California Criminal Defense Blog

Three LAPD officers were charged with perjury Tuesday based on a videotape that surfaced contradicting their testimony about seeing a suspect toss a baggie of cocaine. The video also appears to depict the officers agreeing to "doctor" their police report to implicate the suspect wrongly.

No one knows the extent to which police lie in their reports and testimony. But thousands of people get convicted each year based on uncorroborated police testimony. Prosecutors, judges and juries often accept officers' stories uncritically, assuming their word should always be believed over that of criminal suspects.

Had a hidden camera not captured the truth in this case, the defendant likely would have been wrongfully convicted. As it is, the judge dismissed the case after the video surfaced at trial.

Continue reading "LAPD Perjury Case Should Make Us All More Critical of Police Testimony" »

Under Penal Code 118, a person commits perjury in California when he willfully gives false testimony while under oath. This usually happens at court proceedings or depositions, but it can also occur in affidavits or any document that’s signed under oath.

To count as perjury, the false statement must be “willful.” This means, in effect, that the perjurer knew the statement to be false but intended it to be taken as true. There must have been an intent to deceive.

A person who mistakenly makes a false statement is not guilty of perjury. For example, suppose Jane testifies as an alibi witness in Paul’s murder trial. She testifies that she saw Paul in Berkeley at the time of the murder, when the murder took place in San Diego. It turns out Jane is mistaken. Surveillance tapes, other witnesses and a confession all put Paul at the scene of the murder.

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