[Devil_Anse]

Angela passed a polygraph.

Who says??? Angela and her lawyer?? On TV--not under oath?? Knowing as they do that the police and especially the FBI will not publicly reveal the polygraph results, and in fact will neither confirm or deny the results on anyone? Not reliable, as far as I'm concerned. That's like saying Gary Condit passed a polygraph.

Angela has a conviction for forging checks. She actually physically served time in the penitentiary for it. Women defendants on property crimes aren't given time on their first offense (though if they break probation, there will be a backup prison sentence for them) unless there is some sort of negative history. LET'S SEE HEIDI'S CONVICTION OF A CRIME.

How do we know Heidi was never given a polygraph?

A polygraph is an interviewing tool. It does not tell whether a person is lying or not. That is one reason they are not admissible in court. It is used to create an atmosphere in which the interviewee is more likely to give up information to police. This is done by having the person do a "test run" first, in which they answer questions whose answers are known by them, and to the interviewer. They are even instructed on this test run to answer one question falsely. Then the interviewer "reads" the results of this test run to the interviewee, and "tells" him which answer came out "lying." But the interviewer knows anyway which answer was false, b/c it was he who told the interviewee to answer it falsely.

All this does is give most interviewees faith in the power of the polygraph to tell when they are lying. Their believing that the police can "tell" when they are lying makes many a person decide to just spill their guts. It's a power-of-suggestion thing. And who is there to question the judgment of the police as to how they read the polygraph results? They can never be cross-examined on how they get these "results", b/c nothing to do with the polygraph is admissible in court.

As far as Ed saying Ricci left his handyman job on good terms, leaving under suspicion of theft is not leaving on good terms. Ed would know that if he didn't have such a weird way of looking at things. He appears to have a large capacity for denial (as does Angela.) Also, Ed could only speak for himself. For all he knew, Ricci did not consider himself to be "on good terms."

[ChocChipCookie]

Their believing that the police can "tell" when they are lying makes many a person decide to just spill their guts.

I took a polygraph once, and boy, did I ever spill my guts. It was required for a temporary job with DPS. The polygraph-er told me I was probably the most honest person he'd ever tested! LOL

One question was, "Have you ever stolen anything?" Well, as soon as I heard that question, I flashbacked to when I was about 3 years old and stole a piece of candy from a store. My mom marched me right back and made me return it. Apparently, this memory triggered something on the polygraph because he then asked, "Since you turned 18 have you ever stolen anything?"

I also remember being asked if I'd ever taken any drugs. He listed them -- marijuana, cocaine, etc. When he got to heroin, I, of course, said no. Later he said I'd registered positive (or whatever the term is) for heroin and asked me about it. It was obvious that I wasn't a heroin addict nor had I ever been. However! My brother had been and died of a heroin overdose. We talked about this and he told me that sometimes women will register a positive response for drugs because their children had taken them. He said that love is the most powerful emotion and that's the reason for the response on the polygraph.

Even though it was an interesting experience and I had nothing to hide, and I "passed with flying colors", it was still an overwhelmingly emotional hour. I think I went home and cried. :o)