Watchdog/Bill Lueders

DOC gives thumbs down to ‘Lie Detector’

TV producer fights to put state prison inmates claiming innocence to the test

December 15, 2004

     Ralph Andrews is nothing if not persistent. The California-based veteran television producer has been trying for weeks to arrange interviews and polygraph tests with three Wisconsin inmates who may have been wrongfully convicted. He’s fired off dozens of e-mails and letters, and made at least as many calls.

     “I’ve sent them everything I can think of,” says Andrews, “and I’ve replied to everything that was either directly or indirectly asked of me.”

     One might think that after the horrific case of Steven Avery, who spent 18 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, the state Department of Corrections would be eager to identify other times it may have put innocent people behind bars. One would be wrong.

     On Monday, the DOC rejected Andrews’ request for access. Spokesperson Bill Clausius says the decision was made by DOC Deputy Secretary Rick Raemisch, who as Dane County’s former sheriff has ties to two of the cases.

     Andrews is a co-producer of “Lie Detector,” a TV program that has had several incarnations over the last four decades. He was involved in a nationally syndicated 1982 version hosted by F. Lee Bailey, as well as an hour-long special hosted by O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark that aired on Fox in 1998.

     Now Andrews is working in concert with Mark Phillips Philms and Telephision, which produced the 1998 program, to create 13 new episodes. These are set to air beginning Feb. 1 on Pax, a national network that’s available in some 60 markets by broadcast signal or cable, and in Madison by satellite dish.

     Although lie-detector tests are not admissible in court, they are, when properly administered, considered reliable indicators of truthfulness. The show uses a renown polygraph expert, Dr. Ed Gelb. One of its 1998 subjects, a Florida teen accused of causing a fatal crash by removing a stop sign, was freed after the program aired when a truck driver admitted having knocked down the sign. The young man passed the lie detector test with flying colors. (James Nichols, who denied prior knowledge of the Oklahoma City bombing for which his brother Terry was convicted, failed.)

     The three Wisconsin cases that “Lie Detector” wants to take on are those of Penny Brummer, serving a life sentence for the 1994 murder in Dane County of her lover’s close friend; Audrey Edmunds, sentenced to 18 years for the 1995 death of a seven-month-old Waunakee infant in her care; and Mark Price, sentenced to life for a 1989 shooting death in Winnebago County. Raemisch was sheriff when his office led the investigations into the Brummer and Edmunds’ cases.

     Andrews says he either has or is close to getting consent from all three inmates. All have steadfastly maintained their innocence, in Edmunds’ case despite the judge’s recommendation that she be released earlier (likely by now) if she confessed. Brummer, convicted based on circumstantial evidence and dubious witness testimony, has a new lawyer and newly established defense fund (through Community Bank in Spring Green).

     Price’s prosecutor, former Winnebago County District Attorney Joe Paulus, is now serving a five-year federal prison term for taking bribes to fix cases. He is accused of using false testimony and withholding evidence to secure Price’s conviction.

     Last week, state Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) made some calls on Andrews’ behalf. He was told the DOC had concerns about institution security and whether “Lie Detector” was a real news show, or just entertainment. Andrews sent more missives, assuring the DOC that his program had visited numerous prisons without problems and has a hard-news focus. He even sent the DOC (and Isthmus) a tape of the 1998 program, which is clearly as news-oriented as anything that airs on Court TV or network shows like “Dateline” and “Primetime Live.”

     But the DOC said no, on these two grounds and because, says Clausius, the victim’s families had objected. (In one of these three cases, defenders of the convicted person think family members may have committed the crime.)

     Rep. Pocan doesn’t find the DOC’s arguments credible and thinks denying access is a mistake, a return to the “Thompson-era secrecy” that hurt the department’s public image in the past.

     Andrews says he’s not giving up: “I never throw in the towel.” If all else fails, he could sue the DOC, which is required by state law to allow media access to inmates, with rare exceptions. While he has other subjects in other states, the three Wisconsin cases are “the most important things we’re doing right now” because they involve people “whose lives are hanging in the balance. That’s why this is so heartbreaking to me.”

     Andrews: ‘I never throw in the towel.’