FALSE SWEARING—N.J.S.A. 2C:28-2
You own a residential rental property occupied by tenants. The water heater breaks and you install a new water heater in the unit. However, the new unit has a defective flue and that violates the building code. You bribe the building inspector to overlook the violation but the defective flue causes carbon monoxide to build up in the unit, your tenants are asphyxiated, and in the subsequent investigation you swear under oath that you did not put a new water heater in the unit. The government introduces irrefutable proof that you did replace the water heater and that you knowingly lied in order to avoid liability for your tenant’s deaths. Have you just committed a serious criminal offense?
a. “False swearing. A person who makes a false statement under oath or equivalent
affirmation, or swears or affirms the truth of such a statement previously made,
when he does not believe the statement to be true, is guilty of a crime of the fourth
degree.
b. Perjury provisions applicable. Subsections c. and d. of section 2C:28-1 apply to
the present section.
c. Inconsistent statements. Where the defendant made inconsistent statements
under oath or equivalent affirmation, both having been made within the period of
the statute of limitations, the prosecution may proceed by setting forth the
inconsistent statements in a single count alleging in the alternative that one or the
other was false and not believed by the defendant. In such case it shall not be
necessary for the prosecution to prove which statement was false but only that one
or the other was false and not believed by the defendant to be true.”
The answer to the question is YES. In The Matter of the Expungement of Robert Ross, A-0990-07T40990-07T4 (App. Div. 2008). You have arguably committed a fourth degree crime, punishable, if convicted, by monetary fines of up to $10,000.00, plus possible jail time of a minimum of one (1) year and a maximum of eighteen (18) months, plus a criminal record. N.J.S.A. 2C:43-3(b)
If you have been charged with false swearing you need to retain the services of a skilled and experienced attorney immediately to get the charges downgraded or to obtain an acquittal.
