contradictory questions?

[chicbette]

My fiance was falsely accused of threatening someone by flashing a gun at them.  He is on probation for an entirely non-violent crime, but his probation officer asked him to take a polygraph to "prove" his innocence of these allegations.  (Incidentally, the accusation was made by someone who is trying to extort money from us - he placed a laughably fraudulent lien on our commercial property, and has a sum for which he told an acquiantance he would "go away.")  There are video tapes of the incident from several security cameras, and even though we have begged and pleaded with the police to obtain and view the tapes, the probabtion officer preferred that my guy make it easy on him and spend the $500 to take a polygraph.  

Anyway, he VOLUNTARILY took this test, and flunked it.  (Prior to this, he truly believed the poly could prove his innocence)  Now here's the catch - the examiner asked the following relevant questions:  DId you threaten MR. X with a gun on the day in question?  (polygraph indicated he was lying)  DId you drive by such and such a place waving a gun on the day in question?  (Polygraph indicated he was lying)  Did you have a gun in your possession at any time during that day?  (Polygraph indicated his "no" response was truthful.)

If we are to assume that the polygraph is 100% accurate, how could he have threatened someone with a gun, driven by waving a gun, if he did not have a gun in his possession at any time?  Contradictory Questions!!!  Anyway, the examiner told the probation officer that he flunked the polygraph, mumbling something about his opinion that he was ascertained to be lying on more questions than he was truthful on.  

Incidentally, my nervous-by-nature guy was so stressed out during the whole, gruelling process that his vision blurred.

So...any advice on where to go from here?  Do you suggest another polygraph to contest these results?  
FYI although a poly is not admissable in court if charged w/a crime, it IS admissable if charged w/a probation violation.  This could send him to prison for something he did not do.  

[George W. Maschke]

chicbette,

If you haven't already done so, I suggest that you download The Lie Behind the Lie Detector and proceed directly to Chapter 3, which explains the tenuous assumptions on which polygraph "testing" depends, and how truth versus deception is actually inferred in a polygraph "test." (It ain't science.)

All your fiance's "failing" means is that he reacted more strongly when answering accusatory relevant questions like, "Did you threaten MR. X with a gun on the day in question?" than when answering so-called "control" questions like, "Did you ever lie to get out of trouble?"

I think it would be foolhardy for your fiance to try to prove his innocence with yet another polygraph "test." A more sensible approach it seems would be to have the video surveillance tapes reviewed. But at this stage, I think your fiance needs the counsel of a good criminal defense lawyer.