Perjury

• Author: Abby Rickeman/Emmie Habtemariam/Sean Jettner
• Pages: 1199-1228

PERJURY

I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1199

A. Section 1621: False Testimony Generally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1200

B. Section 1622: Subornation of Perjury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1202

C. Section 1623: False Testimony to Court or Grand Jury . . . . . . 1203

II. ELEMENTS OF THE OFFENSE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1204

A. Oath. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1204

B. Intent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1205

C. Falsity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1208

D. Materiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1212

E. Key Distinctions between §§ 1621 and 1623 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1215

1. Two-Witness Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1216

2. Use of False Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1218

3. Inconsistent Declarations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1219

III. DEFENSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1219

A. Recantation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1220

B. Assistance of Counsel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1222

C. Double Jeopardy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1223

D. Perjury Trap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1224

E. Fifth Amendment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1225

IV. SENTENCING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1226

I. INTRODUCTION

Perjury occurs when an individual makes a false statement under oath before a

federal tribunal or official.

1

Every branch and level of government relies on sworn

testimony, so the integrity of governmental processes depends in large part on the

truthfulness of statements made under oath.

2

Thus, perjury threatens to subvert the

fair administration of justice and the proper functioning of government.

1. See Charles Doyle, Cong. Rsch. Serv., False Statements and Perjury: An Overview of Federal Criminal

Law 1 (2018).

2. See United States v. Alvarez, 567 U.S. 709, 720–21 (2012) (“Perjury undermines the function and province

of the law and threatens the integrity of judgements that are the basis of the legal system.”); ABF Freight Sys.,

Inc. v. NLRB, 510 U.S. 317, 323 (1994) (“False testimony in a formal proceeding is intolerable. We must neither

reward nor condone such a ‘flagrant affront’ to the truth-seeking function of adversary proceedings.” (quoting

United States v. Mandujano, 425 U.S. 564, 576–77 (1976))); Day v. Johns Hopkins Health Sys. Corp., 907 F.3d

766, 773 (4th Cir. 2018) (“The [perjury statute] is vital to ‘the integrity of our trial system’ and ensures that ‘all

testimony . . . has greater value’ . . . .” (quoting United States v. Dunnigan, 507 U.S. 87, 97 (1993))). United

States v. Norris, 217 F.3d 262, 274 (5th Cir. 2000) (“Perjury . . . is a serious offense that results in incalculable

harm to the functioning and integrity of the legal system as well as to private individuals.” (quoting United States

v. Holland, 22 F.3d 1040, 1047 (11th Cir. 1994))).

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To free courts of the “pollution of perjury”

3

by deterring and punishing false tes-

timony,

4

Congress has enacted three statutes criminalizing perjury:

5

18 U.S.C.

§§ 1621, the general perjury statute;

6

1622, the subornation of perjury statute;

7

and

1623, the statute concerning perjury before a grand jury or court.

8

The remainder

of this section provides an overview of the three perjury statutes. Section II exam-

ines the elements of §§ 1621 and 1623. Section III discusses defenses. Section IV

addresses sentencing.

A. Section 1621: False Testimony Generally

Section 1621 is the broadest of the three federal perjury statutes.

9

This statute

applies to all material statements or information provided under oath to “a compe-

tent tribunal, officer, or person, in any case in which a law of the United States

3. Bronston v. United States, 409 U.S. 352, 357 (1973) (“The [perjury] statute . . . is ‘a federal statute enacted

in an effort to keep the course of justice free from the pollution of perjury.’” (quoting United States v. Williams,

341 U.S. 58, 68 (1951))).

4. See Dunn v. United States, 442 U.S. 100, 107 (1979) (finding that § 1623’s purpose is “to facilitate perjury

prosecutions and thereby enhance the reliability of testimony before federal courts and grand juries”); United

States v. Sherman, 150 F.3d 306, 315 (3d Cir. 1998) (finding that § 1623’s purpose is “to encourage truthful

testimony by witnesses appearing before federal courts and grand juries”); United States v. Snyder, 428 F.2d 520,

522 (9th Cir. 1970) (explaining that § 1621 “is designed to forestall perjury” and “provid[e] for punishment . . . to

deter similar conduct by others”). An additional purpose of § 1623 is to correct “perceived evidentiary problems

in demonstrating perjury under” § 1621. See Dunn, 442 U.S. at 108.

5. Congress’s power to enact the three statutes is “in furtherance of [its] power to constitute federal tribunals.”

United States v. Comstock, 560 U.S. 126, 136 (2010) (citing Jinks v. Richland County, 538 U.S. 456, 462 n.2

(2003)).

6. Section 1621 provides in relevant part:

Whoever . . . having taken an oath . . . 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 . . . 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.

C18 U.S.C. § 1621.

7. Section 1622 provides in its entirety: “[w]hoever procures another to commit any perjury is guilty of

subornation of perjury, and shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.” Id.

§ 1622.

8. Section 1623 provides in relevant part:

Whoever under oath . . . in any proceeding before or ancillary to any court or grand jury of the

United States knowingly makes any false material declaration or makes or uses any other informa-

tion, including any book, paper, document, record, recording, or other material, knowing the same

to contain any false material declaration, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more

than five years, or both.

Id. § 1623(a).

9. However, § 1621 is not to be “loosely construed.” Bronston v. United States, 409 U.S. 352, 360 (1973)

(“[T]he statute [should not be] invoked simply because a wily witness succeeds in derailing the questioner—so

long as the witness speaks the literal truth.”).

1200 AMERICAN CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 59:1199