Billips v. Commonwealth

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Present: Judges Benton, Clements and Kelsey
Argued at Salem, Virginia

MATTHEW EDWARD BILLIPS
OPINION BY
v. Record No. 0172-05-3 JUDGE JEAN HARRISON CLEMENTS
JUNE 6, 2006
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF TAZEWELL COUNTY
Henry A. Vanover, Judge

Terrence Shea Cook (T. Shea Cook, P.C., on brief), for appellant.

Robert H. Anderson, III, Senior Assistant Attorney General (Judith
Williams Jagdmann, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Matthew Edward Billips appeals the sentences imposed by the trial judge following

Billips’s conviction in a jury trial of criminal solicitation, in violation of Code § 18.2-29, and two

counts of forcible sodomy, in violation of Code § 18.2-67.1. Billips contends the trial judge

erred at sentencing in (1) refusing to recuse himself after inappropriately receiving a sentencing

verdict from the jury, (2) admitting the sentencing guidelines portion of the presentence report

into evidence even though Billips was a juvenile when the offenses were committed, and

(3) admitting the risk assessment portion of the presentence report into evidence without first

determining that the scientific evidence contained therein concerning a plethysmograph

examination was reliable. For the reasons that follow, we affirm Billips’s sentences.

I. BACKGROUND

Viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the prevailing party below, see

Higginbotham v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 349, 352, 218 S.E.2d 534, 537 (1975), the evidence

presented at trial established that, on May 10, 2003, Billips was living with his aunt and uncle,
Wanda and Wayne Wood, in Tazewell County. The Woods’ step-grandsons, C.H. and S.H.,

were also spending the night with the Woods on that date. That evening, while the Woods were

downstairs watching television, Billips, whose date of birth was November 15, 1985, went

upstairs to his bedroom where C.H. and S.H. were playing video games. Shortly after entering

the room, Billips asked S.H., who was ten years old, to perform oral sex on him. After S.H.

refused, Billips persuaded C.H., who was nine years old, to perform oral sex on him. Billips

then performed oral sex on C.H.

On June 3, 2003, Billips was charged with feloniously sodomizing C.H., a child less than

thirteen years of age, in violation of Code § 18.2-67.1. On June 26, 2003, the juvenile and

domestic relations district court found probable cause and certified Billips’s case to the trial

court. On August 12, 2003, a grand jury indicted Billips on two counts of forcible sodomy, in

violation of Code § 18.2-67.1, and one count of criminal solicitation, in violation of Code

§ 18.2-29. A trial by jury was held on April 20, 2004. At the conclusion of the evidence and

argument by counsel, the jury found Billips guilty as charged.

The trial then proceeded to the sentencing phase. Without objection by either party, the

jury continued to sit in the trial. The Commonwealth introduced evidence of Billips’s prior

convictions as a juvenile for grand larceny of a motor vehicle, felony escape, abduction,

carjacking, and malicious wounding. After hearing the defense’s evidence in mitigation and the

argument of counsel, the jury fixed Billips’s sentence at twenty-five years for each of the

sodomy convictions and five years for the solicitation conviction, for a total sentence of fifty-five

years.

After the jury was excused, the following colloquy took place:

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Your Honor, at this time we have
a motion to set aside the verdict rendered by the jury as well as in the
alternative a motion to stay the imposition of the sentence until after

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 a presentence report can be considered by the Court along with a set
of sentencing guidelines.

THE COURT: All right. I’ll tell you what the Court would
do. The Court will order that a presentence report be prepared prior
to sentencing. And will order also as part of that presentence report
that a psychosexual evaluation be performed of Mr. Billips. And the
Court will also give you, if you desire, ten days to file any written
post-trial motions that you desire to file. And I will give the
Commonwealth, if they desire, ten days to respond in writing to
those motions. And we can set any motions that you want to file for
hearing at the same time we set a sentencing [hearing]. Is that
satisfactory?

[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Yes, Your Honor.

The trial judge then ordered that a presentence report, including a sentencing guidelines

report and a psychosexual evaluation report, be “prepared for the court’s consideration prior to

sentencing,” pursuant to Code §§ 19.2-299, 19.2-298.01, and 19.2-300. Jennifer Helbert, the

probation officer who prepared Billips’s presentence report, referred Billips to Counseling and

Consultation Services, Inc., a local non-profit corporation specializing in the “assessment and

treatment of sexual offenders,” for evaluation. Cheryl Clayton, the corporation’s Director of

Virginia Services, and Dr. Ronald J. Ricci, Ph.D., examined Billips and performed a “Risk

Assessment designed to address present risk to reoffend and to generate treatment

recommendations.” Following preparation of the presentence report, including the sentencing

guidelines report and the risk assessment report, the trial judge held a sentencing hearing on

October 4, 2004.1

At the outset of the sentencing hearing, the trial judge heard argument on Billips’s motion

to have the trial judge recuse himself and allow another judge to do the sentencing. After

pointing out that, pursuant to Code § 16.1-272, the jury should not have been allowed to

1
By order entered October 4, 2004, Billips’s current counsel was substituted for his
original counsel.
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recommend a sentence in this case, Billips argued that, in order to avoid the perception that the

trial judge may have been influenced by the jury’s “harsh” and “severe” sentencing verdict, the

trial judge should recuse himself and allow another judge to determine Billips’s sentence or

preside over a new trial, if appropriate. The trial judge denied the motion, stating that he was

able to “set aside the [jury’s] recommendation” in determining an appropriate sentence and that

the jury’s recommendation would have no “greater effect” on him than on “another sentencing

judge who would be aware [from the record] of . . . what the jury had done.”

Thereafter, Helbert recounted Billips’s juvenile criminal record and testified regarding a

psychological assessment of Billips conducted in 1997. Helbert recommended that Billips be

incarcerated.

When the Commonwealth sought to introduce the presentence report into evidence,

Billips initially objected to the admissibility of the sentencing guidelines report included in the

presentence report. Billips argued that the sentencing guidelines, which recommended an

incarceration range of twenty years and five months to fifty-nine years and nine months, were

geared to adults and should not apply in this case because he was a juvenile at the time the

offenses were committed. Citing the defense’s failure to provide any authority supporting its

position, the trial judge denied Billips’s objection.

Billips then objected to the admissibility of the risk assessment report included in the

presentence report, arguing that the risk assessment report was impermissibly based on the

results of a polygraph examination and a penile plethysmograph examination. A

plethysmograph, Billips argued, is as unreliable as a polygraph in that they both measure a

person’s physical response to certain stimuli and, thus, should be similarly inadmissible.

Sustaining Billips’s objection with regard to the risk assessment report’s reliance on a polygraph

examination, the trial judge directed that a new risk assessment report be prepared “without any

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consideration of any type of polygraph examination.” However, noting that “[t]here is some

difference” between polygraphs and plethysmographs and that, unlike polygraphs, there is no

“specific case law” in Virginia dealing with plethysmographs, the trial judge denied Billips’s

objection with regard to the risk assessment report’s reliance on a plethysmograph examination.

The trial judge continued the sentencing hearing to allow for revision of the risk assessment

report.

Following completion of the revised risk assessment report, the sentencing hearing

recommenced on October 26, 2004. Clayton testified regarding the various factors she and

Dr. Ricci used to assess the risk that Billips would re-engage in similar deviant sexual behavior.

