Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney

Defending Perjury Charges

Lying under oath can put you in prison! Perjury is a serious crime and an affront to the justice system. If you are accused of willfully and knowingly lying after taking an oath to tell the truth, or signing a document that you know contains false assertions, you could serve up to four years in prison and be ordered to pay thousands of dollars in fines. You can see that perjury charges are more serious than most people realize. If you have been charged with perjury, contact a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer at Stephen G. Rodriguez and Associates at your earliest opportunity. We take pride in our work and our case results reflect our commitment and dedication to our clients. We have helped many of our clients avoid severe penalties in their criminal cases and you can rest assured that we will defend your case aggressively and do all that we can to minimize the effects of your charge on your life.

Criminal Defense Lawyer in Los Angeles

Perjury is charged as a felony offense in California. It involves not only lying in a court of law while under oath but can also be lying under oath in a civil deposition or a written affidavit or declaration. Subornation of Perjury, procuring or influencing someone else to lie under oath, is also a crime. To convict for Subornation of Perjury, the person procured must have actually committed perjury.

California Penal Code Section 118 defines perjury as: "Every person who, having taken an oath that he or she will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly before any competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any of the cases in which the oath may by law of the State of California be administered, willfully and contrary to the oath, states as true any material matter which he or she knows to be false, and every person who testifies, declares, deposes or certifies under penalty of perjury in any of the cases in which the testimony, declarations, depositions, or certification is permitted by law of the State of California under penalty of perjury and willfully states as true any material matter which he or she knows to be false, is guilty of perjury."

Some examples of perjury include:

To lie while answering a question when testifying as a witness during a trial
To claim to make less money per year than you actually make while completing a sworn affidavit during divorce proceedings in court.
To make two statements that contradict each other during a court proceeding, but not admit that one of the statements is false
To lie on a driver's license application
To make a false statement on a loan application signed under penalty of perjury

The prosecutor must prove the following five elements to obtain a conviction:

That you knowingly gave a false answer to a question after taking an oath that you would tell the truth in court
That you signed a sworn statement as being true when you knew it contained false information
That you reasonably understood what was meant by the person asking the question while you were under oath
That your statement was false at the time you made it
That you willfully and knowingly made a statement that contained a false material fact or concealed a material fact

The penalties for a perjury conviction vary from no jail time to four years in prison. First time offenders with no prior criminal history may be looking at zero days in jail, formal probation, fines, community service and restitution. The exact sentence depends on other external factors that come into play, such as the judge, the prosecutor and the victim. A perjury conviction may impact your ability to obtain gainful employment, career advancement and denial of certain business or real estate loans. The outcome of your case depends in large part on your criminal defense attorney's knowledge, skill and experience. That is why it is important to hire an experienced criminal defense attorney to assist you with your perjury case.

We have a reputation in the legal community for getting positive results for our clients. Attorney Stephen G. Rodriguez has appeared on numerous well known television programs giving legal commentary including: Anderson Cooper (AC360), Channel 7 ABC News, Telemundo and UNIVISION. With our strong background in successful criminal defense and the credentials of a winning law firm, you won't go wrong by hiring us to defend the charges you are facing.

Contact a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney if you are facing perjury charges to schedule your consultation and discuss how we may best represent you.