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Polygraph Litigation

Recent polygraph litigation provides vivid documentation of polygraph abuse. If you have documents from polygraph-related litigation that you think should be included on this page, contact AntiPolygraph.org.

  • Ciralsky v. CIA, et al. filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Former CIA laywer Adam J. Ciralsky was fired after "failing" an allegedly rigged CIA polygraph "test." This complaint documents CIA polygraph abuse and ethno-religious profiling.
     
  • U.S. v. Dixon Case 1:12-cr-00521-LO in the Eastern District of Virginia. On 17 December 2012, Chad Dixon of Marion, Indiana entered a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney, pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of obstruction of an agency proceeding in connection with his business activity teaching people how to pass polygraph examinations. The teaching of polygraph countermeasures has not previously been construed as a crime in the United States. Sentencing is scheduled for 6 September 2013 at 09:00 AM in Alexandria Courtroom 700 before District Judge Liam O'Grady. The following are the publicly available filings in this case, which was originally under seal:
     
  • Grogan v. Paolella, et al. Case No. BC391778 in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles, Central District. Polygraph examiner John L. Grogan seeks damages in excess of one million dollars for defamation from polygraphers Joseph Paolella, Jack Trimarco, Ralph Hilliard, and twenty John Does. Selected case documents are provided below:
     
    • Complaint (324 kb PDF) of plaintiff John Leo Grogan filed 30 May 2008
       
    • Motion to Strike (2.5 mb PDF) of defendant Joseph Paolella filed 27 June 2008
       
    • Declaration (908 kb PDF) of Jack Trimarco in Support of Motion to Strike Complaint for Defamation, Invasion of Privacy (False Light), and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress filed 6 August 2008
       
    • Memorandum of Points and Authorities (752 kb PDF) in Support of John Trimarco A.K.A. Jack Trimarco and Jack Trimarco & Associates Polygraph/Investigations, Inc.'s Special Motion to Strike filed 6 August 2008
       
    • Request for Judicial Notice (956 kb PDF) by John Trimarco A.K.A. Jack Trimarco, Moving Party filed 6 August 2008
       
    • Answer (176 kb PDF) by Defendant Ralph Hilliard and Wordnet Solutions, Inc. to Complaint filed 8 August 2008
       
    • Tentative Ruling (702 kb PDF) on Motion to Strike Complaint Pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Section 425.16 dated 24 October 2008. In this ruling, Judge Helen I. Bendix rejected defendant Jack Trimarco's motion to dismiss the case under California's anti-SLAPP statute.
       
  • Guzman v. Macrolife Natural, Inc., et al. Case No. BC489103 in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles. Doe Amendments with Original Complaint (5.7 mb PDF) alleging defendants unlawfully compelled plaintiff to submit to a polygraph test in connection with an allegedly stolen ring. Polygraph operators John Grogan and Lisa Javoric are named as defendants.
     
  • Higazy v. Templeton. U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal Docket No. 05-4148-cv. FBI special agent and polygraph examiner Michael Templeton allegedly coerced a false confession from the plaintiff, Abdallah Higazy, concerning the provenance of an aviation radio that, as it turned out, a security guard had planted in his Manhattan hotel room in the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. For discussion, see FBI Polygrapher Michael Templeton Named in Lawsuit (Higazy v. Templeton) on the AntiPolygraph.org message board.
     
    • Withdrawn Opinion (164kb PDF) dated 18 October 2007 reversing dismissal of lawsuit by United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Published on the Court website on 18 October 2007 and withdrawn some two hours later, reportedly "out of a concern that it might disclose information contained in a portion of the appendix on appeal that was submitted under seal."
       
    • Opinion (161kb PDF) dated 19 October 2007 reinstating Higazy's lawsuit against FBI Special Agent and polygrapher Michael Templeton. A redacted version of the opinion withdrawn the day before.
       
