Former Broward Sheriff's detention deputy Andrew Johnson repeatedly gave deceptive answers to lie-detector questions posed by detectives investigating the murder of Deputy Patrick Behan, according to a memo summarizing the tests.

Johnson, who was fired from his job as a jail guard four months before Behan's 1990 murder, was lured back to BSO on Feb. 8 under the pretense of a job interview.

According to records released Wednesday, detectives were trying to determine whether Johnson had been telling the truth when he told undercover agents he had killed a deputy or whether he was bragging in hopes of landing a job with drug traffickers.

Johnson was broke, had been acquitted on a 1995 rape charge and had run through a series of jobs when he showed up at BSO for the fake job interview. He declared bankruptcy in 1999, and four weeks before the interview he and his wife of 12 years had filed for divorce. He had never given up a dream of being a law enforcement officer.

According to experts who examined the BSO reports for The Herald, the polygraph results raise more questions than answers. Renowned Miami polygrapher George Slattery said the detectives never asked the key question -- ''Did you fire the shot that killed Behan?'' -- during the five-and-a-half-hour polygraphed portion of the fake job interview.

Expert Warren Holmes of Miami agreed: 'The bottom line is that you cannot absolve Johnson in any way. To resolve it, there would have to have been more definitive questions, such as `did you shoot someone on the night of ...' He didn't ask any of that.''

But sheriff's officials said the interview wasn't a typical lie-detector test. Detectives never let Johnson know he was the subject of an investigation. He was never read his rights against self-incrimination.

Detectives simply were trying to develop more verifiable leads, said BSO spokesman Cheryl Stopnick.

''We were never intending to ask him directly'' about the Behan shooting, she said.

Johnson told the polygrapher about conversations he'd had with drug dealers in which he claimed responsibility for shooting a BSO deputy. He later described the conversations as ``fool's talk.''

Early questions included: ''Did you ever consciously kill anyone in authority?'' and ``Did you ever intentionally shoot anyone?''

Johnson repeatedly answered ''No'' and each time Richard Hoffman, a polygrapher for BSO, noted ''deception.'' Hoffman narrowed the time frame, asking whether Johnson shot or killed anyone between July 1990, when he was fired by BSO, and April 1992, when he enlisted in the Marines. Johnson answered ''No.'' Again, Hoffman detected ``deception.''

Johnson and Hoffman talked at length about tales Johnson weaved with the purported drug dealers.

Johnson repeatedly gave details from the Behan shooting but described the victim as another deputy who had filed the complaints leading to his firing.

The most specific the questions ever got: ''Other than telling someone you shot a deputy, did you ever really shoot a deputy?'' and ''Other than telling someone you killed a deputy, did you ever really kill a deputy?'' Again, Johnson answered ''No.'' And again, Hoffman detected ``deception.''

BSO originally intended to bring Johnson back for another interview, but plans were stymied after the media learned the probe had been reopened and detectives were questioning someone other than the two teens who were convicted of the murder.

Johnson has not been charged with a crime. His lawyer has said Johnson is guilty of nothing more than poor judgment for boasting.