Subornation of perjury
Perjury is virtually never
prosecuted in Colorado (Table
57). It is difficult for me to imagine how any "justice" system
that tolerates, if not encourages perjury in any form can function. But clearly
that is now State policy and "perjury and suborning perjury are just tricks of the
trade nowadays, regardless of whether we like it or not and regardless of
whether lawyers admit it or not (which they won't)."
It is no secret that victim's advocates,
shelter workers, advocacy groups, and some attorneys routinely advise women to
file domestic violence charges and restraining order against their husbands and
lovers, and often provide explicit instructions on how to do so. Outside the DV
and divorce industry such actions are known, and abhorred, as subornation of
perjury.
But in Colorado the subornation of perjury is not
a criminal act. Further, Colorado law exempts any victim's advocate who
provides such information from liability for any harm that may result from such
perjury. However, there was still the question of whether a defendant who stood
accused of domestic violence as a direct or indirect result of subornation of
perjury might have access to the information provided by domestic violence
advocates to his accuser, or whether that is "privileged"
information? But the legislature thoughtfully closed that loophole with §13-90-107(k)(I)
C.R.S. which states:
(k) (I) A victim's advocate shall not be examined as to
any communication made to such victim's advocate by a victim of domestic
violence, as defined in section 18-6-800.3 (1), C.R.S., or a victim of sexual
assault, as described in sections 18-3-401 to 18-3-405.5, 18-6-301, and
18-6-302, C.R.S., in person or through the media of written records or reports
without the consent of the victim.
and, despite the fact that Colorado is an Equal Rights
Amendment state, in § 13-90-107(k)(II) it is explicit that only female
victims and their advocates have this privilege:
(II) For purposes of this paragraph (k), a
"victim's advocate" means a person at a battered women's shelter or
rape crisis organization or a comparable community-based advocacy program for
victims of domestic violence or sexual assault and does not include an advocate
employed by any law enforcement agency:
A particularly egregious example of
this problem has been winding its way through the Colorado courts since
November 20, 2003, when the Chaffee County District Attorney filed assault and
harassment charges involving domestic violence against Robert Turner, Jr.
stemming from allegations he battered his girlfriend, M. P.
During pretrial discovery Mr. Turner's
defense attorney found that M. P. had contacted the
Alliance Against Domestic Abuse, 122 East 1st Street, Salida, CO 81201,
telephone: 719-539-7347, for "assistance." As the defense
attorney's experience apparently strongly suggested the Alliance had provided
"assistance" that amounted to suborning perjury, defense counsel
served them with two separate subpoenas
duces tecum demanding production of the records of M. P.'s contact(s) with
the Alliance. The Alliance moved to quash the subpoenas. At a hearing the trial
court granted the defendant's Motion to Compel and ordered the Alliance to
produce a broad outline of the type of assistance provided to M. P.
The Alliance then petitioned the
Colorado Supreme Court pursuant to C.A.R. 21 for review of that order. On March
28, 2005, in case 04 SA
178 the court held that the victim-advocate privilege is absolute. A one-page
summary of the ruling by redfem Communities Against Violence is also
available.
Thus, in Colorado any
individual or group that labels themselves a "victim's advocate" (but
only for women) can now suborn perjury to their heart's content without fear of
liability or disclosure unless the "victim" turns against them. And
those "victims" who do turn against the DV industry are mercilessly
persecuted and often prosecuted.
We can only hope that Mr. Turner's
case now goes to a jury of citizens with more common sense than our courts and
legislators.
Charles E. Corry, Ph.D., F.G.S.A.
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______________________________________________
Charles E. Corry, Ph.D., F.G.S.A.
President, Equal Justice Foundation http://www.ejfi.org/
455 Bear Creek Road
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80906-5820
Telephone: (719) 520-1089
Domestic violence against men in Colorado: http://www.dvmen.org
Personal home page: http://corry.ws
Curriculum vitae:
http://www.marquiswhoswho.net/charleselmocorry/Default.aspx
The good
men may do separately is small compared with what they may do collectively.
Benjamin
Franklin
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