As discussed in Post Script Three the Oakland County Prosecutor reported in February 1977 that Christopher Busch had passed a lie detector test but refused to report later readings from three other polygraphers who ruled otherwise. The inconsistent positions taken by the Oakland County Prosecutor on the publication of polygraph examinations needs clarification. The following is my timeline on the publication results of the lie detector tests of two of the OCCK suspects, Christopher Buach and Vince Gunnels.
January 28, 1977: The OCCK Task Force takes the polygraph examination of Busch in Genesee County. An Oakland County Prosecutor was present because Busch was a suspect in the murder of Mike Stebbins, the first victim (Chapter 22).
February 1977: Oakland County Prosecutor L Brooks Patterson concludes that Busch was not a suspect in the murder of Stebbins, the first victim, because he had passed a lie detector test. This information was published in two newspaper articles which were in the Michigan State Police reports which I received on December 15, 2010. Tim was abducted and killed one month later in March, 1977.
November 13, 2009: After my October 27, 2009 meeting with the Task Force Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper wrote me a letter advising me that publication of lie detector tests is a crime (Chapter 62, Exhibit J).
December 15, 2010: This is the date I received the Michigan State Police reports on Busch. It was after this date that I read two newspaper articles stating that Busch was not involved in the Stebbins case because he passed a lie detector test.
November 20. 2012: In response to my third FOIA request Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Grden delivered to me a copy of the complete polygraph test of Vince Gunnels taken on July 30, 2009 including the questions, the answers and the conclusions (Chapter 42). This information had been redacted in the MSP reports I received on December 15, 2010. Has Jessica Cooper taken any action to charge or discipline Gredn for this statutory violation?
April 1, 2013: Almost two years after I filed suit to review the October 28, 2008 search warrant on the Busch residence the 48th District Court gave me access to its search warrant file. The search warrant affidavit prepared by the Oakland County Prosecutor and signed by the Michigan State Police discloses that three experienced polygraphers concluded that Busch either failed or did not pass the January 28, 1977 lie detector test (Chapter 8, Exhibit A). The Oakland County Prosecutor publicly states in February 1977 that Busch passed the test and then refuses to give me access to the contrary readings. What is good for the goose is good for the gander! No prosecutor should have authority to state the earlier results and then deny victims or suspects access to the contrary answers.
October 2013: The police reports delivered to me at this time stated that more than 300 suspects had passed polygraph tests until Ted Lamborgine failed his test in 2005. Was a polygraph test the sole basis used to locate Tim’s killer? Has any prosecutor ever been accused of a crime when the statute is violated? Should Cooper and/or Grden be charged now?
If the courts do not clarify this problem the legislature should confer with the prosecutors and the criminal bar association to clarify procedures after anyone publishes lie detector results.