Polygraph Reference: Strike the Answer

Revised stem

Paul was charged with stealing a laptop from a coworker's desk. At trial, a witness testified that she saw Paul take the laptop. The jurisdiction does not allow polygraph results into evidence. On cross-examination by Paul's attorney, the witness was asked, "The office was too dimly lit to see clearly, wasn't it?" She responded, "I'm so certain it was Paul that I passed a polygraph test the police gave me." Paul's attorney immediately objects and moves to strike the witness's answer. The trial court should

Answer flow

01 Start with the motion: the lawyer asks the court to strike the answer.

02 Separate the cross-examination question from the witness's answer.

03 Keep the jurisdictional bar on polygraph results in view.

04 Cut the volunteered-evidence exception because it does not exist.

05 Cut the opened-door answer because the question asked only about lighting.

06 Cut the leading-question answer because leading is allowed on cross.

07 Use Rule 403 to name the unfair-prejudice danger.

08 Choose C.

A / trap

flat_misstatement / volunteered-evidence myth

deny the motion, because polygraph results are admissible when volunteered by a witness.

A invents a volunteered-evidence exception. If the jurisdiction bars polygraph results, the witness cannot make them admissible by blurting them out.

B / trap

wrong_frame / open-door overreach

deny the motion, because Paul's attorney opened the door by asking about the lighting.

B uses a real doctrine too broadly. A lighting question does not open the door to a categorically barred polygraph reference.

C / correct

residue / Rule 403 unfair-prejudice balance

grant the motion, because the probative value of the unresponsive testimony is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.

C keeps the right frame. The answer was unresponsive, the jurisdiction bars the evidence, and jurors may overvalue a claimed polygraph result.

D / trap

wrong_issue / question-form red herring

grant the motion, because the question was leading.

D attacks the wrong thing. Leading questions are generally allowed on cross-examination, and the motion targets the witness's answer.

C3 locks

Red axis: A jurisdictional evidence bar plus an unresponsive answer defeats open-door and volunteered-evidence traps.

Purple profile: The traps are procedural decoys: volunteered, opened door, and leading question.

Blue signal: The witness volunteered a polygraph result even though the jurisdiction bars polygraph evidence.

Orange repair: Student habit to repair: letting a real doctrine like opened door override a categorical evidence bar.

Reusable keys

Gold Key / GK-EVID-POLY-01
Polygraph or lie-detector references are inadmissible in many jurisdictions, and jurors may overvalue them; a volunteered reference can be struck under Rule 403.

Silver Key / SK-EVID-403-UNRESPONSIVE-ANSWER-01
For a motion to strike, separate the question from the answer; the answer may be excluded even when the question itself was proper.

Trap Key / TK-EVID-OPEN-DOOR-NOT-CATEGORICAL-BAR
Opened door is not a magic override for evidence that the jurisdiction categorically bars.

LeadMe steps

01 Identify what the lawyer moved to strike.

02 Name the barred evidence: polygraph results.

03 Notice that the answer was unresponsive to a lighting question.

04 Reject the volunteered-evidence myth.

05 Reject the opened-door overreach.

06 Reject the leading-question red herring.

07 Apply Rule 403 unfair prejudice.

08 Pick C.

Drill seeds