Police perjury is the act of a police officer knowingly giving false testimony. It is typically used in a criminal trial to "make the case" against defendants believed by the police to be guilty when irregularities during the suspects' arrest or search threaten to result in their acquittal. It also can be extended to encompass substantive misstatements of fact to convict those whom the police believe to be guilty, procedural misstatements to "justify" a search and seizure, or even the inclusion of statements to frame an innocent citizen. More generically, it has been said to be "[l]ying under oath, especially by a police officer, to help get a conviction."
Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and 4 short stories, all of which involve a client being charged with murder, usually involving a preliminary hearing or jury trial. Typically, Mason establishes his client's innocence by finding the real murderer. The character was inspired by famed Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Earl Rogers.
Jeri Lynn Ryan is an American actress who played the former Borg drone Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Voyager (1997–2001), for which she was nominated four times for a Saturn Award and won in 2001. She has reprised her role as Seven of Nine in Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023).
Judge Judy is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudicated real-life small-claims disputes within a simulated courtroom set. Prior to the proceedings, all involved parties signed arbitration contracts agreeing to Sheindlin's ruling. The show aired in first-run syndication. As it was during its active years in production, it continues to be distributed by CBS Media Ventures in syndication, now in reruns that still draw notably high ratings.
Debra Wong Yang is the former United States Attorney for the Central District of California. She was appointed in May 2002 by President George W. Bush, who made her the first Asian American woman to serve as a United States Attorney. In 2009, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa nominated Yang to a vacancy on the Los Angeles Police Commission. In 2016, she was listed as the potential choice for SEC Chief in Donald Trump's cabinet.
Judith Susan Sheindlin, known professionally as Judge Judy, is an American court-show arbitrator, media personality, television producer, author, a women's advancement philanthropist and former prosecutor and Manhattan family court judge.
Sasha Alexander is an American actress and TV director. She played Gretchen Witter in Dawson's Creek and has acted in films including Yes Man (2008) and He's Just Not That Into You (2009). Alexander played Caitlin Todd for the first two seasons of NCIS (2003–2005). From July 2010 through September 2016, Alexander starred as Maura Isles in the TNT series Rizzoli & Isles, and was a regular in Season 5 and 6 of Shameless in 2015–2016.
Paget Valerie Brewster is an American actress. She was first recognized for her recurring role as Kathy on the fourth season of the NBC sitcom Friends. Her breakthrough role came as FBI Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss on the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds. She was a regular cast member on the series from 2006 to 2012, then made two guest appearances before returning as a regular in 2016.
Tamara Tunie is an American film, stage, and television actress, director, and producer. She is best known for her roles as attorney Jessica Griffin on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns and as medical examiner Melinda Warner in the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2000–2021).
Simon & Simon is an American crime drama television series that originally ran from November 24, 1981, to September 16, 1989. The series was broadcast on CBS, and starred Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker as two disparate brothers who operate a two-person detective agency in San Diego.
William Joseph Bratton CBE is an American law enforcement officer and businessman who served two terms as the New York City Police Commissioner. He previously served as the Commissioner of the Boston Police Department (BPD) (1993–1994) and Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) (2002–2009). He is the only person to have led the police departments of the United States' two largest cities – New York and Los Angeles.
Jamie Ross is a fictional character on the TV drama Law & Order, created by Rene Balcer and portrayed by Carey Lowell from 1996 to 1998 and 2022. She also appears in the short-lived Law & Order spin-off Law & Order: Trial by Jury, by which time the character has become a judge. She appeared in 53 episodes
Cops is an American television documentary reality legal programming television series that is currently in its 35th season. It is produced by Langley Productions. It premiered on the Fox network on March 11, 1989. The series, known for chronicling the lives of police officers, follows city police officers and sheriff's deputies, sometimes backed up by state police or other state agencies, during patrol, calls for service, and other police activities including prostitution and narcotic stings, and occasionally the serving of search/arrest warrants at criminal residences. Some episodes have also featured federal agencies. The show's formula follows the cinéma vérité convention, which does not consist of any narration, scripted dialogue or incidental music/added sound effects, depending entirely on the commentary of the officers and on the actions of the people with whom they come into contact, giving the audience a fly on the wall point of view. Each episode typically consists of three self-contained segments which often ended with one or more arrests.
Perry Mason is an American legal drama series originally broadcast on CBS television from September 21, 1957, to May 22, 1966. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner. Many episodes are based on stories written by Gardner.
The Insider Exclusive television show regularly produces original Dateline, 60 Minutes, 20/20, and prime time style television shows for the public and broadcasts them on major cable networks such as PBS, CNN, MSNBC, TruTV, Fox, Time Warner and Comcast, Cox, Charter, A&E, Discovery, TLC, and Bravo. The focus is primarily on "Important Business, Legal and Public Policy Issues". The Insider Exclusive also features important cases that represent injustice, unfairness and/or deception, either for individuals or groups seeking to vindicate their civil rights.
Katherine Ann Power, also known under the aliases Mae Kelly and Alice Louise Metzinger, is an American ex-convict and long-time fugitive, who, along with her fellow student and accomplice Susan Edith Saxe, was placed on the FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives list in 1970. The two participated in robberies at a Massachusetts National Guard armory and a bank in Brighton, Massachusetts, where Boston police officer Walter Schroeder was shot and killed. Power remained at large for twenty-three years.
Crystal Gail Mangum is a former exotic dancer and convicted murderer from Durham, North Carolina, who is best known for having made false allegations of rape against lacrosse players in the 2006 Duke lacrosse case. The fact that Mangum was a black woman working in the sex industry, while the accused were all white men, created extensive media interest and academic debate about race, class, gender and the politicization of the justice system.
The Good Wife is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in law after the events of a public sex and political corruption scandal involving her husband. The series was created by Robert and Michelle King and stars Julianna Margulies, Josh Charles, Christine Baranski, Matt Czuchry, Archie Panjabi, Zach Grenier, Matthew Goode, Cush Jumbo, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Alan Cumming, and features Chris Noth in a recurring role. The executive producers included the Kings, Ridley and Tony Scott, Charles McDougall, and David W. Zucker. The Good Wife is a serialized show featuring several story arcs that play out over multiple episodes, as well as stand-alone storylines that are concluded by the end of each episode. The serial plots—a rarity on CBS, a network where most of the programming at that time was procedural—were especially showcased in its highly praised fifth season.
Marilyn Mosby is an American politician and lawyer who served as the State's Attorney for Baltimore from 2015 to 2023. She is currently under federal indictment for multiple crimes.
Chicago Justice is an American legal drama television series that aired on NBC from March 1 to May 14, 2017. The series was created by Dick Wolf and is the fourth installment of Wolf's Chicago franchise. A backdoor pilot aired on May 11, 2016, as part of the third season of Chicago P.D. before being ordered to series. The show follows the prosecutors and investigators at the Cook County State's Attorney's Office as they navigate their way through Chicago area politics, the legal arena, and media coverage while pursuing justice.
