COURTROOM PSYCHICS

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 Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002600060016-1
 COURTROOM. PSYC
 CS
 FORUM
 Editors' Note: The judicial system in this
 country has been using the abilities
 of psychics with increasing regularity. The
 Honorable Howard E. Go/dfluss. 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 Tasx
 Force on Child Abuse and author of
 The Judgment.
 The highest priority of our judicial system
 should always be he quest for truth.
 Although it seems reasonable to assume
 that judges and juries mil be skeancal
 of the claims of the caranormal-ESP
 clairvoyance, psychokinesis, and the like-
 to everyone's surprise, no one is laugh-
 ing. Law enforcement agencies. juries,
 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.
 It 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 n 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
 essential to the reaching of the verdict.
 There are other examples of psychic
 successes that even the most laced 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 nc-idents in Iowa. 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 charlatan.
 There is strong evidence that the public
 is growing more tolerant at psychic
 phenomena. Noreen Reiner, a sell-
 oroclairned psychic in Medford 0
 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 poss bi ity. '1f 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? "1
 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
 inarninent. But we will have to deal with
 them in #3e future. Evidence is always a
 matter of degree. Loose ends prevail
 in the courtroom. Certainty is a rare
 cortxnodity. Psychics do mat solve crimes.
 nor do they rest a ftwsufts. 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.
 five. 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.00
 Acceptance of
 psychics in the American    is a case in point. She took umbrage at
 courtroom has been gradual. The first     an assertion by John D. Merrill, cofounder
 major publicized case occurred in 1975,   of Northwest Skeptics, that she was a
 when ESP was used in a trial. Joan uttfe, fraud. She sued for libel. At the trial she
 an inmate in a Raleigh, North Carolina,   testified that she instructed police trainees
 jail. fatally stabbed a prison guard. She throughout the nation on the value of
 claimed he had tried to rape her. Jerry   psychic intervention in crime investigation.
 Paul. her chief defense counsel. wanted   That fact was not lost on the jury, which
 to know at the outset where a potential   awarded $25.000 to Reiner and in so
 juror's sympathy would lie. He employed   doing gave lair warning to all defamers
 Psychic Richard Wolf to consult with      similarly inclined that they had better
 him in jury selection. After Chris's acquittal, be prepared with the facts.
 Paul said. "Wall wasn't one hundred         Intervention by psychics will raise
 percent correct. but he was more often    vexing but intriguing legal problems,
 right than wrong." Paul saw Wolf's role as including issues of coercion and the right
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 Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002600060016-1