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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 1623. False declarations before grand jury or court
(a) Whoever under oath (or in any declaration, certificate,
verification, or statement under penalty of perjury as permitted
under section 1746 of title 28, United States Code) in any
proceeding before or ancillary to any court or grand jury of the
United States knowingly makes any false material declaration or
makes or uses any other information, including any book, paper,
document, record, recording, or other material, knowing the same to
contain any false material declaration, shall be fined under this
title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(b) This section is applicable whether the conduct occurred
within or without the United States.
(c) An indictment or information for violation of this section
alleging that, in any proceedings before or ancillary to any court
or grand jury of the United States, the defendant under oath has
knowingly made two or more declarations, which are inconsistent to
the degree that one of them is necessarily false, need not specify
which declaration is false if -
(1) each declaration was material to the point in question, and
(2) each declaration was made within the period of the statute
of limitations for the offense charged under this section.
In any prosecution under this section, the falsity of a declaration
set forth in the indictment or information shall be established
sufficient for conviction by proof that the defendant while under
oath made irreconcilably contradictory declarations material to the
point in question in any proceeding before or ancillary to any
court or grand jury. It shall be a defense to an indictment or
information made pursuant to the first sentence of this subsection
that the defendant at the time he made each declaration believed
the declaration was true.
(d) Where, in the same continuous court or grand jury proceeding
in which a declaration is made, the person making the declaration
admits such declaration to be false, such admission shall bar
prosecution under this section if, at the time the admission is
made, the declaration has not substantially affected the
proceeding, or it has not become manifest that such falsity has
been or will be exposed.
(e) Proof beyond a reasonable doubt under this section is
sufficient for conviction. It shall not be necessary that such
proof be made by any particular number of witnesses or by
documentary or other type of evidence.
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