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Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00789ROO2600060016-1
COURTD,`10M
Nl\,@ PSYCHICS
RUM
Editors' Note: The ludicial system in this
country has been using the abilities
of psychics with increasing regularity. The
Honorable Howard E. Gamas. acting
justice of the Supreme Court. state 01
New YOr*. COMMents on what appears to
be a growing trend. Justice Goldfluss
is a member ot the New York State Task
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 se eems reasonable to assume
that luCges ano)uries wtil be skeotical
of the claims Of ft caranormai-ESP
ciawvoyaryce. psychaKinesis. and the Ike-
to everyone's surprise, no one is laugh-
ing. Law enforcement agencies. juries.
and judges are finally acknowiedging 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 IS 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
selectiori process n an effort to determine
if prospectwe jurors are telling ft truM.
Psye= clam Mw avy can weed Out
undisclosed bias or prejudice. Sometime
in the future the courts may have to
decide the propriely of that procedure.
Acceptance of psychics in ft American
courtroom has been gradual. The first
major publicized case occurred in 1975,
when ESP was used in a trial. Joan UMe.
an inmate in a Flak,40, North Carolina,
jail. fatally stabbed a prism guard. She
clarned he had tried to ram tw Jerry
Paul. her chief defense counsel, wanted
110 know at ft outset where a potential
juror's sympathy would lie. He employed
psychic Rictitard Wod to consiA with
him in jury selection. After LMs acquittai.
Paul said, 'Ift" wasnt one hundred
Percent correct. but he was more often
right than wrong." Paul saw Wolf's role as
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 riot
impossible-4o 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 4 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 Wy and a
twenty-one-year-old man who drowned in
separate madents in Iowa. Those ciscov-
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 rear
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 of rock pile woUd be close by
(confilr"Ied). Odice agencies throughout
the country now routinety consuft
Alexander. W one dmdft Irw swity or
believes she is a chartatan.
There is strong eviderice fiw the public
is growing more tolerant at psychic
phenomena. Noreen Reiner. a sell-
proclawned psychic in Medford. Oregon.
is a case n poinL She took umbrage at
an assertion by John D. Mart ill, cofwxW
of Northwest Skeptics. that she was a
traud. She sued for libel. At the trial she
testified MA she nowed poke Vaiinees
throughout the nation on the value of
psychic interventm In crime riveagation.
That fact was not lost on the Jury. which
awarded $25.000 to Reiner and in so
doling gave fair warning to all defamers
simi" inclined to fty had better
be prepared with the facts.
Intervention by psychics will raise
vexing but intriguing legal problems,
including issues of coercion and the fight
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 te poke. Assume
further that thie police amange to have a
psychic present during ft questioning.
Could his statement be sOcken because it
was coercecP Allen believes this is a
strong possibility. *1111 ft 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 abilifies of
psychics. A person in custody has the
constituticriall 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? "I
just don't believe it's possibW" says
Weitzman, 1XA 9 psychics can do what
T" say. it would be the height d a Fourth
Anwxwenit violation. If theres arty place
you have a reasonable expectabon of
privacy. it's in your mind"
For the present ftm questions are
debatar*_ Acceptance d Psychic
phenomena has not reacted ft point
vinere facing such legal pliobleii, is
kuninerIL But we will, have to deal with
#W17 A #* hAunL Evitlence is akvays a
riiiiatter ot degree. L=e aids Pirevaill
in the courtroom Carmitnty is a rare
commodity. Psychft do na OMM crinlies.
nor do they resi*0 ftwaxt& &A d they
contribute in any way 00 ft dSWMY Of
ft truth, aw dW cet be qxxed.
Those of us who participate in Ithe
judicial system mimi be cmcerned with
ft discovery d " as = Prime Oblec-
It". The value of psychic WSOMve in
&)ding the " has yet to be detenniined.
Some psyo= va turn Out to be kauds;
some will be legitinuft V% wiN n0t
be able to Odge them untill we fisfen to
what they have to say. it jus0ce is to be
served. we should riot be deterred by Our
ilability to explain how such a noble
purpose is accomplished.00
12 OMNI Approved For Release 2003/04/18 : CIA-RDP96-00789ROO2600060016-1