Com. v. Thurman, 84-SC-595-DG
| Decision Date | 13 June 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 84-SC-595-DG,84-SC-595-DG |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Kentucky, Movant, v. Duane S. THURMAN, Respondent. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky |
David L. Armstrong, Atty. Gen., Martin Glazer, William Davis, Asst. Attys. Gen., Frankfort, for movant.
David M. Cantor, Louisville, for respondent.
Respondent was found guilty of first-degree perjury pursuant to K.R.S. 523.020 and K.R.S. 523.050(1) and (2). K.R.S. 523.020(1) provides "A person is guilty of perjury in the first degree when he makes a material false statement, which he does not believe, in any official proceeding under an oath required or authorized by law...."
K.R.S. 523.050 provides:
Respondent was charged with theft of a diamond ring from Connie Jones. At his preliminary hearing on the charge he testified that Connie Jones was a prostitute, who was working for him, who owed him money, and that she gave him the ring to pawn because he needed money to get his car out of a repair shop.
At his trial, pursuant to an indictment on the charge, he testified that he did not know whether Connie Jones was a prostitute, that she had not worked for him, that she never owed him money, that he did not need money to get his car out of the shop, and that she gave him the ring to pawn to obtain money with which she could purchase marijuana.
There is no question but that the statements made in the preliminary hearing are inconsistent with the testimony at trial. Both statements were made under oath in an official proceeding. Under K.R.S. 523.050 it is not necessary to prove whether one or both of the statements were false. It is sufficient to show that one of the statements, because of the inconsistency, is bound to be false.
In such a case, if both of the statements, if false, would constitute first-degree perjury, a verdict of guilty of first-degree perjury is justified. If one of the statements, if false, would constitute perjury but the other, if false, would only constitute false swearing as set out in K.R.S. 523.040, then only a conviction for false swearing can be justified. K.R.S. 523.050(2).
Perjury requires that the false statement be material, false swearing does not. It is necessary, therefore, to determine whether the statements made by respondent were material.
Respondent contends that the main issue at his trial for the theft of the ring was whether he had obtained the ring for the purpose of pawning it (as he contended) or for the purpose of taking it to be cleaned (as Connie Jones contended). He contends that whether Connie Jones was a prostitute,...
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