State v. Scanlon

CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 24, 1977
Docket13476
StatusPublished

This text of State v. Scanlon (State v. Scanlon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Scanlon, (Mo. 1977).

Opinion

No. 13476 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 1977

THE STATE OF MONTANA, Plaintiff and Appellant,

JACK M. SCANLON, Defend-antand Respondent.

Appeal from: District Court of the First Judicial District, Honorable Gordon R.Bennett, Judge presiding. Counsel of Record: For Appellant:

Hon. Mike Greely, Attorney General, Helena, Montana Robert Keller, Special Assistant Attorney General, argued, Helena, Montana For Respondent : Donald Garrity argued, Helena, Montana

Submitted: February 2 3 , 1977 Decided AUF 2 4 1677

Filed:

- . ~ w& s~ J . R N E ~ clerk Mr. Justice Daniel J. Shea delivered the Opinion of the Court.

This case involves proceedings before a grand jury in Lewis

and Clark County in which the defendant was indicted on 18 counts of perjury relating to his testimony before the grand jury as to how his clients who had industrial accident claims came to him. In State v. Scanlon, 33 St.Rep. 1355 (December 30, 19761, this

Court affirmed the dismissal of 16 of the 18 counts by the district

court, but ordered a trial on two of the counts (counts 9 and 10). Thereafter, defendant petitioned for a rehearing, and the state petitioned for a rehearing, the thrust of both was that the defend- ant and the state requested a dismissal of all 18 counts of perjury. This Court granted the petitions for rehearing.

As part of the grand jury investigation into the handling of industrial accident claims by the Industrial Accident Board and

by attorneys in Montana, the grand jury called defendant to testify as to how the attorney-client relationship was initiated. The purpose of this inquiry was to determine if there were leaks from

the Industrial Accident Board to certain lawyers in Montana con- cerning persons in Montana who had filed industrial accident claims with the Board. The focus was whether anyone within the Industrial Accident Board either referred claimants to the defendant or whether they provided him with names of claimants who would be potential clients. When he was first called to testify before the grand jury, defendant refused to answer questions asked him, asserting his right against self-incrimination. Thereafter, in an effort to find how defendant acquired his clients, the grand jury granted immunity against prosecution to the defendant except prosecution for con- tempt and perjury. For two days defendant testified before the

grand jury, and denied he solicited his clients and explained how they became his clients. As a result of this testimony the grand

jury indicted defendant on 18 counts of perjury.

The district court dismissed each of the 18 counts based either on lack of direct evidence as to the falsity of the statement,

lack of corroboration as to the falsity of the statement, or lack of materiality.

Several of the counts against defendant arose out of trans- actions where defendant testified the clients were referred to him

by an uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Mullins, or by Mr. and

Mrs. Herman Myers, long-time family friends. At the time of his

testimony before the grand jury, all of these persons had died. The clients who appeared before the grand jury denied ever knowing any of the people named. The district court dismissed these counts for lack of direct evidence as to the falsity. These dismissals were

proper. These counts were not supported by direct evidence of the falsity of the defendant's statements.

This appeal concerns the evidentiary standard required for the proof of perjury, which essentially revolves around three statutes.

Section 94-7-202(7), R.C.M. 1947, provides: "No person shall be convicted of an offense under this section where proof of falsity rests solely upon the testimony of a single person other than the defendant." Section 93-401-1, R.C.M. 1947, provides: "The direct evidence of one witness who is entitled to full credit is sufficient for proof of any fact, except perjury and treason." Section 93-1401-2, R.C.M. 1947, provides: "Perjury and treason must be proved by testimony of more than one witness; treason by the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act; and perjury by the testimony of two witnesses, or one witness and corrob- orating circumstances." (Emphasis added.) The basis for unusually stringent evidence requirements is

set out in an article in 19 UCLA Law Review 638, 642, 643 entitled "Perjury and Related Offenses Under the Proposed California Criminal

Code." That same article points out at p. 645, that Tentative Draft No. 6 of the Model Penal Code on this point reads: "Corroboration. Proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt shall suffice for conviction under this section as in other criminal cases, without special require- ment of two witnesses or corroborating circumstances. "[Alternate, rejected by the council: No person shall be convicted of an offense under this Section where proof of falsity rests solely upon contradic- tion by testimony of a person other than the de- fendant. ] " The official draft of the Model Penal Code, which served as the basis for section 94-7-202(7), R.C.M. 1947, used the alternate provision. In Montana Criminal Code, 1973, Annotated, Prof. William

F. Crowley - Editor, at page 293 the annotator points out:

"The common law rule that falsehood be established by two witnesses is adopted in part by subsection (7). At the common law this rule was adopted to deal with the problem of an oath against an oath. The modern rationale is a policy determination based on a balancing of the need for protection of wit- ness and the need to maintain the sanctions for false testimony. In adopting the requirement of more than one witness Montana has followed the majority of states in affording additional protec- tion to the witness at the possible cost of being unable to convict an apparent perjurer. * * * "

As noted above, the standard of proof required in Montana under the new code section 94-7-202(7), R.C.M. 1947, requires that the proof

of the falsity of a statement must be more than the contradiction testimony of a person other than the defendant. The legislature

recently made this policy determination and despite the contrary rule urged by the state, this is the rule in Montana. The exact requirements of this evidentiary rule in perjury cases are apparent from an examination of the California cases interpreting the section of the California Civil Code, identical to

Montana's section 93-1401-2, R.C.M. 1947. In an article entitled "Proof of Perjury: The Two Witness Requirement", 35 Southern Cali- fornia Law Review 86, 97, it is stated: "In summary, the California attitude is, and remains, that direct testimony of at least one witness must always be introduced to prove the falsity of the statement set forth in the indictment; circumstantial evidence alone will not support a perjury conviction."

In People v. Roubus, 53 Cal.Rptr. 281, 417 P.2d 865, 866, 867, the California Supreme Court, sitting In Bank, outlined this evidentiary requirement: "Perjury must be proved by the testimony of two witnesses, or of one witness and corroborating circumstances. * * * This statutory provision has been interpreted as prescribing not only the amount but also the kind of evidence necessary to support a perjury conviction. * * * Direct, as distinguished from circumstantial, evidence of the falsity of the defendant's testimony by at least one witness is generally required.

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State v. Scanlon, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-scanlon-mont-1977.