United States v. William A. Bowen, United States of America v. Kevin W. Jarvis

This is an interlocutory appeal by the Government. The district court granted a suppression motion made by the defendants to exclude evidence relating to a polygraph examination given to one of the defendants and other evidence relating to an alleged conspiracy by the defendants to cover-up the circumstances during and after the examination. This appeal presents the issue of whether results of a polygraph examination and other evidence of the surrounding circumstances of the examination were properly excluded from trial as too prejudicial when the purpose of the evidence was to show that the results of the polygraph examination were fabricated as a part of a conspiracy. We affirm.

I. FACTS

The parties present two entirely different versions of the facts leading up to this interlocutory appeal.

The Government essentially alleges that a United States border patrol agent senselessly attacked and beat up a man who was out target practicing near, the California-Mexican border. The Government describes the victim as a licensed doctor who is an American citizen of Mexican descent. In addition, the Government charges that the two border patrol agents conspired with a private…