Criminal complaint for perjury over false testimony in a lawsuit to void a gift of real estate

In a civil lawsuit challenging the validity of a gift of real estate made by an elderly dementia patient to one of her children, a witness for the other side testified in court contrary to what the witness had explained before, raising the question of perjury.

In the related civil lawsuit, the donor's mental capacity at the time of the gift and the validity of the gift agreement were in dispute, and the clients won in full at the first instance.

Representing the clients, Attorney Jaehoon Lee reviewed whether the testimony given in the civil lawsuit was false and handled a criminal complaint for perjury.

The key issue was whether statements made in court by a sworn witness in the civil lawsuit were false statements contrary to the witness's own memory, so as to constitute perjury.

In particular, the question was whether inconsistencies between a recording of a conversation that took place before the testimony and the transcript of the witness examination reflected a simple lapse of memory or intentionally false statements.

Attorney Lee reviewed the record of the related civil lawsuit, the transcript of the witness examination, and a transcript of a recorded conversation obtained before the lawsuit was filed, and analyzed the inconsistencies between the courtroom testimony and the earlier statements.

In particular, he compared what the witness had earlier explained as having been told by another relative with the witness's denial in court of ever having given that explanation, and argued that this amounted to a false statement contrary to the witness's memory.

He also summarized the course of the related civil lawsuit and the effect the testimony could have on the case, and filed the criminal complaint for perjury, submitting the recording transcript and the witness examination transcript, among other materials, as evidence.