  • Idaho v. Perry. Idaho Supreme Court 2003 Opinion No. 109, filed 5 November 2003 (note typographical error in date on cover sheet). Docket Number 29718. In this 9-page ruling, the Idaho Supreme Court rejected Craig T. Perry's motion in limine to allow testimony by Dr. Charles R. Honts, who conducted a polygraph examination of Perry.
     
  • Lafayette Instrument Company, Inc., Respondent (145 kb PDF). U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Export Administration order dated 8 December 1999 implementing a settlement agreement requiring polygraph manufacturer to pay a civil penalty of $10,000 for allowing re-export of polygraph instruments from Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.
     
  • Livers v. Schenck, et al. Statement of Complaint (76-kb PDF) filed 11 March 2008 in the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska. Nebraska State Patrol investigator and polygraph examiner Charles O'Callaghan is among the defendants named in this lawsuit brought by Matthew Livers, who was coerced into falsely confessing to the murder of his uncle and aunt.
     
  • Mallard -v- The Queen [2003] WASCA 296 (340 kb PDF). In this judgment, filed 3 December 2003, the Western Australia Court of Criminal Appeal found polygraph "evidence" to be inadmissible, concluding, at para. 369, "On the whole of the evidence of the other material before us, it has not been shown that the polygraph technique is a reliable method for determining truth or untruth and nor is there the degree of acceptance within the relevant scientific community which would indicate that it is seen as being so. That being the case the evidence of the polygraph examination would not have assisted the trier of fact (jury)." (Download in Microsoft Word format.)
     
  • Mapp and Shirley v. City of Hattiesburg. Cause Numbers CI02-0374 and CI02-0372. Order dated 31 October 2003 reinstating two Hattiesburg, Mississippi police officers with back pay. Officer Dean Shirly had been fired for failing a polygraph "test."
     
  • McCarthy v. Moore, et al. Case Number 048-228282-08 filed in Tarrant County, Texas District Court. Plaintiff Joseph L. McCarthy, a licensed polygraph examiner in Texas certified to conduct post-conviction sex offender testing, alleges the existence of an unlawful referral scheme wherein sex offender therapists and probation officers directed sex offenders to certain polygraph examiners, rather than allowing them to go to any properly credentialed polygraph examiner.
     
     
  • Miranda v. Clark County, Nevada, et al. Opinion No. 00-15734 (35 kb PDF), D.C. No. CV-98-01121-LDG. In this opinion, filed 8 February 2002, a 3-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit dismissed Miranda's suit, ruling that it is not unconstitutional for a locality to base its allocation of defense resources on the results of a criminal defendant's polygraph test. The plaintiff-appelant, Roberto Hernandez Miranda, was sentenced to death for first degree murder in 1981 but released from prison in 1996 when the Nevada Supreme Court overturned his conviction.
     
  • Miranda v. Clark County, Nevada, et al. Opinion No. 00-15734 (99 kb PDF), D.C. No. CV-98-01121-LDG. In this opinion, filed 3 February 2003, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals' earlier ruling and re-instated the plaintiff's lawsuit.
     
  • New Jersey v. A.O. (Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, Docket No. A-5388-04T4). Opinion (125 kb PDF) dated 27 November 2007 rejecting the admissibility of uncounseled polygraph stipulations. The Court concluded "it is fundamentally unfair to permit an uncounseled defendant to stake his fate on what may be the equivalent of a coin toss."
     
  • Polygraph School of Science, et al. v. American Polygraph Association, et al. Case No. CV-13-607-PHX-SPL filed 25 March 2013 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
     
    • Statement of Complaint (14 mb PDF) This complaint stems from the American Polygraph Association's revocation of the Polygraph School of Science's accreditation following a surprise inspection by Roy Ortiz. The School alleges libel, slander, disparagement [sic] of treatment, discrimination, and pain and suffering. Among other relief sought, plaintiffs seek $250,000,000 in damages from the APA and $250,000,000 from APA officials in their individual capacities.
       
