>>Ironically, the Clinton Justice Department last year won 108 convictions for perjury.
Lying is Lying
President Bill Clinton's defense against possible perjury
charges is that his denial of a "sexual relationship" with
Monica Lewinsky was "legally accurate," because his definition
of sex was different from that of his questioner. Such a stance
would not work in the Sixth Circuit of the U.S. Court of
Appeals, which includes Michigan.
In a ruling handed down this month, a three-judge panel of the
appellate court, in an opinion written by Detroit U.S. District
Judge Gerald Rosen, held that a defendant can be found guilty
of perjury if he "knew what the question meant and gave
knowingly untruthful and materially misleading answers in
response."
The ruling stemmed from a case in which top officials of the
Kentucky National Guard were under investigation for linking
promotion and retention of guard officers to their contributions
to gubernatorial candidate Brereton Jones. At issue were two
separate social functions, one in 1990 and one in 1991.
At the 1990 gathering, centered around the Preakness horse
race, 60 people attended, including the gubernatorial candidate,
and a significant amount of fund-raising was done. The 1991
function was a small dinner party attended only by six people,
and no fund-raising took place.
During questioning under oath, one of the guard officers, Robert
DeZarn, was asked about the fund-raiser, but his interrogator
mistakenly used the 1991 date. DeZarn, when asked whether
there was fund-raising at the 1991 party, said, "absolutely not."
Though his defense was that he gave "literally truthful" answers,
the Kentucky federal district court found that he knew what the
questioners meant and intended to deceive them. The conviction
was upheld by the Sixth Circuit, which found, in Judge Rosen's
words, that "a perjury inquiry which focuses only upon the
precision of the question and ignores what the defendant knew
about the subject matter of the question at the time it was asked,
misses the very point of perjury; that is, the defendant's intent to
testify falsely and, thereby, mislead his interrogators."
Ironically, the Clinton Justice Department last year won 108
convictions for perjury. DeZarn, incidentally, was sentenced to
15 months in prison and a $5,000 fine. It will be interesting to
see if the president is held to the same standard.
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