A tale of two perjuries

I really haven’t been in the mood to blog much lately. I have at least a good five things to write about that I need to clear out of the queue, but various personal and health issues have made it really difficult to focus on blogging.

A page on americaswronglyconvicted.com details the rather upsetting tale of Robert McClendon, a victim of perjury. It’s a very long narrative and if you have any sense of fairness and justice it’s likely going to be a very upsetting read.

But it gets even better (worse?). Linked from the narrative, early on, is this report from KHOU-TV dating from 2008.

I’m horrified at the difference between the two cases. Perjure oneself for the prosecution, one gets away with it. Perjure oneself for the defense, get nailed to the wall, in this case for aggravated perjury. (For those who don’t have valid law nerd cards, in Texas, aggravated perjury is a third-degree felony; simple perjury, where the statement is not made during or in connection with a simple proceeding or is not material, is a class A misdemeanor.)

Where’s the fairness here? Isn’t perjury the same crime, no matter who is affected? It makes no sense to call what the system dispenses “justice” if it’s not just. Letting perjurers get away with their crime when the end result is innocent people take up prison, parole, and probation spaces needed to handle real criminals, is patently devoid of any sense of decency or scruples. It’s un-American. No, I’ll go farther than that, because this happens in countries besides the US. I think the word is “inhumane.”