Discussing those factors, Clayton testified that Billips admitted during an interview that he had

sexual contact when he was twelve years old with one of the victims but denied he committed

the crimes for which he was convicted. Likewise, Clayton testified, Billips exhibited no signs of

empathy toward the victims. Clayton explained that Billips’s denial of culpability and his lack of

empathy indicated he did not believe he had “a problem with sexual offending,” which suggested

“a poor treatment outcome.”

Clayton further testified that Billips and his parents claimed the charges against him had

been fabricated because he would not obtain drugs for members of the victims’ family. Such a

belief on the part of the parents, Clayton opined, indicated they did not believe Billips had a

sexual offense problem and suggested they would be unlikely to provide adequate supervision

within the community.

Clayton also testified that, using a “comprehensive risk to reoffen[d] scale” to assess

Billips’s likelihood of reoffending, she and Dr. Ricci determined that Billips posed “a moderate

reoffense risk.” Clayton explained that Billips’s score was based on a “variety of different

factors,” including the nature of the offenses he committed; the age and sex of the victims; the

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number of victims; the length of time he knew the victims; the means by which he gained access

to the victims; the length of time he had been engaging in deviant sexual behavior; his social and

familial relationships; his employment, criminal, and mental health histories; his substance abuse

issues; and the results of his penile plethysmograph examination.

Clayton testified, over Billips’s objection, that the plethysmograph examination

administered to Billips indicated he had five primary areas of elevated deviant arousal response,

including “clinically significant deviant arousal” to various sexual scenarios involving young

boys and girls. Clayton further testified that, with respect to assessing a person’s risk to reoffend

based on a plethysmograph examination, “individuals who have three or more areas of elevated

deviant response . . . are in the highest reoffense category.”

Over Billips’s objection, the trial judge then admitted the revised risk assessment portion

of the presentence report into evidence. In describing the purpose of the risk assessment

performed on Billips, the report stated:

Our responsibility is two-fold. First and foremost is the
protection of the community from further sexual assault. The
second responsibility is the rehabilitation of the offender so that the
risk to reoffend is minimized. Our assessment is not designed, nor
is an assessment available, that can “prove” guilt or innocence.

The risk assessment report listed the various sources of information used to prepare the

assessment—including “Collateral Information” from the probation officer, a “Client Social

History Questionnaire,” “Intake” and “Clinical” interviews, a “Cognitive Distortion Scale,” a

“Sexual Scenario Rating Scale,” a “Family Assessment,” and a “Penile Plethysmograph

Assessment”—and detailed the factors cited by Clayton that were used to assess Billips’s risk of

reoffending under the “Comprehensive Risk to Reoffend Scale.” With regard to the penile

plethysmograph examination, the risk assessment report stated as follows:

A Penile Plethysmograph Assessment evaluates the
presence or absence of deviant sexual arousal. Research has
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 demonstrated that deviant sexual arousal is one of the best
indicators of risk to sexually reoffend. As used by our agency, the
penile plethysmograph is designed to measure sexual
responsiveness to a variety of stimuli. Males and females ranging
in age from infant to adult are represented in the stimuli. Visual
stimuli are accompanied by audio stimuli describing behavior
across a range of different sexual activity.

. . . Mr. Billips’[s] response pattern represents elevated
responses to three or more categories across gender[, which] places
Mr. Billips in the highest reoffense risk category. Deviant arousal
to children has been shown to be the strongest indicator of
recidivism.

Upon consideration of the presentence report, including the sentencing guidelines report

and the risk assessment report included therein; the Commonwealth’s victim-impact evidence

from the victims’ mother; and Billips’s evidence in mitigation, the trial judge found that “the

nature of [Billips’s] offenses warranted deviation from the [sentencing] guidelines,” which “were

too low under the circumstances . . . of these cases.” Accepting the Commonwealth’s

recommendation, the court imposed life sentences for the two forcible sodomy convictions and a

five-year sentence for the criminal solicitation conviction. In announcing the sentences, the trial

judge stated that he could not imagine a more “heinous offense” than that committed by Billips.

The trial judge further stated that he could “see no expression by [Billips] of any type of true

empathy or remorse or understanding of the consequences of [his] crimes.”

The trial judge entered the sentencing order on January 4, 2005, and this appeal followed.

II. RECUSAL

Although tried as an adult, Billips was seventeen years old when he was indicted for the

instant offenses. Thus, the trial judge should have fixed Billips’s sentence “without the

intervention of [the] jury.” Code § 16.1-272(A). However, the jury continued to sit in the

penalty phase of the trial and recommended a total prison term of fifty-five years. Neither party

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objected to the jury’s participation in the penalty phase, and Billips does not challenge his

sentence on that ground, on appeal.

Instead, Billips contends that, having received the jury’s inappropriately rendered

sentencing verdict, the trial judge should have recused himself from the case so that a new judge,

untainted by the jury’s sentencing decision, could have been appointed to impose sentence. Such

a recusal was necessary, Billips argues, because the trial judge’s knowledge of the jury’s “harsh”

sentencing verdict gave rise to the perception that the judge’s imposition of sentence would be

influenced by that verdict. That perception, Billips adds, was borne out by the severe sentence

imposed by the trial judge, which clearly demonstrates the judge was “prejudiced” by the jury’s

sentencing verdict and had an “inflamed bias” against Billips as a result. Thus, Billips

concludes, the trial judge’s refusal to recuse himself violated Billips’s due process right to be

sentenced by an impartial judge and constituted an abuse of discretion. We disagree.

The law governing this issue is well settled. “A fair trial in a fair tribunal is a basic

requirement of due process.” In re Murchison, 349 U.S. 133, 136 (1955). The due process right

to a fair tribunal applies to both the guilt and sentencing phases of a criminal trial, see

Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 518 (1968), and requires the trial judge to be “neutral and

detached,” Ward v. Village of Monroeville, 409 U.S. 57, 61-62 (1972). Indeed, the judge “must

possess neither actual nor apparent bias against a party, and ‘in the most extreme of cases’ of

bias, where, for example, a judge has a personal stake in the outcome of litigation, the

judge’s recusal will be required.” United States v. Cherry, 330 F.3d 658, 665 (4th Cir. 2003)

(quoting Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Lavoie, 475 U.S. 813, 821 (1986)). “[T]he inquiry must be not

only whether there was actual bias on [the judge’s] part, but also whether there was ‘such a

likelihood of bias or an appearance of bias that the judge was unable to hold the balance between

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vindicating the interests of the court and the interests of the accused.’” Taylor v. Hayes, 418

U.S. 488, 501 (1974) (quoting Ungar v. Sarafite, 376 U.S. 575, 588 (1964)).

Of course, most questions concerning a judge’s qualifications to
hear a case are not constitutional ones, because the Due Process
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment establishes a constitutional
floor, not a uniform standard. Instead, these questions are, in most
cases, answered by common law, statute, or the professional
standards of the bench and bar.

Bracy v. Gramley, 520 U.S. 899, 904 (1997) (citation omitted); see also FTC v. Cement Institute,

333 U.S. 683, 702 (1948) (noting that “most matters relating to judicial disqualification [do] not

rise to a constitutional level”).

The Canons of Judicial Conduct for the Commonwealth of Virginia provide that “[a]

judge shall disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the judge’s impartiality might

reasonably be questioned.” Canon 3(E)(1). Accordingly, “a judge must diligently avoid not

only impropriety but a reasonable appearance of impropriety as well.” Davis v. Commonwealth,

21 Va. App. 587, 591, 466 S.E.2d 741, 743 (1996). The question, therefore, “whether a trial

judge should recuse himself or herself is measured by whether he or she harbors [or reasonably

appears to harbor] ‘such bias or prejudice as would deny the defendant a fair trial.’” Welsh v.

