State v. Porter

In State v. Porter, 182 W. Va. 776, 392 S.E.2d 216 (1990), the Court was confronted with the question of whether a mistrial should be granted in a criminal case where the prosecution did not elicit evidence of a polygraph test, but defense counsel, during recross-examination of a witness brought out the fact that polygraph tests had been used and where the court had given the jury a cautionary instruction after the information had been elicited. In Porter, the Court concluded: "Under these circumstances, while the evidence as to the polygraph tests was inadmissible, the admission thereof was not reversible error because the defendant was responsible for the admission of most of this evidence and because the circuit court's instruction cured the error of the admission of the polygraph evidence by the State."