What is the Definition of Perjury in Mississippi?

Perjury is the crime of knowingly making a false statement under oath. Under Mississippi law, a person commits perjury by wilfully and corruptly swearing, testifying, or affirming falsely to a material matter under a legally administered oath. The statute has two demanding parts. The lie must be deliberate, and it must matter to the proceeding.

Mississippi treats perjury as a serious felony. The punishment depends on the kind of case the lie was told in. Perjury told at the trial of an indictment for a capital offense or any other felony carries a minimum of ten years in the penitentiary. Perjury in any other proceeding carries up to ten years. This article covers what counts as perjury, what the punishment and fines look like, why it is a felony, and how these cases are defended.

What Counts as Perjury Under Mississippi Law

To win a perjury conviction the State must generally prove four things. The defendant made a statement under a legally administered oath or affirmation. The statement was false. The defendant knew it was false when it was made. And the false statement was material to the matter at hand.

Materiality is the element people underestimate. The statement has to have the potential to affect the proceeding. A lie about a small, irrelevant detail may not qualify. A false statement that could shift a verdict, change a judge's ruling, or send investigators the wrong way usually does.

Intent is the other hard element. The statute uses the words “wilfully and corruptly.” That language rules out honest error. A witness who remembers something wrong, or who misunderstands the question, has not committed perjury. The State has to prove the person knew the answer was false as they gave it.

Where Perjury in Court and Other Sworn Settings Can Happen

Perjury in court is the version most people picture, but the statute reaches much further. It covers false sworn statements in any matter, cause, or proceeding pending in a court of law or equity, or before any officer of such a court.

It also covers any case where an oath or affirmation is required by law, or is necessary to prosecute or defend a private right, or is needed for the ends of public justice. And it reaches any matter before a tribunal or officer created by the Constitution or by statute, and any setting where an oath may lawfully be required by a judicial, executive, or administrative officer.

In practice that sweeps in a long list of everyday documents and hearings.

• Trial and hearing testimony in criminal and civil cases
• Depositions taken under oath before a court reporter
• Sworn affidavits filed with a court
• Sworn statements and applications submitted to state agencies
• Testimony before boards and administrative tribunals

If an oath was administered and the person lied about something that mattered, a criminal law charge can follow, whatever the setting.

Perjury Punishment in Mississippi

Perjury punishment in Mississippi is set by a single sentencing statute, and it splits into two tiers. Getting the tier right matters, because the two are very different.

The first tier applies when the perjury was committed at the trial of an indictment for a capital offense or for any other felony. In that situation the statute sets a floor rather than a ceiling. The sentence is not less than ten years in the penitentiary. Lying on the stand in a felony trial is the most heavily punished form of the offense in Mississippi.

The second tier covers everything else. Perjury committed on any other judicial trial or inquiry, or in any other case, carries a term not exceeding ten years in the penitentiary. Ten years is the maximum there, not the starting point.

The statute does not create a separate life sentence for perjury in a capital case. The capital-case situation falls inside the first tier, with its ten-year minimum.

Several things influence where a sentence lands inside those ranges. A false statement that changed the course of the proceeding usually draws more than one that went nowhere. Prior criminal history matters. So does the harm: whether the lie obstructed the case, helped convict an innocent person, or helped a guilty one walk. Sentences may also include supervision conditions that outlast the prison term.

Every case is different, and actual outcomes turn on the facts.

Fines for a Perjury Conviction

Perjury fines in Mississippi are not set by the perjury statutes at all. Those statutes speak only about time in the penitentiary. They name no dollar figure.

The fine comes from the general felony sentencing rule instead. For an offense punishable by more than a year in the penitentiary where no fine is set elsewhere, Mississippi law allows a fine of up to ten thousand dollars. That fine can be imposed on top of a prison term or any other penalty. It is a ceiling, not a set amount, and judges have wide discretion below it.

Court costs and state assessments ride along with any felony sentence, and a judge may order restitution where the false statement caused a measurable loss.

The fine is often the smallest part of the bill. Defending a felony charge costs money. So does lost income during the case and any period of custody. Licensed professionals face separate proceedings before their boards that can end a career outright. Those knock-on costs routinely dwarf the fine itself.

Is Perjury a Felony in Mississippi?

Yes. A felony perjury conviction is the only kind Mississippi has. Both tiers of the sentencing statute send the offender to the state penitentiary, and there is no misdemeanor version of the offense.

The consequences reach past the sentence. Perjury is one of the crimes named in the Mississippi Constitution's list of disqualifying offenses. A person convicted of perjury is not a qualified elector in Mississippi. That is worth stating carefully: Mississippi does not strip voting rights from everyone with a felony record. It strips them from people convicted of the specific crimes on that constitutional list, and perjury is on it.

Getting the vote back is difficult. The Mississippi Constitution allows the Legislature to restore the right of suffrage to a person disqualified by crime, but only by a two-thirds vote of all members elected in both houses, with the reasons recorded in the journals.

Federal law separately bars a person convicted of a felony from possessing a firearm, and Mississippi has its own restriction as well. Background checks by employers and landlords will surface the conviction. For anyone holding a professional license, a conviction for lying under oath is among the worst entries a record can carry.

The Witness Disqualification Most People Never Hear About

Mississippi attaches a penalty to perjury that has nothing to do with prison or money, and it surprises almost everyone.

The perjury statute says a person guilty of perjury shall not thereafter be received as a witness to be sworn in any matter or cause whatever, until the judgment against him is reversed. Read that plainly. It is not a rule about the jury weighing your credibility. It is a bar on being sworn at all.