Commonwealth, 14 Va. App. 300, 314, 416 S.E.2d 451, 459 (1992) (quoting Justus v.

Commonwealth, 222 Va. 667, 673, 283 S.E.2d 905, 908 (1981)), aff’d, 246 Va. 337, 437 S.E.2d

914 (1993).

“[T]he party moving for recusal of a judge has the burden of proving the judge’s bias or

prejudice.” Commonwealth v. Jackson, 267 Va. 226, 229, 590 S.E.2d 518, 519-20 (2004). “A

purported violation of the Canons alone is not enough to mandate recusal.” Id. at 229, 590

S.E.2d at 519; see Davis, 21 Va. App. at 591, 466 S.E.2d at 743 (noting that a judge is not

required “to recuse himself or herself and disrupt the orderly flow of the docket at the whim or

unsupported suggestion of a party”). “In the absence of proof of actual bias [or prejudice],
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recusal is properly within the discretion of the trial judge.” Jackson, 267 Va. at 229, 590 S.E.2d

at 520; see Davis, 21 Va. App. at 591, 466 S.E.2d at 743 (“Exactly when a judge’s impartiality

might reasonably be called into question is a determination to be made by that judge in the

exercise of his or her sound discretion.”). “In exercising his [or her] discretion in this regard, the

judge must be guided not only by the true state of his [or her] impartiality, but also by the public

perception of his [or her] fairness, in order that public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary

may be maintained.” Stamper v. Commonwealth, 228 Va. 707, 722, 324 S.E.2d 682, 686

(1985).

Examining the instant record with these considerations in mind, we hold that the trial

judge’s knowledge of the jury’s improperly rendered sentencing verdict did not require his

recusal. Acknowledging at the sentencing hearing that consideration of the jury’s sentencing

verdict was inappropriate in this case, the trial judge explicitly indicated that he could, and

would, disregard the jury’s recommendation in determining Billips’s sentence. We find no

reason to disbelieve “the court’s unequivocal statement,” Overton v. Commonwealth, 260 Va.

599, 604, 539 S.E.2d 421, 424 (2000), or to question the judge’s ability to do what he said he

could and would do. Likewise, we find no reason to believe that a reasonable member of the

public would have cause to doubt the judge’s assurance that he would disregard the jury’s

recommendation or his ability to do so. It is widely accepted that “[a] judge, unlike a juror, is

uniquely suited by training, experience and judicial discipline to disregard potentially prejudicial

comments and to separate, during the mental process of adjudication, the admissible from the

inadmissible, even though he has heard both.” Eckhart v. Commonwealth, 222 Va. 213, 216,

279 S.E.2d 155, 157 (1981); see Johnson v. Commonwealth, 12 Va. App. 391, 397, 404 S.E.2d

384, 387 (1991) (holding that a trial judge, unlike a juror, has the ability at sentencing to

disregard an inadmissible inculpatory statement by the defendant). In fact, trial judges are

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routinely required to disregard “matters that would be prejudicial if considered when deciding

the case.” Farren v. Commonwealth, 30 Va. App. 234, 239, 516 S.E.2d 253, 256 (1999).

Consequently, we have held that, notwithstanding a trial judge’s knowledge of evidence that is

immaterial and incompetent, the judge is presumed to have correctly disregarded such evidence,

absent “clear evidence to the contrary.” Cole v. Commonwealth, 16 Va. App. 113, 116, 428

S.E.2d 303, 305 (1993). There is nothing in the record that rebuts that presumption here.

Moreover, we find nothing in the record that indicates the trial judge harbored any actual

or apparent bias or prejudice against Billips as a result of the judge’s awareness of the jury’s

sentencing verdict. Billips argues that the harsh sentence imposed by the trial judge indicates the

trial judge’s objectivity was tainted by the jury’s recommendation. This argument is without

merit. The jury recommended a sentence of twenty-five years for each of Billips’s two forcible

sodomy convictions. In sentencing Billips to life imprisonment for each of the two forcible

sodomy convictions, the trial judge imposed the maximum sentence permitted by law. See Code

§ 18.2-67.1(B) (“Forcible sodomy is a felony punishable by confinement in a state correctional

facility for life or for any term not less than five years.”). Plainly, had the trial judge’s

objectivity been influenced by the jury’s recommendation, as Billips claims, the trial judge

would have imposed a sentence more in keeping with the jury’s recommended sentence, rather

than the maximum possible. In addition, the imposition by the trial judge of the maximum

sentence permitted by law is not, by itself, sufficient to show that the trial judge harbored actual

or apparent bias or prejudice against the defendant. Wilson v. Commonwealth, 46 Va. App. 408,

430, 617 S.E.2d 431, 442 (2005) (plurality opinion), petition for appeal granted, No. 051968 (Va.

Sup. Ct. Order of December 21, 2005); see Abdo v. Commonwealth, 218 Va. 473, 479, 237

S.E.2d 900, 903 (1977) (“When a statute prescribes a maximum imprisonment penalty and the

sentence does not exceed that maximum, the sentence will not be overturned as being an abuse

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of discretion.”); Robinson v. Commonwealth, 13 Va. App. 540, 542, 413 S.E.2d 661, 662 (1992)

(“‘If the sentence is within the range set by the legislature, an appellate court will not interfere

with the judgment.’” (quoting Hudson v. Commonwealth, 10 Va. App. 158, 160-61, 390 S.E.2d

509, 510 (1990))). Billips points to no other evidence as proof of the trial judge’s actual or

apparent bias or prejudice.

Because the record is devoid of any indication that the trial judge’s sentencing

determination was affected by the judge’s knowledge of the jury’s sentencing verdict, and

because the judge’s impartiality cannot reasonably be questioned on that basis, we hold that the

trial judge did not violate Billips’s right to due process or abuse the judge’s discretion in refusing

to recuse himself and appoint another judge to determine Billips’s sentence.

III. SENTENCING GUIDELINES

In his second claim of error, Billips contends solely that “[t]he sentencing guidelines in

this case should not have been prepared [by the probation officer] or considered by the trial

court” in determining his sentence because the guidelines are geared to adults and penalize juvenile

offenders. Because the court actions challenged by Billips on appeal arose from his own conduct at

trial, we need not address the merits of his claim.

The record demonstrates that, after the jury found Billips guilty and fixed his sentence,

Billips’s counsel specifically moved “to stay the imposition of the sentence until after a presentence

report [could] be considered by the Court along with a set of sentencing guidelines.” In response,

the trial judge informed the parties that, inter alia, he was going to “order that a presentence report

be prepared prior to sentencing.” Asked by the judge if that was “satisfactory,” Billips’s counsel

responded that it was. The trial judge then set the case for sentencing and ordered that a presentence

report be prepared for the court’s consideration prior to sentencing. At the sentencing hearing, the

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trial judge admitted the completed presentence report, including the sentencing guidelines report,

into evidence. In other words, the trial judge did exactly what Billips requested he do.

