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View Full Version : Judge OKs truth serum, polygraph for James Holmes if he takes insanity plea




Lucille
03-11-2013, 04:24 PM
Has this ever been done before?

Judge William Sylvester OKs Medication, Polygraph For James Holmes If He Takes Insanity Plea
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/judge-william-sylvester-o_n_2854703.html


DENVER — The defendant in the deadly Colorado theater shooting could be given "truth serum" under a court order issued Monday to help determine whether he is insane if he pleads not guilty by reason of insanity.

Suspect James Holmes could be required to submit to a "narcoanalytic interview" as part of an evaluation to determine if he was legally insane at the time of the July 20 shootings, Arpahoe County District Judge William Sylvester said.

A narcoanalylitic interview is a decades-old process in which patients are given drugs to lower their inhibition. Academic studies have shown that the technique has involved the use of sodium amytal and pentothal, sometimes called truth serum.

The prospect of such interviews that may ensue under such a plea alarmed defense attorneys, who filed documents opposing the technique.

Holmes, 25, is scheduled to enter a plea Tuesday to multiple counts of murder and attempted murder. He is charged with killing 12 people and injuring 70 at a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" in the Denver suburb of Aurora.

If Holmes pleads not guilty by reason of insanity, he would be examined by doctors at the state mental hospital.

In an advisory that Holmes would have to sign if he enters an insanity plea, Sylvester didn't specify what type of drugs would be used but said the examination could include "medically appropriate" ones.

Sylvester said Holmes also could be given a polygraph examination as part of the evaluation.

After reading a draft of the advisory, Holmes' lawyers objected, saying a narcoanalytic interview and a polygraph would violate their client's rights.

In the final version of the advisory, Sylvester said he had incorporated some suggestions from the defense and the prosecution, but he did not address the defense objections to a narcoanalytic interview and polygraph.

Karen Steinhauser, a former prosecutor who is a law professor at the University of Denver and a defense attorney, said she could not find any case law about use of the narcoanalytic interview.

"It comes up so rarely," she said, adding she knows nothing about it.

She noted the technique is clearly allowed by Colorado law.

jkr
03-11-2013, 04:26 PM
WE HAVE WAYZ OF MAKING YOUZ TALK!

Lucille
03-11-2013, 04:33 PM
^ LOL...

I thought polygraphs were notoriously unreliable anyway! I'm surprised the judge didn't go with "Elvis" instead: http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/15/travel/computer-border-official-avatar

MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2
03-11-2013, 04:33 PM
So, the feds could be giving people truth serum and polygraphs, but choose torture instead? Interesting.

Acala
03-11-2013, 04:46 PM
Just shows the stupidity of a criminal justice system based on punishment.

cheapseats
03-11-2013, 04:54 PM
So, the feds could be giving people truth serum and polygraphs, but choose torture instead?

Exactly.



Interesting.

Chinese Proverb (also known as Chinese Curse): "May you live in interesting times."

Schifference
03-11-2013, 05:22 PM
Just Drone the mother fcuker!

dillo
03-11-2013, 05:22 PM
If he took truth serum would MK ULTRA come out

PatriotOne
03-11-2013, 05:32 PM
If he took truth serum would MK ULTRA come out

Exactly what I was pondering.

itshappening
03-11-2013, 05:36 PM
I think it's an excuse to give him something that wipes his memory of being hypnotized by that psychiatrist

Jack Bauer
03-11-2013, 05:44 PM
http://global3.memecdn.com/james-holmes_o_895562.jpg

MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2
03-11-2013, 06:12 PM
If he took truth serum would MK ULTRA come out


Clearly not in public. Such "talk" will be done in private and the people drugging him will release what suits them.

I suspect the judge is either being guided or stupid, but likely not complicit.

presence
03-11-2013, 06:37 PM
Mandatory "narcoanalytic interview". Is this for real?

US Supreme Court 1963 Townsend v. Sain, Sheriff, et al., 372 U.S. 293, 307-308


'You are further instructed that if you find from the evidence that the defendant was given drugs and that said drugs caused him to lose his memory and create a state of amnesia in the defendant during the questioning of this defendant by the police or State's Attorney and that the defendant was not able to control his answers or to assert his will by denying the crime charged, then you may totally disregard such confession.


'You are instructed that if you find from the evidence that any influence was used on the defendant which amounted to duress upon his mind or body which caused him to make the confession, then you may totally disregard the confession.

tttppp
03-11-2013, 06:49 PM
Has this ever been done before?

Judge William Sylvester OKs Medication, Polygraph For James Holmes If He Takes Insanity Plea
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/judge-william-sylvester-o_n_2854703.html


Good news for him. Doctors think everyone is crazy.

devil21
03-11-2013, 08:50 PM
Sounds like their "evidence" against him is too weak to even prosecute if they're suggesting truth serums and lie detectors, which aren't admissible as evidence any way. No positive IDs, strange stuff like the second gas mask found at the other end of the parking lot, no confession, etc.

sailingaway
03-11-2013, 08:51 PM
No 5th amendment any more?

jclay2
03-11-2013, 09:41 PM
And these people wonder why people flock to conspiracy theories....

ghengis86
03-11-2013, 09:47 PM
Sounds like their "evidence" against him is too weak to even prosecute if they're suggesting truth serums and lie detectors, which aren't admissible as evidence any way. No positive IDs, strange stuff like the second gas mask found at the other end of the parking lot, no confession, etc.

what is this evidence you speak of? (seriously though, if you know of any state evidence that holmes was the killer, I'd like to know!).