Legal Question in Criminal Law in Georgia

Punishment can be from 1 to 10 years if you are only talking about GA law. See the statute below. Where a person falls within that range will depend on his or her prior record score and circumstances relating to the crime.

I don't do criminal law but in the years when I handled criminal cases in the past, I can tell you that perjury was seldom prosecuted even in conjunction with other offenses. It is very difficult to prove. Rather, perjury prosecutions seem to be used more as a political tool whereby prosecutors will use this if they wish to "send a message" to a prominent person and remove them from power. An example in my opinion was Martha Stewart. I am not defending what she did (they got her on a federal charge of lying to the FBI) but I think prosecuting her and sending her to jail was a waste of money and tax resources. She could have been fined or made to disgorge any profits and that would have been punishment enough. Anyway, perjury prosecutions are used in much the same way as the charge of lying to the FBI was used in the Martha Stewart case.

� 16-10-70. Perjury

(a) A person to whom a lawful oath or affirmation has been administered commits the offense of perjury when, in a judicial proceeding, he knowingly and willfully makes a false statement material to the issue or point in question.

(b) A person convicted of the offense of perjury shall be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000.00 or by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years, or both. A person convicted of the offense of perjury that was a cause of another's being imprisoned shall be sentenced to a term not to exceed the sentence provided for the crime for which the other person was convicted. A person convicted of the offense of perjury that was a cause of another's being punished by death shall be punished by life imprisonment.