Obstruction of justice

Obstruction of justice

The crime of obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, refers to the crime of interfering with the work of police, investigators, regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other (usually government) officials. Common law jurisdictions other than the United States tend to use the wider offense of Perverting the course of justice.

Generally, obstruction charges are laid when it is discovered that a person questioned in an investigation, other than a suspect, has lied to the investigating officers. However, in most common law jurisdictions, the right to remain silent allows any person questioned by police merely to refuse to answer questions posed by an investigator without giving any reason for doing so. (In such a case, the investigators may subpoena the witness to give testimony under oath in court, though the witness may then exercise their Fifth Amendment rights if they believe their answer may serve to incriminate themselves). If the person lied to protect a suspect (such as by providing a false alibi, even if the suspect is in fact innocent) or to hide from investigation their own activities (such as to hide his involvement in another crime), this may leave them liable to prosecution. Obstruction charges can also be laid if a person alters or destroys physical evidence, even if he was under no compulsion at any time to produce such evidence. Often, no actual investigation or substantiated suspicion of a specific incident need exist to support a charge of obstruction of justice.

Obstruction can include crimes committed by judges, prosecutors, attorneys general, and elected officials in general. It is misfeasance, malfeasance or nonfeasance in the conduct of the office. Most commonly it is prosecuted as a crime for perjury by a non governmental official primarily because of prosecutorial discretion.

Modern obstruction of justice:

In United States v. Binion, malingering or feigning illness during a competency evaluation was held to be obstruction of justice and led to an enhanced sentence.[1]

Contents

Notable examples

  • President Richard Nixon was being investigated for obstruction of justice for his alleged role in the cover-up of the break-in at the Watergate hotel during his 1972 re-election campaign. Although it is widely believed that Nixon had no foreknowledge of his re-election committee's "dirty tricks" campaign against Democratic presidential candidates that led to the break-in, he was aware of it after the fact and paid money to keep the participants quiet.
  • Former Vice-Presidential adviser I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted of obstruction of justice in March 2007 for his role in the investigation of a leak to reporters that named a CIA agent, Valerie Plame. His prison sentence was commuted by President George W. Bush in July 2007, just before Libby was about to serve a two and a half year prison sentence.
  • Conrad Black was convicted of obstruction of justice in July 2007 for removing 13 boxes containing financial records from his office in Toronto after they had been sealed by a court order, returning the boxes a few days later.
  • Barry Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice on April 13, 2011 for his testimony in front of the grand jury during the BALCO steroid scandal. [2]

Obstruction Trends

"Anticipatory obstruction of justice" has recently appeared on the horizon in cases such as US v. Wolff. That said, the operative section, 1519, passed in 2002, has thus far languished in quasi-obscurity. Titled “Destruction, Alteration or Falsification of Records in Federal Investigations and Bankruptcy,” the provision was passed under Section 802 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

The text of the statute is relatively straightforward:

"Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsified, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under Title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both."

Aside from Section 1519’s 20-year maximum prison sentence (no small benefit to the government in big-dollar fraud loss cases such as Wolff), its primary appeal is that it uniquely removes certain key proof burdens from prosecutors’ collective shoulders.

Prosecutors charging violations of Section 1519 must still establish both of the following:

  • The accused knowingly directed the obstructive act to affect an issue or matter within the jurisdiction of any U.S. department or agency.
  • The accused acted at least “in relation to” or “in contemplation’” of such issue or matter.

Not on the list, however, is the requirement that prosecutors demonstrate to the finder of fact which specific “pending proceeding” the accused attempted to obstruct. That is a significant benefit to the government.[3]

See also

Footnotes

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • obstruction of justice — ob·struc·tion of justice /əb strək shən /: the crime or act of willfully interfering with the process of justice and law esp. by influencing, threatening, harming, or impeding a witness, potential witness, juror, or judicial or legal officer or… …   Law dictionary

  • obstruction of justice — noun impeding those who seek justice in a court (as by trying to influence or intimidate any juror or witness or officer of the court); can result in a finding of contempt of court • Topics: ↑law, ↑jurisprudence • Hypernyms: ↑obstruction * * *… …   Useful english dictionary

  • obstruction of justice — prevention of justice, hindering of justice …   English contemporary dictionary

  • obstruction of justice — noun Law any attempt to impede the due process of the law, as by threatening witnesses, attempting to influence jurors, interfering with evidence, etc …  

  • Obstruction — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Obstruction à la justice (en) Obstruction parlementaire Théorie de l obstruction (mathématiques) Five obstructions (film) …   Wikipédia en Français

  • obstruction — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ physical ▪ unlawful, wilful (both BrE, law) ▪ bureaucratic ▪ The asylum seekers had to contend with continued bureaucratic obstruction …   Collocations dictionary

  • Obstruction — Contents 1 Medical 2 Sports 3 Other Obstruction may refer to: Obstruction theory, in mathe …   Wikipedia

  • obstruction — UK [əbˈstrʌkʃ(ə)n] / US noun Word forms obstruction : singular obstruction plural obstructions 1) [countable] something that blocks a path, passage, door etc so that it is difficult or impossible for someone or something to move along or through… …   English dictionary

  • obstruction — ob|struc|tion [əbˈstrʌkʃən] n 1.) [U and C] when something blocks a road, passage, tube etc, or the thing that blocks it = ↑blockage ▪ an operation to remove an obstruction from her throat ▪ Police can remove a vehicle that is causing an… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • obstruction — ob|struc|tion [ əb strʌkʃən ] noun 1. ) count something that blocks a path, passage, door, etc. so that it is difficult or impossible for someone or something to move along or through it: They re going to operate on an obstruction in her colon. a …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

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