When the FBI Comes Calling…®
PERJURY (Continued)
18 U.S.C. § 1623 (2007)
The Crime
Section 1623 involves committing perjury to a grand jury, and this is the statute under which "Scooter" Libby has been charged. Under this section it is a crime for a person to be under oath in any proceeding before any court or grand jury and make any false material declaration or use any information knowing it contains false material declarations. 18 U.S.C. § 1623(a).
The Punishment
The punishment for a violation of section 1623(a) is
- a fine, imprisonment for up to 5 years, or both.
Case Law Interpreting Section 1623
The analysis of a prosecution for perjury before a grand jury is substantially the same as perjury under section 1621. However, one case in particular nicely presents the elements that are required to be proven to sustain a conviction for perjury before a grand jury. The essential elements of perjury are that
- the declarant must be under oath,
- the testimony must have been given in a proceeding before a court of the United States,
- the declarant must have knowingly made a false statement and
- the statement must be material to the proceeding before the court. United States v. Simone, 627 F. Supp. 1264, 1267-68 (D.N.J. 1986).