Little Lies

January 18, 1999

Consider the following cases involving what most people would call "little lies."

A Texas judge was convicted of perjury for declaring that he had used political contributions to buy flowers for his staff, when, in fact, the flowers went to his wife.
A Florida postal supervisor is in prison for denying in a civil deposition that she had a sexual relationship with a subordinate.
An Ohio youth was arrested for underage drinking testified that he has never been read his rights by the police. He was then convicted of perjury for lying and sent to jail for 60 days.

Apparently the justice system of the United States does take seriously "little lies." And that does have some bearing on what has been taking place in Washington, DC over the last few months.

The defenders of the president say that his accusers have been overzealous in saying he should be impeached or subject to criminal charges on the grounds that he committed perjury when he denied in a civil deposition that he had a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

Well, an article in the New York Times provides a different perspective. A "review of more than 100 perjury cases in state and federal courts, and statistics on the number of perjury prosecutions brought around the country, show that people are prosecuted in America for what might be called small lies more regularly than the Clinton defenders have suggested."

About the only support the president's defenders might find in that review is the well-known fact that perjury cases are less frequently brought in civil cases than in criminal cases. But other than that, the review of perjury cases provides a harsh reminder that lying under oath is not taken lightly in America's judicial system and shouldn't be ignored by Congress.

I'm Kerby Anderson of Probe Ministries, and that's my opinion.