State v. Trimble

• Citation: 1961 NMSC 76,68 N.M. 406,362 P.2d 788
• Decision Date: 13 June 1961
• Docket Number: No. 6855,6855
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. J. T. TRIMBLE, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Supreme Court of New Mexico

Page 788

362 P.2d 788

68 N.M. 406

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. J. T. TRIMBLE, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 6855.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

June 13, 1961.

E. H. Williams, Jr., Las Cruces, for appellant.

Hilton A. Dickson, Jr., Atty. Gen., Carl P. Dunifon, Asst. Atty. Gen., Mark C. Reno, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

COMPTON, Chief Justice.

The defendant was convicted by a jury of Dona Ana County of the crime of incest, and he appeals from the judgment imposing sentence upon him. The appeal squarely presents the question whether evidence of the results of a polygraph test is admissible in evidence over objection.

Shortly after the commission of the alleged offense, the defendant voluntarily submitted to a polygraph test conducted by A. H. Hathaway. At the trial Hathaway was called as a witness. The defendant interposed an objection his evidence, nevertheless, the witness was permitted to testify as to the results of the test made by him.

Preliminarily, Hathaway testified that he had conducted approximately 3,000 polygraph tests and, of those found necessary to verify for accuracy, approximately 100, none were found to be wrong. From there the witness proceeded to fully explain to the jury the working of the machine and how it was attached to the person of the defendant. The witness further related to the jury a list of questions propounded by him to the defendant concerning the alleged offense and his answers thereto while undergoing the test. The witness then testified that the reaction of the machine indicated that the defendant had given false answers concerning his guilt, from which the witness concluded that the defendant was guilty of the crime charged.

Presently, the question requires a negative answer. In our research, we find no jurisdiction, possibly with one exception, People v. Kenny, 167 Misc. 51, 3 N.Y.S.2d 348, which admits evidence of the results of a polygraph test in either criminal or civil cases over objection. Even the Kenny case by sub silentio has apparently been overruled in that jurisdiction since in a subsequent case, People v. Forte, 279 N.Y. 204, 18 N.E.2d 31, 119 A.L.R. 1198, that court excluded the results of a polygraph test without noticing the Kenny case. So we think it can safely be said that the results of polygraph tests are uniformly excluded in all jurisdictions where an objection is timely made.

The question of admissibility of polygraph tests was first considered by the Federal courts in Frye v. United States, 54 App D.C. 46, 293 F. 1013, 1014, 34 A.L.R. 145. The reasons given for the refusal of such evidence was so cogently stated by the court that we quote with approval the language there employed as follows:

'* * * Just when a scientific principle or discovery crosses the line between the experimental and demonstrable stages is difficult to define. Somewhere in this twilight zone the evidential force of the principle must be recognized, and while courts will go a long way in admitting expert testimony deduced from a well-recognized scientific principle or discovery, the thing from which the deduction is made must be sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance in the particular field in which it belongs.

'We think the systolic blood pressure deception test has not yet gained such standing and scientific recognition among physiological and psychological authorities as would justify the courts in admitting expert testimony deduced from the discovery, development, and experiments thus far made.'

Cases following the rule thus announced in the Frye case are numerous. Most of them are collected at 34 A.L.R. 147; 86 A.L.R. 616; 119 A.L.R. 1200; 139 A.L.R. 1174; and 23 A.L.R.2d 1306. See Marks v. United States, 10 Cir., 260 F.2d 377; Brooke v. People, 139 Colo. 388, 339 P.2d 993. Also compare our own cases, State v. Lindemuth, 56 N.M. 257, 243 P.2d 325 and State v. Varos, 69 N.M. --, 363...