It is well settled in Virginia that an appellate court will not “notice error [that] has been

invited by the party seeking to take advantage thereof on appeal.” Saunders v. Commonwealth, 211

Va. 399, 400, 177 S.E.2d 637, 638 (1970); see also Buchanan v. Commonwealth, 238 Va. 389,

400-01, 384 S.E.2d 757, 764 (1989) (holding that a party may not be heard to complain on

appeal where the record shows the lower court took the very action requested or agreed to by that

party); Clark v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. 201, 214, 257 S.E.2d 784, 792 (1979) (“The defendant,

having agreed upon the action taken by the trial court, should not be allowed to assume an

inconsistent position.”); McClain v. Commonwealth, 189 Va. 847, 856, 55 S.E.2d 49, 53 (1949)

(“The defendant, having taken his chance on a favorable report, ought not to be heard to object

later if he considered it unfavorable.”). Indeed, “[n]o litigant, even a defendant in a criminal case,

will be permitted to approbate and reprobate—to invite error . . . and then to take advantage of the

situation created by his own wrong.” Fisher v. Commonwealth, 236 Va. 403, 417, 374 S.E.2d 46,

54 (1988). Accordingly, Billips will not now be heard to complain of actions by the trial judge that

he himself asked the judge to take.

We hold, therefore, that the trial judge did not err in ordering the preparation of the

sentencing guidelines in this case or in considering those guidelines in determining Billips’s

sentence. See Collins v. Commonwealth, 269 Va. 141, 146, 607 S.E.2d 719, 721 (2005) (noting

that “the judgment of the trial court is presumed to be correct unless and until reversed”).

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 IV. PLETHYSMOGRAPH

Lastly, Billips challenges the admissibility of the results of his penile plethysmograph

examination2 and the opinions based on those results on the ground that the trial judge failed to

make a threshold finding that a penile plethysmograph examination is a reliable scientific

method of determining a convicted sex offender’s risk to reoffend, as required by Spencer v.

Commonwealth, 240 Va. 78, 97, 393 S.E.2d 609, 621 (1990). Absent such a threshold finding,

Billips argues, the trial judge erred in receiving and considering the risk assessment portion of

the presentence report, which contained those results and opinions. We disagree.

Decisions regarding the admissibility of evidence presented during sentencing

proceedings lie “within the sound discretion of the trial court” and will not be disturbed on

appeal absent a clear abuse of discretion. Runyon v. Commonwealth, 29 Va. App. 573, 576, 513

S.E.2d 872, 874 (1999); see Shifflett v. Commonwealth, 257 Va. 34, 45, 510 S.E.2d 232, 237

(1999) (holding that a trial court’s ruling on the admissibility of evidence at sentencing will not

be reversed unless the court clearly abused its discretion). “However, ‘by definition, when the

trial court makes an error of law, an abuse of discretion occurs.’” Gonzales v. Commonwealth,

45 Va. App. 375, 380, 611 S.E.2d 616, 618 (2005) (en banc) (quoting Bass v. Commonwealth,

31 Va. App. 373, 382, 523 S.E.2d 534, 539 (2000)). “Absent clear evidence to the contrary in

the record, the judgment of a trial court comes to us on appeal with a presumption that the law

was correctly applied . . . .” Yarborough v. Commonwealth, 217 Va. 971, 978, 234 S.E.2d 286,

291 (1977).

As we noted in Cotton v. Commonwealth, 19 Va. App. 306, 310, 451 S.E.2d 673, 676

(1994), aff’d on other grounds, 20 Va. App. 596, 459 S.E.2d 527 (1995) (en banc), the Supreme

2
A “plethysmograph” is “an instrument for determining and registering variations in the
size of an organ or limb and in the amount of blood present or passing through it.” Webster’s
Third New International Dictionary 1740 (1993).
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Court of Virginia “set forth explicitly the standard for determining the competence of scientific

evidence” in Spencer as follows:

When scientific evidence is offered, the court must make a
threshold finding of fact with respect to the reliability of the
scientific method offered, unless it is of a kind so familiar and
accepted as to require no foundation to establish the fundamental
reliability of the system, such as fingerprint analysis; or unless it is
so unreliable that the considerations requiring its exclusion have
ripened into rules of law, such as “lie-detector” tests; or unless its
admission is regulated by statute, such as blood-alcohol test
results.
In making the threshold finding of fact, the court must
usually rely on expert testimony. If there is a conflict, and the trial
court’s finding is supported by credible evidence, it will not be
disturbed on appeal. Even where the issue of scientific reliability
is disputed, if the court determines that there is a sufficient
foundation to warrant admission of the evidence, the court may, in
its discretion, admit the evidence with appropriate instructions to
the jury to consider the disputed reliability of the evidence in
determining its credibility and weight.

Spencer, 240 Va. at 97-98, 393 S.E.2d at 621 (citations omitted).

Spencer and Cotton, however, each involved scientific evidence offered by the

Commonwealth during the guilt phase of a jury trial to prove the identity of the criminal agent.

Spencer, 240 Va. at 84, 393 S.E.2d at 613; Cotton, 19 Va. App. at 309, 451 S.E.2d at 675. Here,

the challenged scientific evidence concerning the penile plethysmograph examination

administered to Billips was contained in the risk assessment portion of the presentence report,

which was presented to the trial judge at the sentencing hearing pursuant to Code §§ 19.2-299

and 19.2-300. The evidence went explicitly to Billips’s risk of reoffending and indirectly to his

amenability to treatment, subjects plainly relevant to sentencing. See Merritt v. Commonwealth,

32 Va. App. 506, 508, 528 S.E.2d 743, 744 (2000) (“‘The sentencing decision . . . is a quest for a

sentence that best effectuates the criminal justice system’s goals of deterrence (general and

specific), incapacitation, retribution and rehabilitation.’” (quoting United States v. Morris, 837

F. Supp. 726, 729 (E.D. Va. 1993))); Gilliam v. Commonwealth, 21 Va. App. 519, 524, 465
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S.E.2d 592, 595 (1996) (noting that evidence bearing on a defendant’s “tendency to commit

offenses” and “the probabilities of rehabilitation” is “indispensable to the determination of an

appropriate sentence” (internal quotation marks omitted)). Billips offers, and we are aware of,

no authority requiring a trial judge to apply the evidentiary standard set forth in Spencer to

relevant scientific evidence offered in a presentence report pursuant to Code §§ 19.2-299 and

19.2-300. Nor do we perceive a good reason to require a trial judge to do so.

It is well settled in Virginia that the rules governing the admissibility of evidence in

sentencing hearings are more relaxed than those applied during the guilt phase of trial. See

Harris v. Commonwealth, 26 Va. App. 794, 808, 497 S.E.2d 165, 171 (1998) (noting that the

evidentiary restrictions imposed at sentencing hearings are “significantly relaxed”). As the

Supreme Court of Virginia said in McClain, 189 Va. 847, 55 S.E.2d 49:

“Tribunals passing on the guilt of a defendant always have
been hedged in by strict evidentiary procedural limitations. But
both before and since the American colonies became a nation,
courts in this country and in England practiced a policy under
which a sentencing judge could exercise a wide discretion in the
sources and types of evidence used to assist him in determining the
kind and extent of punishment to be imposed within limits fixed by
law.”

Id. at 859-60, 55 S.E.2d at 55 (quoting Williams v. People of State of New York, 337 U.S. 241,

246 (1949) (footnote omitted)). This evidentiary distinction between the guilt and penalty phase

proceedings exists, the Court explained, because, in the guilt phase of trial, “the rules of evidence

are designed to prevent the introduction of collateral issues and to prevent tribunals concerned

solely with the issue of guilt of the particular offense from being influenced to convict for that

offense by evidence” not strictly admissible on that issue. Id. at 860, 55 S.E.2d at 55.

Conversely, at a sentencing hearing, “the task of the judge, within fixed statutory or

constitutional limits, is to determine the type and extent of punishment after the issue of guilt has

- 16 -
been determined, to the end that punishment should fit the offender and not merely the crime.”

