New post on Frederick Leatherman Law Blog
by masonblue Phone call with Trayvon Martin's girlfriend and Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Good morning:
Today, we are going to take a tour of the Florida perjury statutes to clear up any lingering confusion caused by the troll yesterday regarding the law and its possible application to DD.
Keep
in mind that I believe the evidence will show that she did not lie
about anything, much less commit perjury and I believe the U.S. media
has been grossly irresponsible in reporting that she did. Nevertheless,
the false accusation has been made and I am going to hopefully refute
and bury it forever.
Introduction
Keep
in mind that all federal and state crimes are defined by statutes
passed by both houses of a bicameral legislature and signed into law by
an executive (president or governor). They are enacted pursuant to the
police power granted to the legislative body by the federal or state
constitution.
Federal
courts have jurisdiction to decide cases involving violations of
federal offenses and state courts have jurisdiction to decide cases
involving violations of state offenses.
All
criminal statutes consist of elements that the prosecution must prove
beyond a reasonable doubt to convict a defendant. The elements consist
of a particular state of mind (mens rea) and a prohibited act (actus
reus).
The
Florida perjury statute sets forth two general categories of offenses:
perjury and false statements. Perjury is the more serious offense
because it consists of the base offense (a false statement) with
additional elements (oath and subject matter materiality).
Perjury
is subdivided into 3 categories: perjury in official proceedings,
perjury not in official proceedings and perjury by contradicting
statements.
The
false statements category also is subdivided into 3 categories: false
reports to law enforcement authorities, false information to law
enforcement during an investigation, and false official statements.
Notice
that the basis for distinguishing these false-statement offenses from
ordinary everyday lying is the element of the offense that specifies to
whom the lie is communicated.
That is, mere lying is not a criminal offense.
Now,
let us take a look at each of the offenses beginning with the false
statements that define the boundary between lies without criminal
consequences and lies with criminal consequences.
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Keep it Civil. Ignoring the evidence will not be allowed!
Thank you.