OULD YOU PASS A POLYGRAPH TEST when your freedom depends on it?


OULD YOU PASS A POLYGRAPH TEST when your freedom depends on it?

There are stories about how people convicted of espionage have passed them for years.

One local attorney thinks a schizophrenic defendant could take a polygraph in another state of mind — and pass it because he wouldn’t be thinking about the lie that he’s telling.

Psychotic people, who one attorney said are the worst criminals, can pass it because they believe themselves.

On Thursday, can Darryl Adams of Boardman pass a polygraph test?

He thinks enough of his innocence that he’s throwing his freedom to the much maligned lie-detector test.

Adams is accused of rape.

He was arrested at his Boardman home in 2005 for incidents that purportedly happened at his residence between 2002 and 2004.

The victim was allegedly a Youngstown boy — someone Adams knew through his role as a church youth pastor.

The victim, now 19, is not thrilled that a lie-detector test will decide Adams’ guilt or innocence.

“If a person believes his lie, then how is the polygraph going to tell?” he said.

He was eager to testify at trial, but is now resigned to the test this week. And he’s just eager to move on with his life.

Dennis DiMartino is eager as well for the test.

He is Adams’ court-appointed lawyer who said the unique step of putting Adams’ freedom in the hands of the test avoids putting Adams through a trial. Adams, he said, suffers from depression.

It will also prove what he says he knows.

“I’m convinced he’s absolutely innocent of these charges,” DiMartino said.

On Pages A3 and A4 of today’s paper, reporter Pete Milliken explores this unique Thursday event.

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