I have been indicted on a felony charge. Can I take a private polygraph test and when I pass it use it in court?

It depends on where you live and whether you have been charged in state court or federal court. In Texas, where you live, polygraph evidence is not admissible for any purpose in a state criminal proceeding. Some state and federal courts will not allow polygraph evidence because there is no consensus that polygraph evidence is reliable. To this day, the scientific community remains extremely polarized about the reliability of polygraph techniques. Some studies have concluded that polygraph tests overall are accurate and reliable. Other studies suggest the accuracy rate is little better than could be obtained by the toss of a coin, that is, 50 percent. However, more than twenty states allow the admission of polygraph evidence under specified circumstances, such as on agreement of the parties. New Mexico treats polygraph evidence similarly to other types of scientific testimony, but has created additional safeguards specifically for polygraph evidence. In federal courts, admissibility of polygraph evidence is possible in most jurisdictions, either at the discretion of the judge or by agreement among the parties. The Fifth Circuit, which includes Texas, has removed the absolute ban on admission of polygraph evidence, but maintains strict tests for its admission. So if you have been charged in federal rather than state court in Texas, it is possible you may be allowed to introduce evidence that you passed a polygraph. The United States Supreme Court has considered the issue of whether an automatic rule against admission of polygraph evidence violates a defendant\\\'s Fifth or Sixth Amendment rights to present a defense and determined that it does not. The Court concluded that the automatic exclusion rule advanced the legitimate interest of barring unreliable evidence.