Forensic Statement Analysis Sly Manning HGH

Charles Sly’s Allegations About Payton Manning HGH Use
Forensic Statement Analysis by Laurie Ayers
Posted January 2016

The recent news story about Payton Manning’s alleged HGH use is no longer news. That story died almost as quickly as it surfaced. The person who made the allegations, Charles Sly, a former employee of the Guyer Institute in Indianapolis, has recanted his tale.

We have ground truth.

Manning said it wasn’t true. Sly has since said it wasn’t true. Yet the allegation never should have been newsworthy.  It wasn’t a credible story.

In the Al Jazeera documentary Sly is quoted as saying “All the time we would be sending Ashley Manning drugs … like growth hormone, all the time, everywhere, Florida. And it would never be under Peyton’s name, it would always be under her name.”

Using forensic content statement analysis, here’s why this should have been a red flag.

Generalities

Everything a person says has meaning.  In the above two sentences Sly uses “All the time” twice and also uses the words “never” and “always”.

When a person is making up a story he may miscalculate his time references. Absolutes such as always and never are largely a miscalculation. It is easier for him to lie by using a general term such as “all the time” instead of specifically referring to particular instances.

The same is true for the word “everywhere”. It’s a broad exaggeration. He cannot be specific about a particular time or destination since it did not happen. It is easier for a deceptive person to speak in generalities.

Verb Tense

Most statements should be given in the past tense. In a deceptive statement, we may find some present tense language. Verb tenses refer to the time the action is taking place. In an open statement, the person should be telling us what happened or what he witnessed (past tense).  Ten years ago or ten minutes ago, it doesn’t matter, it’s still past tense. He should be using past tense verbs as he tells his story.

Not to give you nightmarish flashbacks of high school English class, but would is a modal verb. It is used to help other verbs in likelihood or predictability.

Sly’s statement of “All the time we would be sending Ashley Manning drugs…” uses both a likelihood and a present tense – sending.  If he were going off memory he would have said something like, “We frequently sent Ashley…” (past tense). When using imagination to tell a story present tense verbs tend to slip in.

Pronouns

The widespread uses of pronouns in Sly’s two sentences are also indicators. He’s alleging use of HGH but switches to “drugs” and ends with “it”. He also goes from saying both first and last name, Ashley Manning; then just using the first name of Payton, to finally distancing himself and ending with merely “her”.  These inconsistencies are noteworthy.

Each of these factors alone do not necessarily indicate anything dishonest. Yet combined, and especially in just two short sentences, they speak volumes to the non-credibility of the statement.

If you have an audio, video or written statement you’d like analyzed contact me so we can discuss how I can help.