Perjury

While many people consider perjury to be lying while under oath giving court testimony, there are actually several different types of situations that are classified as perjury. Any false statements made in written testimony, police interviews, civil depositions or any other type of document that you sign to indicate it is true and accurate and that have a direct bearing on the information or testimony.  In addition if you attempt to coerce, force or intimidate someone else to lie under those conditions you can also be charged with perjury and Subordination of Perjury.

Perjury Penalties

Since telling the truth in court and statements is essential to the correct functioning of the legal system, perjury is a very serious offense. It is a felony conviction, which means it can carry significant penalties and will stay on your criminal record. If there are other perjury charges on your record it is very likely the sentence will be closer to the maximum allowable as the court will want to send a clear message about the seriousness of the crime.

Possible Penalties

• Jail time of up to 5 years
• Probation
• Restitution
• Community Service

Perjury Sentencing

Perjury is not as easy as it may seem to prove as there are several tests that the prosecutor must prove in court. These include that you knowingly and willfully made a misleading or inaccurate statement, correctly understood the question, or that you knowingly hid a relevant fact, and that you knew, at the time of the statement, that the information was incorrect. Getting a criminal defense attorney to represent you in a perjury trial is important since many first time offenders, especially if they did not correctly understand the question or had misinformation that they relayed to the court, may be able to have the case completely dropped or the sentence reduced from a felony charge.

Hiring An Attorney For Perjury Charges

There are many ways in that a statement may be made in a testimony or court that is inaccurate, but also may not qualify as being perjury. Working with a criminal defense attorney that is familiar with this complicated area of the law will ensure that your mistake or misunderstanding doesn't result in felony charges that will impact your life for years to come.

• If you have been charged with Perjury, Submit Your Case for a Free Review from a skilled Criminal Defense Attorney.