This Just In: Perjury is a Crime
Of course we all knew, non-perjury non-traps aside, that perjury was generally a crime. What you may not have known, however, is that there is no “it was all about sex” defense, at least not unless you’re the President. Who knew?
March 25th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Thanks for covering the Mayor of the City of De-tro-it!
Any thoughts on Dan Webb’s pitch that the “Secure Digital Standards Act” should’ve prevented text messages from being produced in a civil proceeding?
March 25th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
No, as I have never heard of either. Got a link?
March 26th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Hmmm…
I got this one…
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008803250422
and this one in the Q&A section…
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880324074
Here’s the relevant “A”…
MR. WEBB: Actually, in answer about the text messages, which maybe I should have mentioned, I heard the prosecutor this morning talk about how those text messages were legally obtained. And I will give you at least this preview. I am as certain as I stand here that the initial production of those text messages was in fact illegal under the law. In fact, I say that with absolute certainty. Those messages were first produced in a civil case by SkyTel, and I believe SkyTel today even recognizes they should not have done that. Under federal law, those messages, under the Stored Communications Act, absolutely should not have been produced in litigation — in civil litigation. Absolutely should not. And because of that, everyone since then, including the county prosecutor, is clearly tainted with all of the information that people are swirling about connected to those text messages, all of that is tainted because the initial production was illegal. And so there’s no question that there’ll be a motion to suppress regarding the text messages, and we’ll litigate that in court and a judge will make that decision. But the idea that those texts messages were legally obtained, I do challenge that. Because they could not under the law be produced legally in that civil case, and yet that’s when they were first produced. And everything after that, under the law, under the case law, is tainted.