Attorneys For Man Convicted Of Killing Blackfoot Woman Say He’s Innocent

The attorney representing an Idaho death row inmate scheduled to die in two weeks says he has passed a polygraph test that proves he’s innocent.

Richard Albert Leavitt was convicted of the 1984 brutal murder of Blackfoot resident Danette Elg. Prosecutors said he stabbed her repeatedly and then cut out her sexual organs. He is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on June 12.

But Leavitt has long maintained his innocence in the case, and now his attorney, David Nevin, is asking the federal court to accept a polygraph test given to Leavitt on Wednesday as proof. Boise State University professor and polygraph expert Charles Honts administered the test and concluded Leavitt was truthful when he denied stabbing Elg.

Polygraph tests are typically not admissible as evidence.