    • Order (41 kb PDF) dated 2 May 2013 directing the parties to meet and confer prior to the filing of any motion to dismiss to determine whether any alleged defect "can be cured by filing an amended pleading."

     
  • Ohio v. Sharma. (Summit County Court of Common Pleas Case No. CR 06-09-3248). In this sexual battery case, the judge admitted polygraph evidence over the prosecutor's objection. For discussion, see Critique of Louis I. Rovner's Polygraph Examination and Testimony in Ohio v. Sharma.
     
    • Volume I (13.1 mb PDF) of pre-trial hearing on admissibility of polygraph evidence. This document includes the testimony of polygraph examiners William D. Evans and Steven Stechschulte, 2 April 2007.
       
    • Volume II (14.5 mb PDF). Pre-trial testimony of Louis I. Rovner, 2 April 2007.
       
    • Order (252 kb PDF) granting Defendant's Motion to Admit Polygraph Examinations.
       
    • Polygraph Examination of Sahil Sharma (YouTube). Video of examination conducted by Louis I. Rovner.
       
    • Testimony of Louis I. Rovner (2.8 mb PDF) at trial, 16 August 2007.

     
  • People v. Wilkinson. California Supreme Court Opinion No. S111028 (234 kb PDF | 134 kb MS Word file), filed 29 July 2004. In this opinion, the California Supreme Court ruled that "in light of the categorical prohibition on the admission of polygraph evidence in Penal Code section 351.1, the trial court did not err in declining to hold a Kelly/Frye hearing regarding the [polygraph] evidence proffered by defendant."
     
  • Polkey v. Transtecs Corp. (65 kb PDF) United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, No. 04-14949, D.C. Docket No. 03-00056-CV-RV, filed 29 March 2005. In this published opinion, the Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's granting of summary judgment to the plaintiff, Sabrina Polkey, whom Transtecs Corp. fired following her refusal to submit to a polygraph "test."
     
  • South Carolina v. Robert Andrew Palmer Amended Order on Polygraph Motion (176 kb PDF | 33 kb MS Word file). The defendant, charged with homicide by child abuse and abetting homicide by child abuse, sought to admit polygraph results at trial. After hearing testimony from William G. Iacono and Charles R. Honts, the court found that polygraph examinations are unreliable and denied the motion to admit.
     
  • Tenenbaum v. Simeninni, et al. (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Case No. 98-CV-74473-DT) David A. Tenenbaum is a chemical engineer employed by the United States Army in civilian capacity. In the mid-1990s, he became the subject of an intensive espionage investigation, and was accused of showing "deception" in a polygraph interrogation. His suit documents polygraph abuse, ethno-religious profiling, and other governmental misconduct.
     
  • Filings by Mark S. Zaid, Esq. Mr. Zaid represents eleven plaintiffs who have been denied federal employment based solely on unsubstantiated accusations of deception during pre-employment polygraph "tests."
     
  • United States of America v. Albert M. Lee. Opinion No. 01-4485/4496 (46 kb PDF), United States Court of Appeals for the Third District, filed 7 January 2003. In this precedential opinion, the court finds that requiring sex offenders to submit to post-conviction polygraph screening does not violate their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
     
  • United States of America v. Carl Marlinga et al. Order Denying Defendants' Joint Motion for Introduction and Admission of Polygraph Evidence (19 kb PDF) in Case No. 04-80372 dated 12 April 2005 by Judge Victoria A. Roberts, United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan.
     
  • United States of America v. Ricardo C. Williams Report and Recommendation (127 kb PDF) in Daubert hearing on admissibility of polygraph evidence in Case No. 1:03-CR-636-5-JEC dated 4 October 2005 by Magistrate Judge Janet F. King, United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia.
     
  • New Mexico Supreme Court No. 27,915. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (869 kb PDF) by District Judge Richard J. Knowles, concluding that "[t]he results of polygraph testing are not sufficiently reliable for admissibility in courts in New Mexico."
     
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