NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Jurors will not hear that a nurse accused of murdering her husband took and passed a privately administered polygraph test, a judge ruled Thursday.

The judge rejected the request by Melanie McGuire's lawyers to admit the test results should she take the stand in her own defense next week.

Superior Court Judge Frederick DeVesa cited state law barring polygraph evidence in criminal cases unless both sides agreed to a test beforehand. The judge said the law reflected his own doubts about the scientific reliability of the exams and said he feared discussion of the testing "would tend to undermine and interfere" with the jury's duty to determine guilt.

Prosecutors, who argued against the admission of the lie detector test, rebuffed a follow-up proposal by the defense to have McGuire examined by a polygraph expert of the prosecution's choosing. Those results would then be presented to the jury.

"The state does not agree," Assistant Attorney General Patricia Prezioso told the judge. She said that, while she considered polygraph testing a useful tool for investigators, "it is not good evidence. There is a reason that it is not admissible in New Jersey."

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McGuire's attorneys, who are set to open their case Monday, said the fertility clinic nurse had not yet decided whether she will testify.

Outside of court, a lawyer for McGuire, Stephen Turano, declined to provide details of the polygraph exam, including the date it was administered and the questions asked.

"I can't give you anything about that," he said.

The judge also denied a defense motion for a judgment of acquittal. The defense had argued that the prosecution failed to present evidence that the crime occurred in New Jersey. The remains of William McGuire, 39, were found in the Chesapeake Bay off Virginia Beach.

DeVesa acknowledged that the crime was geographically complicated.

"We have an enormously complex crime that apparently spanned two or three states," he said. But he added that, while the defense questions were "valid," "I do not believe they carry the day at this time."

Lawyers for McGuire also suggested that the prosecution had charged McGuire under an accomplice theory because they did not really know how the victim was killed. Turano charged that prosecutors failed to present "a single stitch of evidence" of an accomplice's involvement.

The judge said the accomplice issue was one for the jury to decide.

Testimony resumes Monday morning. The trial is being streamed live on Court TV Extra.