Id.

This distinction is particularly pronounced when it comes to the admissibility of

information contained in a presentence report prepared by a probation officer pursuant to Code

§ 19.2-299. For example, “[a] sentencing judge may consider hearsay contained in a probation

report.” Thomas v. Commonwealth, 18 Va. App. 656, 659, 446 S.E.2d 469, 471 (1994) (en

banc). This is a significant difference from the standard generally applied at trial because, as we

said in Evans-Smith v. Commonwealth, 5 Va. App. 188, 197, 361 S.E.2d 436, 441 (1987), “[t]he

strongest justification for the exclusion of hearsay evidence is that the trier of fact has no

opportunity to view the witness on cross-examination and to observe the demeanor of the

out-of-court declarant to determine reliability.” Similarly, a sentencing judge may consider a

presentence report that contains evidence of the defendant’s unadjudicated criminal conduct,

Wolfe v. Commonwealth, 37 Va. App. 136, 142-43, 554 S.E.2d 695, 698-99 (2001), including

evidence obtained from unnamed confidential informants regarding the defendant’s involvement

in illicit drug operations, Moses v. Commonwealth, 27 Va. App. 293, 303, 498 S.E.2d 451, 456

(1998).

Justification for this less strict application of the rules of evidence at sentencing hearings

is found in Code § 19.2-299(A)’s mandate that the probation officer preparing the presentence

report for the trial judge include “the history of the accused . . . and all other relevant facts” in

the report “so the court may determine the appropriate sentence to be imposed,” and in the

established principle that a judge charged with the responsibility of determining the appropriate

punishment for a convicted defendant “is entitled to know as much relevant information about

the defendant as possible,” Beaver v. Commonwealth, 232 Va. 521, 529, 352 S.E.2d 342, 347

(1987) (citing Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262, 276 (1976) (“What is essential is that the [sentencer]

- 17 -
have before it all possible relevant information about the individual defendant whose fate it must

determine.”)); see Shifflett, 257 Va. at 43, 510 S.E.2d at 236 (holding that the need for a fully

informed sentencer is “no less essential” in cases involving noncapital offenses than it is in cases

involving capital offenses).

The relaxed standard of admissibility at sentencing hearings is also reflective of the fact

that the sentencing judge alone, and not the jury, receives and considers the presentence report,

and any reports included therein, in determining the appropriate sentence to impose. See Harris,

26 Va. App. at 807, 497 S.E.2d at 171 (“Under Code § 19.2-299(A), a probation officer who has

been ordered to prepare a presentence report is required ‘to fully advise the court’ of [the

relevant information]. The trial court, in turn, is required to read and consider the content of the

presentence report when ‘determining the appropriate sentence to be imposed.’” (citation

omitted) (emphasis added)); Code § 19.2-298.01(A) (providing that “the court shall (i) have

presented to it the appropriate discretionary sentencing guidelines worksheets and (ii) review and

consider the suitability of the applicable discretionary sentencing guidelines” and that, “[i]n

cases tried by a jury, the jury shall not be presented any information regarding sentencing

guidelines” (emphasis added)); Code § 19.2-300 (providing that the sentence will be deferred

until the mental examination report “can be secured to guide the judge in determining what

disposition shall be made of the defendant” (emphasis added)); cf. Code § 19.2-264.4(B) (“In

cases of trial by jury, . . . reports under the provisions of § 19.2-299 . . . shall not be admitted into

evidence.”). As alluded to earlier, it is widely accepted that a sentencing judge, unlike a lay

juror, has the ability to disregard evidence in a presentence report that may not properly be relied

upon in determining a defendant’s sentence. See Beck v. Commonwealth, 253 Va. 373, 385-86,

484 S.E.2d 898, 905-06 (1997) (noting that, unlike a juror, the sentencing judge was able to

assess the propriety of the victim impact evidence in the presentence report and disregard any

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such evidence that did not warrant his consideration) (citing Eckhart, 222 Va. at 216, 279 S.E.2d

at 157); Johnson, 12 Va. App. at 397, 404 S.E.2d at 387 (holding that a sentencing judge, unlike

a juror, has the ability to disregard a statement in the presentence report that was not admissible

at the sentencing hearing).

Thus, “‘a sentencing judge [may typically] exercise wide
discretion in the sources and types of evidence used to assist him in
determining the kind and extent of punishment to be imposed.’”
United States v. Torres, 926 F.2d 321, 324 (3d Cir. 1991) (quoting
Williams v. New York, 337 U.S. 241, 246 (1949)); see also United
States v. Tucker, 404 U.S. 443, 446 (1972) (“[The sentencing]
judge may appropriately conduct an inquiry broad in scope, largely
unlimited either as to the kind of information he may consider, or
the source from which it may come.”). For this reason, the
admissibility of evidence during sentencing proceedings does not
necessarily turn on whether that same evidence was admissible
during the guilt phase of the trial.

Brown v. City of Danville, 44 Va. App. 586, 611, 606 S.E.2d 523, 536 (2004) (alterations in

original). However, “[t]his broad rule of inclusion is tempered by the requirement that the

information bear some indicia of reliability.” Moses, 27 Va. App. at 302, 498 S.E.2d at 456. In

other words, the “information relied upon by the court” at a sentencing hearing must “have some

indicia of reliability.” Alger v. Commonwealth, 19 Va. App. 252, 258, 450 S.E.2d 765, 768

(1994) (citing United States v. Fatico, 579 F.2d 707, 712-13 (2d Cir. 1978)).

These principles also find support, from a constitutional perspective, in the United States

Supreme Court’s rationale in Barefoot v. Estelle, 463 U.S. 880 (1983). Addressing the question

in that case whether potentially unreliable psychiatric evidence about “future dangerousness”

was constitutionally admissible at sentencing in a capital murder trial, the Court held that,

because it was not “almost entirely unreliable,” such “scientific proof” was admissible as long as

it was relevant and helpful to the sentencer. Id. at 896-903, 905-06 (citing Jurek, 428 U.S. at

274-76). Eschewing the Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923), “general

acceptance” standard normally applied in the federal courts at the time to determine the
- 19 -
reliability of scientific evidence,3 the Court reasoned that the adversary process could “be trusted

to sort out the reliable from the unreliable evidence and opinion . . . , particularly when the

convicted felon has the opportunity to present his own side of the case.” 463 U.S. at 901. As the

Court explained:

[T]he rules of evidence generally extant at the federal and state
levels anticipate that relevant, unprivileged evidence should be
admitted and its weight left to the factfinder, who would have the
benefit of cross-examination and contrary evidence by the
opposing party. Psychiatric testimony predicting dangerousness
may be countered not only as erroneous in a particular case but
also as generally so unreliable that it should be ignored.

Id. at 898. Thus, the Court further explained, the parties’ “differences in opinion” as to the

reliability of the scientific evidence, “go to the weight [of the evidence] and not the admissibility

of such [evidence].” Id. at 902 (first alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted).

