The President and Pam Parsons
The Landmark Legal Foundation
June 26th , 1998 Mark R . Levin
According to several news accounts , in February of 1982 , Sports Illustrated published an article entitled " Stormy Weather at South Carolina , " in which Miss Parsons , the women's basketball coach at the University of South Carolina, was accused of having a lesbian relationship with one of her players . Miss Parsons was then fired . She accused Time , Inc . , which owned Sports Illustrated , of libel , and sued the company for $75 million. The case was brought in United States Federal District Court in South Carolina . Time defended on the grounds that its story was true , and , therefore , not libelous .
During the course of the trial , a 17 - year - old player on Miss Parsons ' basketball team was identified as having had a sexual relationship with her . Miss Parsons and the player denied , under oath , that they had been lovers. In other words , they swore in a civil case that they had not had sex with each other .
Unfortunately for them , late in the civil trial , Babette " Babs " DeLay , a bartender at an establishment called the " Puss n ' Boots " in Salt Lake City , learned about Miss Parsons ' libel suit from the television news . She contacted Sports Illustrated . Miss DeLay then testified during the trial that she witnessed Miss Parsons and her young player dancing intimately , and openly proclaiming that they were lovers . Needless to say , the jury returned a verdict for Time , Inc .
Importantly , when the civil case ended , the presiding federal judge , Clyde Hamilton, referred the matter to the United States Attorney ' s office and the FBI to investigate possible criminal perjury by Miss Parsons and her lover - both of whom denied ever frequenting " Puss n ' Boots . " The judge said that the witnesses had blatantly lied under oath . Again, the perjury involved these two individuals lying under oath in a civil case for the purpose of covering up their sexual relationship .
Soon thereafter , then - United States Attorney Henry McMaster filed perjury charges against the coach and her player . In November of 1984 , both women pleaded guilty to one count of perjury each . In February of 1985 , Judge Hamilton sentenced them to three years in prison -- four months of which they actually served in a Lexington , Kentucky penitentiary .
Mr . Clinton ' s defenders have insisted for months that the Clinton - Lewinsky scandal is about consensual sex , apparently conceding that Mr. Clinton likely lied under oath when he denied having sex with the ex - White House intern Monica Lewinsky during his sworn deposition in the Paula Jones case . They have also contended for months that no person has ever been prosecuted for lying about sex in a civil case . As Miss Parsons and her then 17 - year - old lover can attest , the issue is not lying about sex , but lying under oath. The judge and federal prosecutor were compelled to act , for to do otherwise , and ignore perjured testimony , would have undermined the credibility of the court , and ultimately the rule of law . If the President of the United States -- the chief law enforcement officer of the nation -- is guilty of the same conduct , that would be profound. As in the Parsons case , it must be pursued .
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