Polygraph Evidence NOT Admissible in Court docket

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Polygraph Evidence NOT Admissible in Court docket
A Circuit Court docket choose on Monday ruled that the attorneys for a gentleman accused of taking pictures an off-responsibility Norfolk police officer in 2010 won’t be authorized to submit polygraph examination final results as evidence.

The ruling is in line with a 1998 U.S. Supreme Court docket selection that upheld bans on polygraph evidence, Choose Stephen C. Mahan mentioned in court docket. Virginia’s Principles of Evidence do not enable it.

Attorneys David Bouchard and Jennifer Stanton filed a motion before this month asking Mahan to reconsider the ban. They also questioned in court docket for a hearing to decide the trustworthiness of polygraph examination final results. Bouchard mentioned the assessments are supported by science.

“I feel it’s an concern which is ripe for thing to consider,” he mentioned in court docket. “It’s an concern that wants to be resolved, and the scientific local community wants to have a element in it.”

Their customer, 22-12 months-outdated Raymond Perry, took a polygraph examination this summer season, declaring he did not shoot off-responsibility Norfolk police Officer Victor Decker around the former Atlantis Gentleman’s Club the morning of Oct. 26, 2010, according to a polygraph assessment report filed with the court docket. He also mentioned he wasn’t existing for the robbery and taking pictures around the Oceana Boulevard club, according to the report, which decided Perry was telling the fact.

Bouchard and Stanton will probably charm Mahan’s selection. The polygraph final results are an essential element of Perry’s proper to defend himself, Bouchard argued.

“It’s like the Supreme Court docket declaring that we’re not likely to enable DNA,” Bouchard mentioned. “It’s improper.”

The Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Place of work is searching for the demise penalty for Perry, who’s charged with funds murder, very first-degree murder, robbery and two counts of making use of a firearm.

Perry’s attorneys are functioning to get demise off the table, which includes persuading Mahan on Monday to appoint and approve funds to pay out for a neuropsychologist to consider Perry. Stanton mentioned they feel he is ineligible for the demise penalty since of his IQ stage.

Point out regulation does not enable execution of folks who are mentally disabled, described as a person who, just before the age of 18, has “significantly subaverage intellectual functioning” and “significant constraints in adaptive habits.” Stanton mentioned a neuropsychologist will be capable to make that willpower for Perry.

Perry has a violent felony file relationship to the age of 10, according to federal court docket data. He is at present serving a 97-12 months federal prison sentence for a string of robberies listed here and in North Carolina fully commited the month just before Decker’s slaying.

A jury trial is scheduled for February, but Perry’s attorneys have requested a continuance. A new trial date has not been set.