3
In comparison, Justice Blackmun favorably cited in his dissent several federal cases in
which scientific evidence was rejected under the Frye standard. Id. at 931 n.9, 935 (Blackmun,
J., dissenting). Under the evidentiary standard for scientific evidence set forth in Frye, 293 F. at
1014, expert testimony based on a scientific principle is admissible only if the principle is
“sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance in the particular field in which it
belongs.” Although the Frye admissibility standard has been superseded by the federal rules of
evidence and the reliability-assessment factors propounded in Daubert v. Merrell Dow
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 593-94 (1993), the Supreme Court’s constitutional analysis
in Barefoot remains valid. See United States v. Scheffer, 523 U.S. 303, 311 n.7 (1998) (noting
that Daubert interpreted and altered the federal rules of evidence, not the Constitution); Johnson
v. Cockrell, 306 F.3d 249, 255 (5th Cir. 2002) (rejecting the appellant’s argument that the
Supreme Court implicitly overruled Barefoot when it later issued its Daubert standards for the
admission of scientific evidence); Flores v. Johnson, 210 F.3d 456, 458 (5th Cir. 2000) (Garza,
J., concurring) (acknowledging that Barefoot remained valid and binding on the lower courts);
United States v. Sampson, 335 F. Supp. 2d 166, 220 (D. Mass. 2004) (noting that Barefoot
addressed the constitutionality of expert testimony while Daubert addressed the admissibility of
expert testimony under the federal laws of evidence).
In Virginia, our Supreme Court specifically refused to adopt the Frye standard in O’Dell
v. Commonwealth, 234 Va. 672, 696, 364 S.E.2d 491, 504 (1988), and acknowledged in John v.
Im, 263 Va. 315, 322, 559 S.E.2d 694, 698 (2002), that it had not “considered the question
whether the Daubert analysis employed by the federal courts should be applied in our trial courts
to determine the scientific reliability of expert testimony.” Thus, as the Supreme Court noted in
John, the Spencer evidentiary standard still governs the admission of scientific evidence in
Virginia. Id. at 322 n.3, 559 S.E.2d at 698 n.3.
- 20 -
 As Justice Blackmun pointed out in his dissent in Barefoot, the need for due process

could hardly have been any more stringent than it was in that case:

The Court holds that psychiatric testimony about a defendant’s
future dangerousness is admissible, despite the fact that such
testimony is wrong two times out of three. The Court reaches this
result—even in a capital case—because, it is said, the testimony is
subject to cross-examination and impeachment. . . . One may
accept this in a routine lawsuit for money damages, but when a
person’s life is at stake—no matter how heinous his offense—a
requirement of greater reliability should prevail. In a capital case,
the specious testimony of a psychiatrist, colored in the eyes of an
impressionable jury by the inevitable untouchability of a medical
specialist’s words, equates with death itself.

Id. at 916 (Blackmun, J., dissenting). Justice Blackmun further pointed out that, “[t]o obtain a

death sentence in Texas, the State [had] to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that ‘there [was] a

probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a

continuing threat to society.’” Id. at 916-17 (citing Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 37.071(b)(2)

(Vernon 1981)).

In contrast, the instant case is not a death penalty case. See generally Woodson v. North

Carolina, 428 U.S. 280, 305 (1976) (plurality opinion) (“[T]he penalty of death is qualitatively

different from a sentence of imprisonment, however long. Death, in its finality, differs more

from life imprisonment than a 100-year prison term differs from one of only a year or two.”).

Nor was the Commonwealth required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt Billips’s future

dangerousness to obtain the sentence imposed in this case. Unlike death penalty cases, the level

of punishment imposed in a case like this is not contingent upon a finding of future

dangerousness; thus, proof, by any standard, of Billips’s risk of reoffending was not essential to

imposition of the penalty imposed. See Walker v. Commonwealth, 258 Va. 54, 66, 515 S.E.2d

565, 572 (1999) (“The ‘finding’ that exposes the defendant to the death penalty is that of future

dangerousness, or alternatively, vileness, which by statute must be supported by proof beyond a

- 21 -
reasonable doubt. See Code § 19.2-264.4(C). . . . [Conversely, the Commonwealth] need not

prove beyond a reasonable doubt every fact it recognizes as a circumstance affecting the severity

of punishment.”); Washington v. Commonwealth, 46 Va. App. 276, 294, 616 S.E.2d 774, 783

(2005) (en banc) (Humphreys, J., concurring) (“[Generally,] there is no standard of proof during

a sentencing proceeding. Nor does the [sentencer] make any express findings of fact prior to

selecting a sentence from the available range of punishment.”), petition for appeal granted, No.

051875 (Va. Sup. Ct. Order of December 14, 2005). Moreover, as previously mentioned, the

scientific evidence challenged in this case was not presented to a jury, but to a judge, who

presumably was able, based on his “training, experience and judicial discipline,” Eckhart, 222

Va. at 216, 279 S.E.2d at 157, to ascribe the appropriate weight to the specialists’ evidence

without giving undue deference to it.4 Clearly, then, if reliance on the adversarial process to

assess the reliability of scientific evidence was sufficient to satisfy the due process concerns in

Barefoot, the same must be true in this case, as long as the relevant scientific evidence in dispute

here had some indicia of reliability.

Applying the aforementioned considerations to the specific question before us, we find it

clear that neither due process nor Virginia evidentiary law requires a sentencing judge to make a

threshold finding that relevant scientific evidence offered in a presentence report pursuant to

Code §§ 19.2-299 and 19.2-300 is based on a reliable scientific method. Indeed, all that is

manifestly required is that the evidence have “some indicia of reliability.” Alger, 19 Va. App. at

4
Indeed, it is worth noting that the sentencing judge in this case made no mention of the
penile plethysmograph in sentencing Billips. Instead, the judge referred solely to the “heinous”
nature of the crimes committed and Billips’s lack of remorse and empathy for the victims as the
bases for the sentences imposed. Thus, although it is impossible to conclude, as the Supreme
Court was able to in Saunders v. Commonwealth, 242 Va. 107, 115-16, 406 S.E.2d 39, 44
(1991), that the sentencing judge did not rely at all on the challenged evidence in determining an
appropriate sentence, it is clear that the evidence regarding the plethysmograph examination was
not of primary concern to the sentencing judge in this case.
- 22 -
258, 450 S.E.2d at 768. We hold, therefore, that, to the extent it required the sentencing judge to

do anything more than ensure the plethysmograph evidence had some indicia of reliability before

relying thereon, the evidentiary standard set forth in Spencer did not apply.

The question remains, however, whether that evidence bore the requisite indicia of

reliability to permit the sentencing judge to receive and consider it at the sentencing hearing. To

make that determination, we must examine the circumstances surrounding the challenged

evidence. See Wolfe, 37 Va. App. at 142-43, 554 S.E.2d at 698-99.

Charged with the responsibility of determining an appropriate sentence for Billips, the

trial judge ordered the preparation of a presentence report under Code § 19.2-299(A) and a

psychosexual evaluation under Code § 19.2-300. The probation officer responsible for preparing

the presentence report referred Billips to a corporation specializing in the “assessment and

treatment of sexual offenders” for evaluation. As part of that evaluation, Billips underwent a

penile plethysmograph examination. The risk assessment report prepared by the two specialists

who examined Billips stated that a “Penile Plethysmograph Assessment evaluates the presence or

absence of deviant sexual arousal. Research has demonstrated that deviant sexual arousal is one

of the best indicators of risk to sexually reoffend.” The report further stated that “Mr. Billips’[s]

response pattern represents elevated responses to three or more categories across gender[, which]

places Mr. Billips in the highest reoffense risk category. Deviant arousal to children has been

shown to be the strongest indicator of recidivism.” Relying on the plethysmograph results and

numerous other sources of information, circumstances, and factors, the specialists who prepared

the risk assessment report determined that Billips posed a moderate risk to sexually reoffend.

