Also known as: forswear · forswears · forswore · forsworn · perjury · renunciation under oath
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
The act of repudiating or renouncing under oath. Perjury occurs when a person willfully makes a false statement under oath concerning a material matter in a judicial proceeding.
Fumiko Fujimoto testified at trial that she never observed loose scaffolding. Counsel confronted her with a recorded interview in which she identified the safety manager as the person who overruled warnings. Because the interview was not given under penalty of perjury, the court excluded it as substantive evidence despite the inconsistency.
Frederick Ferguson testified for the defense in a contract dispute. Opposing counsel cross-examined him about membership in an organization whose tenets required members to commit perjury for fellow members. The court permitted the questions to show bias even though the organization itself was not on trial.
Fernando Farrell sought to establish paternity. The laboratory submitted a genetic testing report signed under penalty of perjury by its designee. The court treated the report as self-authenticating and admitted it without further testimony from the lab technician.
Francesca Fowler was charged with attempt to suborn perjury after asking a witness to sign a false affidavit. Because the document would not have been material even if signed, the court held that true legal impossibility barred the attempt conviction.
Fabian Flynn told his lawyer he intended to present a fabricated alibi at trial. The lawyer refused to call the witness, warned Flynn of the consequences, and prepared to disclose the perjury to the court if necessary. The court found no violation of the right to effective assistance.
Francisco Frost refused to answer questions before a state grand jury about prior statements he had made under oath. The court upheld his invocation of the Fifth Amendment privilege, recognizing that the answers could expose him to perjury charges.
In November 1959, Harold Malloy was arrested during a gambling raid in Hartford, Connecticut, on charges related to pool selling. He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor, receiving a sentence of one year in jail and a five-hundred-dollar fine, with the jail term suspended after ninety days followed by two years of probation. Approximately sixteen months later, Malloy was subpoenaed to appear before a referee appointed by the Superior Court of Hartford County to investigate alleged gambling and other criminal activities in the county. During the inquiry, he was questioned about the circumstances of his 1959 arrest and conviction, including the identity of his employer, who paid his fine and bondsman, the tenant of the apartment where he was arrested, and whether he knew a man named John Bergoti. Malloy refused to answer any of these questions, asserting that his responses might tend to incriminate him. The Superior Court adjudged Malloy in contempt and ordered him committed to prison until he answered the questions. The Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors affirmed the contempt adjudication, holding that the Fifth Amendment privilege was unavailable in state proceedings and that Malloy had not properly invoked the state constitutional privilege. Malloy then sought federal habeas corpus relief in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, which was denied, and the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to consider the constitutional questions presented.
View caseForswearing requires a false statement made willfully and corruptly under oath in a judicial proceeding concerning a material matter. Ordinary false statements lack the oath and judicial-proceeding elements.
The statement must have been given under penalty of perjury at a trial, hearing, other proceeding, or deposition and must be inconsistent with the declarant's current testimony.
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Yes. A witness may be impeached by showing bias through membership in an organization whose tenets require members to lie or commit perjury on behalf of fellow members.
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The report must be in a record and signed under penalty of perjury by a designee of the testing laboratory.
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…"the struggle for the right-to-vote," and the legal defense of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., leader of the movement, against a perjury indictment then pending in Montgomery. The text appeared over the names of 64 persons, many widely known for their activities in public affairs, religion, trade unions, and the performing…