(10 of 10)
Frankel has an ally, in spirit at least, in none other than F. Lee Bailey. While he might not endorse all of the specific Frankel propositions, Bailey is a longtime critic of the system he knows how to use so well. "We've got to start putting the emphasis on justice rather than game-playing," he says. One pet Bailey prescription is the use of a lie detector on anyone vital to a trial. Courts continue to be reluctant right up to and including the Hearst trial to admit polygraph results as evidence, because they believe their reliability has not been proved. But, Bailey says, police already commonly use polygraphs in their investigations and "will almost never prosecute a man cleared by their own test. And in the military, the polygraph is considered conclusive." Bailey believes that the real judicial resistance to the polygraph is an instinctive fear of trial by machine, which would also change much of the established ways of proceeding.
Such far-reaching changes are not going to happen in time to affect the present task in hand for Bailey—unless he manages to win the admission of Patty's polygraph results despite prosecution objections. For the most part, though, Bailey will have to go with and at the system as it is. Whatever his critics' or opponents' reactions may be, Bailey is sure to enjoy himself. He always does. Last week as the men and women of the jury first took their seats, Bailey's large, seamed face eased into a grin.
He was home again, back on center stage to do what he does best. He was ready to pounce, to soothe, to explain, to cajole, to denounce, to plan, to think. Ready to fly.