Deputy Marshal Charged With Murder Of Child Wants To Know If Witnesses Were Hypnotized

One Marksville deputy city marshal charged with murder in the death of 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis wants to find out if prosecutors used hypnosis on any of their witnesses. Norris Greenhouse Jr’s attorney, George Higgins, filed a motion to discover if polygraph tests or sodium pentothal were used. Legal Analyst Tim Meche says this is a more common practice than most think.

“There are scores of literature that suggest it creates deceptiveness and the defendant is entitled to know whether or not it happened.”
Meche says typically professional law enforcement organizations do not use hypnosis but less experienced and knowledgeable agencies are sometimes susceptible to these practices.

“There are certain hypnotists who lack appropriate credibility and they sell themselves to some of the more amateurish law enforcement departments.”

Meche says he’s unsure if the witnesses could’ve been hypnotized, but it was completely appropriate for Greenhouse’s attorney to file the motion.

“Even though it’s not admissible in court, I think he’s entitled to know whether or not witnesses were subjected to these tests.”