- 23 -
 Billips argued at the sentencing hearing that penile plethysmograph examinations are as

unreliable as polygraph examinations.5 However, despite having had ample opportunity to do so,

he offered no evidence to support that claim or to counter the implicit declaration in the risk

assessment report that a penile plethysmograph examination is a reliable method of determining

a sex offender’s risk of reoffending. Nor did he offer any evidence to show that the particular

results of the plethysmograph examination administered to him were unreliable indicators of his

risk to reoffend. Indeed, Billips’s claims of unreliability are wholly unsupported in the record.

Upon these circumstances, we conclude that the information in the risk assessment report

concerning Billips’s penile plethysmograph examination had the requisite indicia of reliability to

permit the sentencing judge to receive and consider that information at the sentencing hearing.

Accordingly, we cannot say the trial judge abused his discretion in admitting the risk

assessment portion of the presentence report without making a threshold finding that a penile

5
Addressing the reliability of polygraph examinations, in Robinson v. Commonwealth,
231 Va. 142, 341 S.E.2d 159 (1986), our Supreme Court stated:

In a long line of cases, spanning almost thirty years, we
have made clear that polygraph examinations are so thoroughly
unreliable as to be of no proper evidentiary use whether they favor
the accused, implicate the accused, or are agreed to by both parties.
The point of these cases is that the lie-detector or polygraph has an
aura of authority while being wholly unreliable.

Id. at 156, 341 S.E.2d at 167 (citations omitted). Addressing the same subject in Scheffer, 523
U.S. at 312, the United States Supreme Court stated that, “[a]lthough the degree of reliability of
polygraph evidence may depend upon a variety of identifiable factors, there is simply no way to
know in a particular case whether a polygraph examiner’s conclusion is accurate, because certain
doubts and uncertainties plague even the best polygraph exams.” Neither Court, however, has
addressed the subject of the reliability of plethysmograph examinations. Given the paucity of
evidence on that subject in the present record, we leave for another day the question whether, in
the context of this case, a penile plethysmograph examination is trustworthy enough in general to
be “considered or treated as a reliable scientific technique,” Satcher v. Commonwealth, 244 Va.
220, 242, 421 S.E.2d 821, 834 (1992), or “so thoroughly unreliable as to be of no proper
evidentiary use,” Robinson, 231 Va. at 156, 341 S.E.2d at 167. The cases cited by the dissent—
which involve procedural postures, evidentiary circumstances, and admissibility standards
inapposite to the present case—do not persuade us to do otherwise.
- 24 -
plethysmograph examination is a reliable scientific method of determining a convicted sex

offender’s risk to reoffend.

V. CONCLUSION

For these reasons, we affirm Billips’s sentences.

Affirmed.

- 25 -
Benton, J., concurring, in part, and dissenting, in part.

I concur with the majority’s holding regarding the first two issues raised on appeal. I

dissent, however, from the holding on the third issue because I believe that plethysmographs are

as unreliable as polygraphs. I would hold that the trial judge erred by permitting plethysmograph

results into evidence as a factor in assessing punishment upon Matthew Edward Billips.

Therefore, I would reverse the sentences and remand for re-sentencing.

“Generally, when a specific objection is made to evidence or when inquiry is made by the

trial judge concerning the purpose of evidence, the proponent of the evidence has the burden of

establishing its admissibility.” Neal v. Commonwealth, 15 Va. App. 416, 420, 425 S.E.2d 521,

523 (1992) (citing 1 Wigmore On Evidence §§ 14.1, 17, and 18 (Tillers rev. 1983)). Indeed, the

Supreme Court of Virginia repeatedly has predicated the trial judge’s admission of scientific

evidence upon the proponent of the evidence establishing its reliability. See Spencer v.

Commonwealth, 238 Va. 275, 290, 384 S.E.2d 775, 783 (1989) (ruling that DNA testing was

admissible because evidence established the scientific technique’s reliability); O’Dell v.

Commonwealth, 234 Va. 672, 695-97, 364 S.E.2d 491, 504-05 (1988) (ruling that

electrophoresis blood testing was admissible because it was reliable and generally accepted in

the field of forensic science); Lee v. Commonwealth, 200 Va. 233, 237, 105 S.E.2d 152, 155

(1958) (holding that lie detector test results were inadmissible because such tests generally have

not been proved scientifically reliable).

The Commonwealth failed to establish that the plethysmograph is reliable as a measure

of the responses it purports to test -- sexual preference and behavior. Like the polygraph, it

purports to be an accurate measure of a psychological state as indicated by physiological

responses. In view of the polygraph’s unreliability, Virginia bars polygraph evidence from court

- 26 -
proceedings.6 See Robinson v. Commonwealth, 231 Va. 142, 156, 341 S.E.2d 159, 167 (1986)

(holding that the trial judge properly excluded polygraph results to be used for impeachment

purposes). In doing so, the Supreme Court of Virginia held as follows:

In a long line of cases . . . we have made clear that polygraph
examinations are so thoroughly unreliable as to be of no proper
evidentiary use whether they favor the accused, implicate the
accused, or are agreed to by both parties. The point of these cases
is that the lie-detector or polygraph has an aura of authority while
being wholly unreliable.

Id. (citations omitted); see also Odum v. Commonwealth, 225 Va. 123, 132, 301 S.E.2d 145, 150

(1983) (holding that polygraph results are inadmissible “in any hearing relating to the

prosecution of defendant” even though parties stipulated the results could be introduced). “The

rule [barring evidence of polygraph results] is so firmly embedded in our law that even

‘[e]vidence of a person’s willingness or unwillingness to submit to a polygraph examination is

inadmissible.’” Crumpton v. Commonwealth, 9 Va. App. 131, 135-36, 384 S.E.2d 339, 342

(1989) (quoting Gray v. Graham, 231 Va. 1, 10, 341 S.E.2d 153, 158 (1986)); see also Taylor v.

Commonwealth, 3 Va. App. 59, 62, 348 S.E.2d 36, 37 (1986) (holding an unreliable test cannot

6
After decades of debate, the scientific community still has not agreed on the reliability
of polygraphs, despite numerous studies on the question. See United States v. Scheffer, 523 U.S.
303, 309 (1998); see also 4 David L. Faigman, David H. Kaye, Michael J. Saks, & Joseph
Sanders, Modern Scientific Evidence §§ 40:20 to 40:118, at 571-655 (2005) (discussing and
analyzing the two sides of the continuing polygraph debate in the scientific community). While
some studies concluded that polygraphs are highly accurate, others reported 50 and 51%
accuracy rates. See Scheffer, 523 U.S. at 309 (citing S. Abrams, The Complete Polygraph
Handbook 190-91 (1989); William G. Iacono & David T. Lykken, The Scientific Status of
Research on Polygraph Techniques: The Case Against Polygraph Tests, in 1 Modern Scientific
Evidence § 14-5.3 (1997)); see also 1 John W. Strong, McCormick on Evidence § 206, at 629
(5th ed. 1999) (summarizing the results of various studies conducted on polygraph reliability).
One of the serious, lingering concerns about polygraphs is that an individual can “trick” the
machine and receive a negative result despite lying. See Strong, supra (explaining the concern
that “‘coaching’ and practicing would become more commonplace if the evidence were generally
admissible”). “Although the degree of reliability of polygraph evidence may depend upon a
variety of identifiable factors, there is simply no way to know in a particular case whether a
polygraph examiner’s conclusion is accurate, because certain doubts and uncertainties plague
even the best polygraph exams.” Scheffer, 523 U.S. at 312.
- 27 -
yield definite and conclusive results, and therefore polygraph results are inadmissible even under

an agreement by the parties that the results will be admissible if not shown to be indefinite or

inconclusive).

