Stuck in the Past on 'Lie to Me' (VIDEO)

At least they didn't have Lightman testifying in court as an expert witness like they did last week for the first time ever in the entire history of "Lie to Me." The show had, until last week, always been clear that just like polygraphs, Dr. Lightman's "he's lying/not lying" stuff is absolutely, positively, in all possible cases INADMISSBLE in court. ESPECIALLY with respect to a criminal defendant ("the defendant is lying about not killing the victim!")... I was totally shocked with last week's episode. Granted part of his testimony was as a psychologist, but aside from making an ass of himself in court, he was testifying as a lie detector, and that's not allowed, period.

Hopefully it was a one-off fluke and I really hope it never happens again. I realize not everyone is a lawyer, but the show has done a good job of being realistic and it's always been open about the fact that Lightman cannot testify in court - at least not about whether he thinks someone is/is not telling the truth. Nor should he be. Whether a witness is testifying truthfully is up to the jury to decide. Getting an "expert" to use junk science to "help" the jury know who is lying ("he twitched his eye so he is lying lock him up for the rest of his life!") is a very scary thought. The defendant will of course end up getting his own "truth expert" who says his side is all telling the truth. But the jury will of course believe the "FBI-Certified, government licensed deception expert" testifying in favor of the prosecution versus the deception expert testifying for the defendant who doesn't have such impressive credentials (as people with those credentials are not permitted to testify for criminal defendants - typical way the government cheats in criminal trials).

Anyway... definite improvement over last week.