DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. PETERS:
Q. Dr. White, have you ever used in your past
experience a polygraph exam as a tool for investigative
purposes?
A. Yes, I have, on prior occasions.
Q. To your knowledge, have any of your
associates in the psychiatric profession ever used
polygraph examinations for investigative purposes?
MS. MARTIN: Objection, your Honor, to what
his associates may or may not have used for investigative
purposes.
THE COURT: No, I will allow that question.
Overruled.
A. Yes, they have.
Q. Doctor, how are these polygraph examinations
used?
A. Well, I have used mine primarily when an
individual was denying certain things. When I felt or
knew certain things to be true, in order to get them to
begin working on certain problems, I used it. Sex cases,
rape cases, or incest cases are a difficult thing to
admit. If I could get them to admit to me the act, we
could then begin some kind of rehabilitation program,
treatment or therapy. A polygraph test is very difficult
to fool.
Q. Would you attempt to reevaluate your own
diagnosis as to the problem, if a person was successful in
passing the polygraph exam?
A. Yes, I would.
Q. If you elicit a test result from the
polygraph that is inconsistent with every other sign that
a person is lying, would you consider the result of that
test valid in every way?
A. Probably not. If everything I had available,
the psychiatric examination and all the other materials,
made me think one thing, but then the polygraph made me
think another, I would probably go more with the clinical
opinion. The clinical impression would be more valid to
me than the polygraph.
THE COURT: Have you ever used the technique
of hypnosis in your evaluations?
THE WITNESS: Sometimes, yes.
THE COURT: Have you ever used the technique
of sodium pentothal?
THE WITNESS: Sodium amytal, I have used it
on several occasions.
THE COURT: When is a polygraph exam
recommended and the other techniques not?
A. Well, hypnosis and sodium amytal are not
really used to determine truth. Hypnosis is useless as
far as that is concerned. It is used to recall or help a
person find lost or suppressed memories, such as periods
of amnesia and blackout. Perhaps some of the data which
it produces is true.
BY MR. PETERS:
Q. You indicated that there are two basic types
of amnesia. There is one which is caused by a
psychological trauma. The other type of amnesia is caused
by a physical trauma, is that correct?
A. Well, there are more than just those two.
Q. Would a polygraph exam be particularly useful
in a situation where you are trying to verify a case of
amnesia due to physiological trauma?
A. It could be useful to verify whether the
amnesia was genuine, malingered or faked.
THE COURT: What other methods can be used to
determine whether or not a person is faking amnesia?
THE WITNESS: Well, they can also be
hypnotized. They could also be given drugs. Sodium
amytal or other stimulants are useful, but again, that,
too, can be faked. An individual under the influence of
most drugs can still say "I don't recall" when they really
do. Or they can make up some other falsehood, so the
results of a hypnosis situation or a sodium amytal
situation are really no more valid than what the
individual has said at any other time.
Q. Do you take at face value what a person says
to you?
A. No, not as a general rule. In legal cases, I
am skeptical to begin with. I approach each case
differently and with a certain amount of caution.
Q. Do you look for particular signs as to the
way in which a person presents his story to you, the way
he is telling it to you?
A. Yes.
Q. What do you look for?
A. Basically, I look for eye contact and body
language. They have certain signs, such as frequent dry
mouth, licking of the lips. Frequent restlessness and
moving in the chair can be signs that they are not telling
you the truth.
You can't look at somebody and find out their
pulse or blood pressure, that is basically what a
polygraph measures. An accurate reading takes into
account the variations in pulse, blood pressure and
respiration rate. Another indicator is that you also
sweat more when you are telling a lie.
Q. So to assess credibility, polygraph exams can
be used by psychiatrists?
A. I use them and the forensic psychiatrists use
them.
Q. On page 32 and 33 of the notes which you
supplied to the District Attorney, you already recorded
your diagnosis of Mr. Masters, is that correct?
A. Yes, on page 32 of my initial interview on
April 14th I recorded my notes. At the time of the
interview, at the conclusion of it, I wrote down my
opinion as to what his mental condition was at the time of
the offense.
Q. And what was that?
A. I wrote, "Compression amnesia, genuine and
probably unconscious." This was prior to any polygraph
tests having been conducted.