DirtyWorks said:
Thanks again for the clarification. I am certainly not a lawyer, is there a legal reason why no one has tried the guy for perjury?
There were probably some other perjury candidates from the same arbitration.
I am a retired lawyer in Canada and therefore by definition under Canadian law no longer a lawyer. I was both a Crown Prosecutor (14 years) and a Defence Counsel (21 years") I don't know the law of perjury in Texas, nor am I offering any advice.
The Texas Penal Code provides two classes of perjury, one a Class A misdemeanor and the other a felony. These two crimes are defined as follows:
§
37.02. PERJURY. (a) A person commits an offense if, with intent to deceive and with knowledge of the statement's meaning:
(1) he makes a false statement under oath or swears to
the truth of a false statement previously made and the statement is
required or authorized by law to be made under oath; or
(2) he makes a false unsworn declaration under Chapter
132, Civil Practice and Remedies Code.
(b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
§ 37.03. AGGRAVATED PERJURY. (a) A person commits an offense if he commits perjury as defined in Section 37.02, and the false statement:
(1) is made during or in connection with an official
proceeding; and
(2) is material.
(b) An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree.
What I don't know is whether or not testimony in an arbitration in Texas is subject to these laws. One would think so, otherwise there would be no point in taking evidence under oath at an arbitration (This is not advice, just a common sense observation).
However I understand there were two arbitration agreements governing the procedural and evidentiary rules at the SCA/Armstrong arbitration. I have not read those agreements so I do not know how they might impact a charge of perjury.
One of the interesting parts of section 37.03 is whether or not the arbitration hearing was an "official proceeding" A Texas lawyer could comment on that.
In my experience, the lawyers in an arbitration are more focused on settling the case, as opposed to concerning themselves with a bit of perjury. In addition I do not know the process of how Armstrong's perjury gets reported to law enforcement in Texas, i.e. does someone have to make a complaint to the police or the District Attorney's office or can these institutions initiate an investigation on their own?
Lastly there is the question of Statute of Limitations and whether or not the Nov. 11, 2005 testimony of Armstrong is beyond that.
I really have to defer to those who are experts in Texas law and hopefully a Texas attorney could elaborate and fix any misunderstandings I may have made.
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