Opinion

Baker v. State

  • 260 Ind. 618
  • 298 N.E.2d 445
  • 1973 Ind. LEXIS 579
Court
Indiana Supreme Court
Filed
Jul 16, 1973
Status
Published
Author
Givan
On the bench
Givan
Cited by
17 cases
Authority
More cited than 65.6%

The opinion

On Petition for Rehearing

Givan, J.

The appellant has filed a petition for rehearing to which he has attached the alleged results of a polygraph examination made by an independent laboratory on July 18, 1973, and July 24,1973.

Appellant alleges that he voluntarily submitted to this test, and that it establishes his innocence of the crime charged. This test was given subsequent to the submission of this appeal, has apparently never been submitted to the trial court and is, at most, additional evidence which might be submitted to a trier of fact for an evaluation.

As it is presented to us for the first time on this petition for rehearing, it is no more than a conclusion of fact which this Court is in no position to weigh or pass upon. In a similar situation this Court stated:

“We do not here pass upon the validity of a polygraph test because we do not believe it incumbent upon us to make that legal judgment at this time. However, we must conclude that a polygraph test, the same as any other scientific evidence, certainly can only be presented by the technician presenting testimony before the court with all counsel present as well as the defendants present. The defendants, by their counsel, certainly should have the right to examine the technician concerning the validity of the test; the questions propounded during the test; the technician’s training; and all other matters pertinent to the validity of any scientific investigation.” Carpenter v. State (1968), 251 Ind. 428, 431 , 241 N. E. 2d 347 , 15 Ind. Dec. 724 .

Other matters raised by the appellant in his petition for rehearing are adequately covered in the original opinion.

Arterburn, C.J., Hunter and Prentice, JJ., concur; DeBruler, J., not participating.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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