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248 N.W.2d 398

State v. Watson

South Dakota Supreme Court

Decided December 31, 1976

South Dakota Supreme Court · decided 1976-12-31

Relies on Commonwealth v. Gee · 62 Wis. 2d 730 - State v. Stanislawski · United States v. Alexander

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1976-12-31

How this case has been cited

Cited by 13 later decisions — most recently May 2011

13 state decisions

9019761980199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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WOLLMAN, Justice.

¶1 Defendant was charged with the offense of rape. Defendant’s motion for an order that he and the victim of the alleged offense be given polygraph examinations and that the results of the examinations be admissible at trial was granted by the trial court. We granted the state permission to appeal from this intermediate order pursuant to SDCL 23-51-5. We reverse.

¶2 In State v. O’Connor, 86 S.D. 294, 194 N.W.2d 246, we held that the trial court had not erred in refusing to order a polygraph examination, this in accordance with the general rule that polygraph examination results are not admissible. Defendant has not cited any authority to indicate that the general rule of inadmissibility of the results of such tests has been changed. Indeed, it appears that with only a few exceptions those jurisdictions that have had occasion to consider the matter in recent years have reaffirmed the rule that the results of polygraph examinations are inadmissible in the absence of a stipulation by the defendant and the prosecution. For a thorough discussion of the factors militating against the admissibility of polygraph examination results, see United States v. Alexander, 8 Cir., 526 F.2d 161. See also State v. Seebold, 111 Ariz. 423, 531 P.2d 1130; Sullivan v. State, Fla., 303 So.2d 632; State v. Lassley, 218 Kan. 758, 545 P.2d 383; State v. Governor, La., 331 So.2d 443; People v. Rodgers, 66 Mich.App. 658, 239 N.W.2d 701; State v. Goblirsch, Minn., 246 N.W.2d 12; Harrison v. State, Miss., 307 So.2d 557; State v. Steinmark, 195 Neb. 545, 239 N.W.2d 495; Warden v. Lischko, 90 Nev. 221, 523 P.2d 6; State v. Jackson, 287 N.C. 470, 215 S.E.2d 123; Fulton v. State, Okl.Cr., 541 P.2d 871; Anderson v. State, Okl.Cr., 551 P.2d 1155 (results inadmissible even if stipulation exists); Commonwealth v. Gee, Pa., 354 A.2d 875; State v. Woo, 84 Wash.2d 472, 527 P.2d 271; State v. Stanislawski, 62 Wis.2d 730, 216 N.W.2d 8. See Annot., 23 A.L.R.2d 1306.

¶3 A few jurisdictions have ruled that the results of such tests are admissible if certain carefully prescribed conditions are met. See, e. g., United States v. Ridling, (E.D. Mich.), 350 F.Supp. 90; Commonwealth v. A Juvenile, 365 Mass. 421, 313 N.E.2d 120; Commonwealth v. A Juvenile, Mass., 348 N.E.2d 760; State v. Dorsey, (Ct.App.), 87 N.M. 323, 532 P.2d 912, aff’d, 88 N.M. 184, 539 P.2d 204.

¶4 In the face of such overwhelming authority to the contrary, and in the absence of any evidence in the record concerning the scientific reliability of the polygraph or the qualifications of the proposed polygraphist, see, e. g., State v. Swanson, N.D., 225 N.W.2d 283; State v. Young, 87 Wash.2d 129, 550 P.2d 1, we are not persuaded that we should abandon the traditional rule of inadmissibility in favor of a rule that defendants and complaining witnesses may be ordered to submit to polygraph examinations upon a defendant’s motion and that the results of such examinations be admissible at trial.

¶5 The order appealed from is reversed and the case is remanded to the circuit court for trial.

All the Justices concur.
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