Warning to cops: tell the truth in court

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
December 15, 2011

The DWI Hit Parade (see www.DWIHitParade.com and also in "My Blog List" to the right) reports on a North Carolina cop who got 30 days in jail and a $500 fine for lying in court.

And not only is he going to jail, but many of his cases are being reviewed.

Read the article from the Charlotte Observer here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/05/05/2272621/contempt-ruling-may-derail-cases.html#ixzz1LV0xUNde

I wonder how he could have thought, even for a moment, that the defense attorney wouldn't have reviewed the in-car videocam. And why didn't he review it before court? Dumb!

Do cops lie in court? Do judges know that cops lie in court? In many cases it is referred to as "testilying". Former Los Angeles Superior Court judge Burton S. Katz wrote about "testilying" in Justice Overruled: Unmasking the Criminal Justice System. You can check it out from many libraries; it's worth reading.

In the North Carolina case, it seems that the cop wasn't lying. He apparently believed what he was saying about roadside sobriety tests administered to the driver he had stopped. The problem was that he didn't remember correctly.

Thinking further about this, should the verdict just have been Not Guilty and then the cop got spanked at the office and given some refresher training? Maybe 30 days and $500 is too harsh? What do you think?