Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

What are the procedures of getting the plantiff charged with perjury when you have evidence clearly states that this person lied under oath? The plantiff lied about her race and has two different birthdays listed on her criminal record. At first I assumed that this was clerical mistake until I was shown the BBC of her criminal past history. There are two different court documents showing two different birthdays on file. I found out later that she has been convicted of several crimes under the first birthday and the second has couple minor misdemeanors. The police report saids she white and the BBC states in the report that she is black. How do I charge this particular individual with perjury since the prosecutor won't step up to the plate? I go to trial in a month from now and want to know if I can sue the prosecutor for concealing her criminal past and refusing to drop a frivious lawsuite. I thought the most cases get dropped if perjury can be proven of resonable doubt. In my case this is basic information that she lied about not specific information that someone might have forgotten about. How do you forget what your race or age is?

What are the consequences if the prosecutor purposely lied for the plantiff to keep a friviouls lawsuite going?


Asked on 8/09/10, 12:48 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Landon Ascheman Ascheman Law

I'm not sure if this is a criminal charge or a civil case. However, if the prosecutor doesn't want to charge it, there is very little that can be done. If there are inconsistencies in the statements of the witnesses, those can be shown to the jury to question her credibility. I would suggest contacting an attorney in your area to get help with some of the more complex issues of this case.

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Answered on 8/16/10, 12:28 pm
Maury Beaulier612.240.8005 Minnesota Lawyers

Only a prosecutor can file criminal charges. If the prosecutor will not do so, there is nothinbg you can do to compel that result particularly since you were not part of the porior criminal cases. Moreover, the issues you raise, birthdate and race, have little substantively to do with the criminal charges. Given the minimal relevance, I am not surprised that criminal charges were not filed. In fact, on the race issue, a person can be of mixed race and accurate on both counts.

A case is not dismissed if the person was charged in an unbrelated matter for perjury. That is particularly true when the issues are of limited relvance. A perjury charge could be used as impeachment at a differeent trial, but its impact woulld depend on the particular issue in dispute.

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Answered on 8/18/10, 7:24 am


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