Relying on “‘a long line of cases,’” from the Supreme Court “‘spanning almost thirty

years,’” we have held that polygraph results are not admissible even during revocation

proceedings, where the evidentiary standard is lessened. White v. Commonwealth, 41 Va. App.

191, 194, 583 S.E.2d 771, 772-73 (2003) (quoting Robinson, 231 Va. at 156, 341 S.E.2d at

167)). Indeed, Virginia law does not distinguish between different phases of trial when

considering the admissibility of polygraphs. That is so because “[a]n unreliable test cannot

determine the truth; that determination is properly left to the judge or jury as the fact finder.”

Crumpton, 9 Va. App. at 136, 384 S.E.2d at 342.

The use of plethysmographs implicates these same concerns. Plethysmographs are a

phallometric test conducted by placing a metal gauge over the subject’s penis that measures

variations in the penis’s size. During the session, the subject is exposed to a variety of visual and

audio sexual depictions of males and females of different ages, in both consenting and

non-consenting situations. The theory behind the plethysmograph is that it directly measures

erotic response to the different stimuli, indicating what the subject finds sexually exciting. See

Judith V. Becker & William D. Murphy, Sex Offenders: Scientific, Legal, and Policy

Perspective: The Science of Sex Offenders: Risk Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention: What

We Know and Do Not Know About Assessing and Treating Sex Offenders, 4 Psych. Pub. Pol. &

L. 116, 122 (Mar./June 1998).

In United States v. Powers, 59 F.3d 1460, 1471 (4th Cir. 1995), the court noted that “the

scientific literature addressing penile plethysmography does not regard the test as a valid

diagnostic tool because, although useful for treatment of sex offenders, it has no accepted

- 28 -
standards in the scientific community.” See also Berthiaume v. Clark, 142 F.3d 12, 14-15 (1st

Cir. 1998) (examining the apparent scientific debate over the usefulness of plethysmographs). In

North Carolina v. Spencer, 459 S.E.2d 812, 815 (N.C. Ct. App. 1995), the government’s expert

explained that although the plethysmograph accurately measures the increase of blood to the

penis, there was “substantial disagreement” over whether the physical reaction directly correlates

to sexual behavior. The North Carolina Court of Appeals rejected the use of the

plethysmograph, noting that “there is a substantial difference of opinion within the scientific

community regarding the plethysmograph’s reliability to measure sexual deviancy.” Id. (citing

e.g., James G. Barker & Robert J. Howell, The Plethysmograph: A Review of Recent Literature,

20 Bull. Am. Acad. of Psychiatry & L. 13 (Mar. 1992) (identifying several problems with the

reliability of the plethysmograph, namely “lack of standards for training and interpretation of

data, lack of norms and standardization and susceptibility of the data to false negatives and false

positives,” and concluding that “despite the sophistication of the current equipment technology, a

question remains whether the information emitted is a valid and reliable means of assessing

sexual preference”)).

An expert testified in another case that “the penile plethysmograph, though it can be

helpful in treating sexual deviance, is not a reliable means of assessing sexual deviance.” Nelson

v. Jones, 781 P.2d 964, 969 (Alaska 1989); see also Berthiaume, 142 F.3d at 14-15 (where the

expert testified that plethysmographs are “not useful to identify pedophilia because the test has a

high rate of false negatives”); Cooke v. Naylor, 573 S.2d 376, 379 (Me. 1990) (upholding the

rejection of the plethysmograph where “experts testified that these tests are of questionable

reliability even in establishing a correct pedophilic or non-pedophilic profile for the individual

undergoing evaluation”). Another expert criticized plethysmographs because they have “not

gained acceptance by the scientific community as a reliable predictor of future behavior.”

- 29 -
Dutchess County Dep’t of Soc. Servs. v. G., 534 N.Y.S.2d 64, 69 (N.Y. Fam. Ct. 1988); see also

Gentry v. Georgia, 443 S.E.2d 667, 669 (Ga. Ct. App. 1994) (holding that the plethysmograph

was inadmissible in Georgia because the reliability of the method had not been established and

because of the uncertainty of its reliability within the scientific community).

Skepticism over the plethysmograph is understandable. One study reported that “only

50% of child molesters display deviant arousal patterns on the test,” and another found that “a

large percentage of non-sex offenders display some degree of arousal to stimuli involving young

children.” Jason R. Odeshoo, Of Penology and Perversity: The Use of Penile Plethysmography

on Convicted Child Sex Offenders, 14 Temp. Pol. & Civ. Rts. L. Rev. 1, 11-12 (Fall 2004). An

additional concern about the plethysmograph’s reliability and accuracy is that the subject can

manipulate the results. See In the Interest of A.V., 849 S.W.2d 393, 399 (Tx. App. 1993) (the

expert attempting to validate the method “admitted that a person of high intelligence . . . can

easily manipulate the results”); see also United States v. Birdsbill, 243 F. Supp. 2d 1128, 1133

(D. Mont. 2003) (briefly reviewing expert testimony about the susceptibility of plethysmographs

to “faking”); North Carolina v. Spencer, 459 S.E.2d at 815 (noting that a study indicates penile

response is subject to voluntary control). Some subjects can exhibit responses to non-preferred

stimuli as well as reduce response to preferred stimuli. Grant T. Harris, Marnie E. Rice, &

Vernon L. Quinsey, Sex Offenders: Scientific, Legal and Policy Perspective: The Science of Sex

Offenders: Risk Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention: Appraisal and Management of Risk in

Sexual Aggressors: Implications for Criminal Justice Policy, 4 Psych. Pub. Pol. & L. 73, 79

(Mar./June 1998).7

7
As with polygraphs, the debate has proponents of the use of plethysmographs. See
North Carolina v. Spencer, 459 S.E.2d at 815 (referencing a study reporting 95% accuracy);
Dutchess County Dep’t of Soc. Servs., 534 N.Y.S.2d at 68 (where a study reported 85 to 90%
accuracy); see also Micheal C. Seto, Grant T. Harris, Marnie E. Rice, & Howard E. Barbaree,
The Screening Scale for Pedophilic Interests Predicts Recidivism Among Adult Sex Offenders
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 In sum, the available data about plethysmographs reveals a scientific community

dramatically divided over their reliability and accuracy. The studies of plethysmographs vary

drastically in their conclusions. Some reports show an extremely fallible method, susceptible to

manipulation from the subject and often misidentifying the subject as a sex-offender or as a

non-offender, while other studies report high accuracy rates. In this respect, plethysmographs

and polygraphs, both of which measure physiological responses, are similar. Both require an

assumption that the physiological response measured directly reflects the emotion and behavior

purportedly being measured.

For these reasons, I believe that plethysmographs, like polygraphs, “are so thoroughly

unreliable as to be of no proper evidentiary use.” See Robinson, 231 Va. at 156, 341 S.E.2d at

167. Like polygraphs, the plethysmograph “has an aura of authority while being wholly

unreliable.” Id. It is well established that reliability of evidence offered in a criminal proceeding

is a due process concern. See Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 294 (1973) (holding that

“[t]he right of an accused in a criminal trial to due process is, in essence, the right to a fair

opportunity to defend against the State’s accusations”). Therefore, I would hold that the trial

judge erred by allowing the plethysmograph results into evidence when determining the

punishment to assess upon Billips, and I would reverse and remand for re-sentencing upon

proper evidence.

With Child Victims, 33 Archives of Sexual Behav. 455 (2004) (stating that phallometric testing
consistently detects sex offenders).
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