?
Trimarco: No, I don't believe so. I believe that physiologically Steven has a condition and, of course I can't diagnose one -- I'm not a doctor -- but as a polygraph examiner, based on those charts and what I was seeing, he's got a physiological condition which will cause this issue to not be solved by polygraph testing. Not just by me, but by any polygraph examiner.
Is Steven Junior an explosively reactive physiological freak?
Or is Jack Trimarco playing it safe by declining to make a pass/fail call, or to accuse
Steven Junior of using countermeasures, when his gut tells him that he's innocent?
Dr. Phil: When we come back, I'm going to ask Jack his opinion of the guilt or innocence of Steven Junior, and I'm going to ask him
because this man is a skilled interrogator. He has done this for years and years. He's talked to those that are guilty. He's talked to those that are innocent. We don't have a polygraph chart, but I
am going to get an opinion. I'm also going to say very soon what I think's going on here. We'll be right back.
Dr. Phil: For the past five years, Pam and her husband Steve have been battling over whether or not Steve's son molested Pamela's then three-year-old granddaughter Julia. Steven Junior volunteered to take a polygraph and showed up willingly at the test, but they weren't able to obtain results of any guilt or innocence because of a disruptive internal reaction that negated the test. (Addressing Steven Junior) Now, did you try and beat this test?
Steven: No, I did not.
Dr. Phil (addressing Jack Trimarco): You say that when you ask him to -- you said he kind of was fidgety and nervous -- when you asked him to be still, he did so.
Trimarco: He did.
Dr. Phil: But yet the disruption continued, which causes you -- it was not something you'd physically see -- you think it's something internal.
Trimarco: Internal.
Dr. Phil: Physiological.
Trimarco: Physiological, perhaps neurological, perhaps with major muscle groups, or perhaps behavioral. In other words, there is a possibility that he was causing these things. However, again, I don't think that that was the case. I think he's got a physiological condition.
Dr. Phil: What's your gut tell you about this young man?
Trimarco: In that context, with a child's safety on the line, I won't stick my neck out that way. But I will say, when I spoke with Steven, he answered my questions directly, and spontaneously, which would lend [sic] me to believe that he was preparing to tell the truth. He didn't hesitate, and he didn't in any way equivocate about Julia, about the testing. That always gives me a good feeling.
Dr. Phil: You, you've done tests before with people that have attempted to defeat the test.
Trimarco: Oh, absolutely.
Dr. Phil: And you didn't see that conduct or behavior here.
Trimarco: This was just too much. If a person's going to
try to compromise the polygraph test, they're going to try nuances, they're going to try subtleties. They're going to try to make me believe that they're telling the truth when in fact they're lying. This was just a -- an explosive polygraph chart that negated the test, so there was never a question of truth or innocence. It was just "Can we continue with this? Will it clear up?" And of course, it never did.
---end transcript---