Perjury is the criminal offense of lying
under oath. A perjury charge may be brought when someone makes a
false statement after being sworn in or promising to tell the
truth in a legal situation. For instance, a person giving
testimony on the stand during a court case who tells a lie may
be charged with perjury. Someone who lies during a deposition,
or who lies on a signed declaration or affidavit can also be
charged with this offense.
Perjury Laws
Both individual states and the federal government have laws
making perjury a criminal offense. While the basic definition of
perjury is the same at both the federal and the state level, the
penalties may be different. For instance, the federal law
against perjury in the U.S. Code classifies perjury as a felony.
This means that someone who lies under oath in federal court, or
who lies under oath to a person acting on behalf of the federal
government may be sentenced to up to five years in jail.
Some states classify perjury as a felony as well. Penalties for
a felony are always more serious than a misdemeanor and can
include large fines, and a year or more of jail or prison time.
In other states, however, perjury may be a misdemeanor. In New
York, for instance, whether perjury is a felony or a misdemeanor
depends upon the lie that was told and the impact of that lie.
Under New York law, simply telling a lie under oath is a class A
misdemeanor, but telling a material lie under oath, or an
important lie, is a felony.
Elements of Perjury
In order for a defendant to be found guilty of perjury, the
prosecutor must prove all elements of the crime beyond a
reasonable doubt.
Although the elements of perjury vary between individual states
and federal law, the elements of perjury are similar. In order
for a person to be charged with perjury, he or she generally
must have 1) been sworn in or made a solemn legal promise to
tell the truth; and 2) made a false statement or told a lie on
purpose. Prosecutors can sometimes prove that a defendant lied
by showing inconsistency in prior statements made by the
defendant. For instance, if a person testifies one way in a
deposition and another way in court, and the statements conflict
with one another, this is solid evidence of perjury even if the
prosecutor cannot prove which of the statements was untrue.
Most states and the federal government have an additional
requirement, that the misstatement was material or important to
the proceedings in which it was made. If a witness was
testifying in case about a robbery of a diner, for example,
lying about whether he saw the defendant at the diner would be
material since seeing the defendant at the scene of the crime
would be relevant to the defendant's guilt or innocence. Lying
about what he ate for breakfast, on the other hand, usually
wouldn't be a material misstatement that would result in a
charge of perjury.
Defenses to Perjury Charges
Perjury charges are usually very difficult for prosecutors to
prove because perjury is a crime of intent. This means that a
defendant charged with perjury can only be found guilty if the
prosecutor shows beyond a reasonable doubt that he or she
intended to make the false statement under oath, or, that the
witness told the lie on purpose. As such, criminal attorneys
often defend their clients by arguing that the defendant did not
intend to lie, or that the party believed the statement to be
the truth at the time they made it.
Making a mistake or remembering facts inaccurately is not an
intentional misstatement, so if a defendant successfully argues
that he simply made an error he cannot be found guilty of
perjury. It tends to be difficult for a prosecutor to prove
beyond a reasonable doubt that the misstatement wasn't just a
mistake, so this defense is often successful.
Lawyers defending clients accused of perjury also typically make
the arguement that the misstatement was not material or relevant
to the proceedings. However, this defense requires attorneys to
show that the statement was actually irrelevant; it is not
enough to show that the defendant believed his lie was not
relevant. Courts have consistently held that a person's belief
about whether his statement was material or not isn't the
important factor. Instead, the important factor is whether the
statement pertained to an issue viewed as objectively material
by the court.
Another good defense to perjury charges is proving that the
false statement was corrected before it had an impact. For
instance, if a party said something untrue under oath but
recanted before the statement had any legal effect, such as
before the jury considered its truth during the trial, then the
defendant could not be found guilty of perjury
28 USC § 1746 - Unsworn
declarations under penalty of perjury
Wherever, under any law of the United States or under any rule,
regulation, order, or requirement made pursuant to law, any
matter is required or permitted to be supported, evidenced,
established, or proved by the sworn declaration, verification,
certificate, statement, oath, or affidavit, in writing of the
person making the same (other than a deposition, or an oath of
office, or an oath required to be taken before a specified
official other than a notary public), such matter may, with like
force and effect, be supported, evidenced, established, or
proved by the unsworn declaration, certificate, verification, or
statement, in writing of such person which is subscribed by him,
as true under penalty of perjury, and dated, in substantially
the following form:
(1) If executed without the United States: “I declare (or
certify, verify, or state) under penalty of perjury under the
laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true
and correct. Executed on (date). (Signature)”.
(2) If executed within the United States, its territories,
possessions, or commonwealths: “I declare (or certify, verify,
or state) under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true
and correct. Executed on (date). (Signature)”.
Whoever—
(1) having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer,
or person, in any case in which a law of the United States
authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will testify,
declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written
testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him
subscribed, is true, willfully and contrary to such oath states
or subscribes any material matter which he does not believe to
be true; or
(2) in any declaration, certificate, verification, or statement
under penalty of perjury as permitted under section 1746 of
title 28, United States Code, willfully subscribes as true any
material matter which he does not believe to be true;
is guilty of perjury and shall, except as otherwise expressly
provided by law, be fined under this title or imprisoned not
more than five years, or both. This section is applicable
whether the statement or subscription is made within or without
the United States.
