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Additional Question (Optional): Perjury is deliberately lying under oath in regard to some material matter in a judicial proceeding and is punishable by imprisonment and fines. Perjury is often difficult to prosecute because of the difficulty of proving that someone is intentionally misstating a material fact, rather than just presenting testimony based on faulty memory or misinformation. If false testimony is presented under oath and that testimony is based on faulty memory or an honest but mistaken belief about certain facts, then it is not perjury.
There have been several famous perjury cases. Perhaps the most famous being the one related to the impeachment of Bill Clinton by the House of Representatives (Clinton was not convicted of perjury). Some of the other famous perjury convictions are those of Alger Hiss, John Mitchell, John Ehrlichman, H. R. Haldman, Mark Fuhrman, and in 2007, the conviction of Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
Is it ever justifiable to misrepresent (lie about) a material fact, even a minor fact, while testifying? Consider the following scenario. You are on the witness stand, and the prosecution shows you a knife held in evidence in a murder trial, which was collected by you at the crime scene. Several eye witnesses have already identified the defendant as the one who stabbed and killed the victim. The prosecution asks you to describe where you found the knife. The murder occurred 18 months ago, and you do not remember exactly where you found the knife. You only remember that you found it in the room with the victim. Also, your investigative notes and report do not give the exact location of where the knife was found. Thinking, “What the heck, several witnesses have already identified him as the killer,” you state, “I found the knife next to the body of the victim.” Would that be a justifiable response? Is this perjury? If you consider this to be perjury, what would you consider the proper response to be in this situation?
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