Saturday, January 26, 2013

Lessons Learned from Lance Armstrong: Lying to win

Many people do not understand that lies can send you to prison. We know that some people lie all of the time, but when they lie under oath or when they lie to a grand jury it becomes perjury and that carries up to 15 years in prison . As an attorney I have seen good people and bad people lie on the witness stand.. I have seen police officers and lay witnesses lie under oath countless times. This is in spite of the fact that each and every witness swears to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help them God. So why do people lie so often when they are on the witness stand? The simple answer is that proving perjury is very difficult. It becomes much easier to prove perjury if you later admit that you lied. But most people will never admit that they lied, especially if they were lying while testifying under oath. Lying is a character flaw that no one really forgets. Remember Nixon? Lance Armstrong recently admitted that he has been lying for years. He admitted that he lied under oath, he lied during sworn depositions, he lied to the public, he lied to get ahead and he lied to win. Most people lie to win you over to their version of the story. We all know that lying is wrong and the public needs to be reminded from time to time that it is a crime to lie under oath. The Federal Government will most likely be charging Lance Armstrong with perjury. Thanks to Lance's recent admissions, their case will not be so hard to prove. The Government wants to show the public that lying under oath and lying to win will eventually make you lose. Our fundamental job as an attorney is to remind our clients to tell the truth or remain silent. Our fundamental job as a parent is to raise our children to tell the truth. There are no exceptions to the rule, even if you think you are a Super Athlete.