CIA-RDP96-00789R002600060016-1

UMNI
July
178 +
Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002600060016-1
COURTROOM PSYCHICS
FORUM
Editors' Note: The judicial system in this
country has been using the abilities
of psychics with increasing regulanty. The
Honorable Howard E. Goldfluss, acting
justice of the Supreme Court. State of
New York, comments on what appears to
be a growing trend. Justice Goldfluss
is a member of the New York State Task
Force on Child Abuse and author of
The Judgment.
The highest priority of our judicial system
should always be the quest for truth.
Although it seems reasonable to assume
that judges and juries wil be skeoncal
of the claims of the paranormal-ESP.
clairvoyance. psychokinesis, and the like-
to everyone's surprise. no one is laugh-
ing. Law enforcement agencies. junes.
and judges are finally acknowledging that
we don't have answers to the unexplain-
able. It really shouldn't shock people
that psychic phenomena have found a
forum in the courts. requiring us to deal
with novel and fascinating ideas.
-
If I've learned anything as a sitting
judge for 15 years and as a practicing
lawyer for 24. it is that the law must have
an open mind. Concepts not considered a
generation ago are accepted today.
Trial lawyers, for instance, have psychics
sit at counsel tables during the jury
selection process in an effort to determine
if prospective jurors are telling the truth.
Psychics claim that they can weed out
undisclosed bias or prejudice. Sometime
in the future the courts may have to
decide the propriety of that procedure.
Acceptance of psychics in the American
courtroom has been gradual. The first
major publicized case occurred in 1975.
when ESP was used in a trial. Joan Little,
an inmate in a Raleigh, North Carolina.
jail, fatally stabbed a prison guard. She
claimed he had tried to rape her. Jerry
Paul, her chief defense counsel, wanted
to know at the outset where a potential
juror's sympathy would lie. He employed
psychic Richard Wolf to consult with
him in jury selection. After Little's acquittal,
Paul said, "Wolf wasn't one hundred
percent correct, but he was more often
right than wrong. " Paul saw Wolf's role as
12
OMNI
essential to the reaching of the verdict.
There are other examples of psychic
successes that even the most jaded and
skeptical would find difficult-il not
impossible-to ignore. Greta Alexander
of Delavon. Illinois. calls herself a parapsy-
chologist. She claims she acquired her
psychic powers 26 years ago. after being
struck by lightning. I know the normal
reaction to such a claim: a wink and a
finger moving counterclockwise around
the ear, signifying that the woman is
playing with less than a full deck.
But in 1977 she pinpointed the missing
bodies of a three-year-old boy and a
twenty-one-year-old man who drowned in
separate incidents in lowa. Those discov-
eries were documented as authentic.
in 1983 she again gave the police infor-
mation that led a team of 22 police and
civilians volunteers to a wooded area near
Peoria, Illinois. At the designated site,
they found the skeletal remains of a
woman who had been missing for a month.
Alexander had given the police a number
of specific details about the missing
woman: The head would be detached
from the body (confirmed): the remains
would be near a bridge (confirmed);
a salt or rock pile would be close by
(confirmed). Police agencies throughout
the country now routinely consult
Alexander. No one doubts her sanity or
believes she is a chartatan.
There is strong evidence that the public
is growing more tolerant of psychic
phenomena. Noreen Reiner. a self-
proclaimed psychic in Medford. Oregon,
is a case in point. She took umbrage at
an assertion by John D. Merrill, cofounder
of Northwest Skeptics, that she was a
fraud. She sued for libel. At the trial she
testified that she instructed police trainees
throughout the nation on the value of
psychic intervention in crime investigation.
That fact was not lost on the jury, which
awarded $25,000 to Reiner and in so
doing gave fair warning to all defamers
similarly inclined that they had better
be prepared with the facts.
Intervention by psychics will raise
vexing but intriguing legal problems,
including issues of coercion and the right
to privacy. Assume, says Ronald J. Allen,
professor at Northwestern University
School of Law. that a suspect is given his
Miranda rights and consents to waive
the presence of a lawyer. He answers
questions put to him by the police. Assume
further that the police arrange to have a
psychic present during the questioning.
Could his statement be stricken because it
was coerced? Allen believes this is a
strong possibility. "If the police have reason
to believe the suspect is susceptible to
that interrogation method and use it
to break down his will, there could be a
Fifth Amendment claim," Allen says.
California criminal lawyer Harold Weitz-
man is concerned with the conse-
quences of the mind-probing abilities of
psychics. A person in custody has the
constitutional right to remain silent. But if
his thoughts are "read" and transmitted to
the police, has he then been deprived
of a reasonable expectation of privacy? "!
just don't believe it's possible, " says
Weitzman, "but if psychics can do what
they say. it would be the height of a Fourth
Amendment violation. If there's any place
you have a reasonable expectation of
privacy, it's in your mind."
For the present these questions are
debatable. Acceptance of psychic
phenomena has not reached the point
where facing such legal problems is
imminent. But we will have to deal with
them in the future. Evidence is always a
matter of degree. Loose ends prevail
in the courtroom. Certainty is a rare
commodity. Psychics do not sotva crimes.
nor do they resolve lawsuits. But if they
contribute in any way to the discovery of
the truth, then they can't be ignored.
Those of us who participate in the
judicial system must be concerned with
the discovery of truth as our prime objec.
tive. The value of psychic assistance in
finding the truth has yet to be determined.
Some psychics will turn out to be frauds;
some will be legitimate. We will not
be able to judge them until we listen to
what they have to say. If justice is to be
served. we should not be deterred by our
inability to explain how such a noble
purpose is accomplished.CO
Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002600060016-1
.
-