The same bar appears in the subornation statute. A person convicted of procuring someone else's perjury carries it too.

The practical effect is severe. Testifying in your own defense in a later case, backing up a friend on the stand, signing a sworn affidavit in a business matter: all of it is put in question while the judgment stands. The disqualification lifts only if the judgment is reversed. This is one of the strongest reasons to fight a perjury charge rather than treat it as a paperwork problem.

Related Crimes: Subornation and Bribery of a Witness

Mississippi criminalizes two ways of pulling someone else into a lie, and both are separate offenses from perjury itself.

Subornation of perjury. Subornation is unlawfully or corruptly procuring a witness, by any means at all, to commit wilful and corrupt perjury in a case where that witness is legally sworn and examined. The punishment is imprisonment in the penitentiary for up to ten years, plus the same bar on ever being sworn as a witness again until the judgment is reversed. The person who arranged the lie faces the same maximum as the person who told it.

Bribery to procure perjury. Mississippi also punishes the attempt. Offering something of value in an unlawful and corrupt attempt to get another person to commit perjury as a witness is a separate crime, carrying up to five years in the penitentiary. The offer alone is enough. The witness does not have to accept it, and no false testimony has to be given.

These charges often appear alongside a perjury count when the State believes a witness was coached, paid, or pressured. They can also be charged where the perjury count itself fails.

Common Defenses to a Perjury Charge

Defending a perjury charge means attacking the elements one at a time. Which strategy fits depends entirely on the facts.

The statement was true. If what the defendant said was accurate, there is no perjury. The State must prove falsity beyond a reasonable doubt. A statement that was ambiguous, or literally true but misleading, is a hard thing for a prosecutor to convert into a conviction.

There was no knowledge of falsity. The statute demands that the lie be wilful and corrupt. An honest mistake, a failed memory, or real confusion about dates and details can defeat the intent element. The State has to show the person knew the statement was false as they made it.

The statement was not material. If the false statement had no potential to influence the proceeding, it may not satisfy the materiality element. Defense counsel can argue that the statement, false or not, had nothing to do with the questions before the court.

There was no valid oath. Perjury requires an oath or affirmation that was legally administered. If no oath was given, or the officer who gave it had no authority to do so, the charge may fail on its face.

The proceeding or the record is flawed. Perjury cases are built on transcripts, recordings, and signed documents. Missing pages, garbled audio, compound questions, and questions the witness never actually answered all create room to argue.

The statement was corrected. Mississippi has no recantation statute for perjury. Correcting a false answer in the same proceeding, before it is discovered and before it affects anything, is still worth raising. It bears on the wilful and corrupt element and it matters at sentencing, but it is not a statutory safe harbor.

These are avenues a defense attorney may pursue. No defense strategy guarantees a particular result.

Speak With a Mississippi Perjury Defense Attorney

A perjury charge is a felony with consequences that outlast the sentence. Prison time, a fine, a lost professional license, a bar on being sworn as a witness, and the loss of the vote can all follow one answer given under oath.

The State still has to prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt, and perjury cases have more soft spots than they first appear to. Intent and materiality are both genuinely contestable. An experienced Mississippi criminal defense attorney can read the transcript with those elements in mind and tell you where the case is weak.

The attorneys at Vic Carmody, Jr., P.A. can review the facts of your situation, assess the strength of the available defenses, and help you decide whether a plea or a trial makes more sense. If you are facing a perjury charge, or believe you may be under investigation, contact our office for a confidential consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions About Perjury in Mississippi

How Many Years Can You Get for Perjury in Mississippi?

It depends on the case the lie was told in. Perjury committed at the trial of an indictment for a capital offense or any other felony carries a sentence of not less than ten years in the penitentiary. Perjury in any other judicial trial or inquiry, or in any other case, carries a term not exceeding ten years. Where a sentence lands depends on the facts, on how much the false statement mattered, and on the defendant's record.

Is Perjury a Felony or Misdemeanor in Mississippi?

Perjury is a felony. Mississippi has no misdemeanor version of the offense, and both sentencing tiers carry time in the state penitentiary. A conviction also disqualifies the person from voting in Mississippi, bars firearm possession under federal law, and leaves a permanent record that affects employment, housing, and professional licensing.

What Fine Can a Mississippi Perjury Conviction Carry?

The perjury statutes name no fine. Under Mississippi's general felony sentencing rule, an offense punishable by more than a year in the penitentiary with no fine set elsewhere may carry a fine of up to ten thousand dollars, in addition to imprisonment. Court costs, state assessments, and restitution can be added on top.

What Must the Prosecution Prove to Convict Someone of Perjury?

Four elements, each beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant made a statement under a legally administered oath. The statement was false. The defendant knew it was false at the time. And the statement was material to the proceeding. Failing to prove any one of them can end the case.

Can You Still Testify After a Perjury Conviction in Mississippi?

The statute says a person guilty of perjury shall not afterward be received as a witness to be sworn in any matter or cause, until the judgment against them is reversed. The same rule applies to a conviction for subornation of perjury. It is a far heavier consequence than a hit to credibility, and it is one of the main reasons to contest the charge.

Can Perjury Charges Be Dropped if You Correct Your Statement?

Mississippi has no recantation statute for perjury, so correcting a false answer is not an automatic defense. It can still matter. A correction made in the same proceeding, before the falsity is discovered and before it affects the outcome, bears on whether the statement was wilful and corrupt, and it can influence sentencing. It does not guarantee a dismissal. Talk to a criminal defense attorney before saying anything further on the record.