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."
The Central Park jogger case was a criminal case concerning the assault and rape of Trisha Meili,a white woman in Central Park in Manhattan,New York,on April 19,1989. On the night of the attack,dozens of teenagers had entered the park,and there were reports of muggings and physical assaults.
John Kalar Van de Kamp was an American politician and lawyer who served as Los Angeles County District Attorney from 1975 until 1981,and then as the 28th Attorney General of California from 1983 until 1991.
Linda Fairstein is an American author,attorney,and former New York City prosecutor focusing on crimes of violence against women and children. She was the head of the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's office from 1976 until 2002.
Anthony Ramon Baez was a security guard who died immediately following an altercation with police on December 22,1994,at the age of 29. His death occurred early in the morning on Cameron Place in the Mount Hope section of the Bronx,New York. The fatal encounter began when Anthony Baez and his brothers accidentally hit a police car with their football,at approximately 1:30 am. The Baez brothers continued their game,playing in the opposite direction. Officer Francis Livoti arrested David Baez first for disorderly conduct. He then attempted to arrest Anthony Baez,who had physically interfered in his brother's arrest,by crossing his arms in front of his chest. A scuffle ensued,while other officers arrived on scene. Baez was subdued,lost consciousness,and was taken to a hospital,where he was declared dead of asphyxiation. Controversy centered over the extent to which officers contributed to his death,specifically whether he was subjected to an unauthorized choke hold by Officer Francis Livoti.
Michael Orville Freeman is an American attorney and politician who served as the county attorney for Hennepin County. While in office,he was the official responsible overseeing several high-profile criminal cases of excessive police force,including several unlawful killings by law enforcement officers. Freeman filed criminal charges against Derek Chauvin and three other Minneapolis police officers responsible for the murder of George Floyd in 2020,before the Minnesota Attorney General's office took over the case.
Anita M. Alvarez is the former State's Attorney for Cook County,Illinois,United States. Alvarez was the first Hispanic woman elected to this position,after being the first Latina to win the Democratic nomination for state's attorney of Cook County.
The murder of Mark Fisher occurred in the early morning hours of October 12,2003. The college student was brutally beaten,shot five times,and left on Argyle Road in Prospect Park South,Brooklyn. He was 19 years old.
Jose Angel Baez is an American criminal defense lawyer and author. He is known for representing high-profile defendants such as Casey Anthony,Aaron Hernandez,Mark Nordlicht,and Harvey Weinstein.
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.
Louis N. Scarcella is a retired detective from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) who initially came to prominence during the "crack epidemic" of the 1980s and 1990s,earning frequent commendations before many convictions resulting from his investigations were overturned during his retirement. As a member of the Brooklyn North Homicide Squad,he and his longtime partner Stephen Chmil built a reputation for obtaining convictions in difficult cases. Since 2013,Scarcella has received extensive and sustained publicity for multiple allegations of investigative misconduct that resulted in false testimony against crime suspects,meaning that innocent parties could have served long prison terms and guilty individuals could have gone free because of wrongful procedures.
Darcel Denise Clark is an American attorney and prosecutor who has served as the Bronx County District Attorney since 2016. Clark is the first woman to hold that office,and the first woman of color to serve as a district attorney in the history of the State of New York.
McDonnell v. United States,579 U.S. 550 (2016),was a United States Supreme Court case concerning the appeal of former Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell's conviction for honest services fraud and Hobbs Act extortion. At issue on appeal was whether the definition of "official act" within the federal bribery statutes encompassed the actions for which McDonnell had been convicted and whether the jury had been properly instructed on this definition at trial.
Deborah Danner,66,was fatally shot by New York City Police Department Sgt. Hugh Barry on October 18,2016,in her home in the Bronx,New York. According to police sources,she was armed with first a pair of scissors and then a baseball bat. According to an emergency medical technician,she had put the scissors down,and later on picked up a baseball bat. Barry was charged with murder and manslaughter in May 2017. He was acquitted in February 2018.
James Walden is an American lawyer. After serving in the U.S Department of Justice as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York from 1993 to 2002,he entered private practice where he was involved in several prominent white-collar and antitrust cases in addition to a series of cases seeking governmental reform. He represents Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov,the former head of Russia's anti-doping laboratory. At one time Walden represented former UFC Lightweight champion Conor McGregor in McGregor's pending court case for felony criminal mischief and misdemeanor assault in Brooklyn,NY. Walden has represented plaintiffs in class action lawsuits suits against the New York City Department of Education and the New York City Housing Authority. He served as Special Counsel to a task force created by the Governor of New Jersey to investigate the administration of the state's tax incentive programs.
Muhammad Abdul Aziz is an American man who was wrongfully convicted in the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X –a conviction that was overturned in November 2021,decades after he was paroled in 1985. Aziz maintained his innocence;and Mujahid Abdul Halim,who admitted to the murder,insisted that Aziz and Khalil Islam,another man who was convicted along with them,were innocent.
Derek Michael Chauvin is an American former police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd,a 46-year-old African-American man,in Minneapolis,Minnesota. Chauvin was a member of the Minneapolis Police Department from 2001 to 2020.
State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin was an American criminal case in the District Court of Minnesota in which former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was tried and convicted of the murder of George Floyd during an arrest on May 25,2020. Chauvin was found guilty of unintentional second-degree murder,third-degree murder,and second-degree manslaughter;the first charge could have carried a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison. It was the first conviction of a white officer in Minnesota for the murder of a black person. On June 25,2021,Chauvin was sentenced by the trial judge to 22+1⁄2 years in prison for second-degree murder,10 years more than the sentencing guidelines of 12+1⁄2 years.
Carey R. Dunne is an American attorney. He is known for leading the criminal investigation of Donald Trump for the office of the Manhattan District Attorney until his resignation from the case,alongside his colleague Mark F. Pomerantz,in February 2022. In that role,Dunne successfully argued Trump v. Vance before the United States Supreme Court in May 2020;the court held that President Trump was required to comply with a state grand jury subpoena for his tax returns. Prior to his service at the DA’s Office,Dunne was a longtime partner at Davis Polk &Wardwell,where he specialized in white collar criminal defense. Dunne is a past president of the New York City Bar Association.
Scott Hechinger is an American civil rights attorney,former public defender and the founder and executive director of Zealous,a nonprofit organization that trains public defenders and activists to use media,technology,the arts,and storytelling to shape criminal justice policy. Hechinger teaches at Columbia Law School as an adjunct professor.
United States Navy 