Perjury is defined as giving willfully incomplete, misleading, or simply false testimony while under oath.

From the news articles and the text messages it appears that the Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has a strong perjury case agaist him. The prosecutor must prove that the Mayor's lies that were committed were deliberate, rather than accidental or unknowing. So, if Kilpatrick can prove that he actually believed that he was telling the truth, the testimony is not perjury. In addition, the prosecutor must prove that the witnesses' testimony was material to the trial; i.e. having a direct impact on the outcome. If the witness lies about something which is not material, this is frowned upon, but it is not perjury.

Maybe Kilpatrick take a note from Clinton and get into a semantic arguement as to what is, is.

Thats just what Detroit needs, a Mayor that rapes the city for his own personal self-interest and uses taxpayer money to keep himself out of jail.

At least Eliot Spitzer owned his mistakes and resigned like a man.

what they need to do line up statements made under oath with the actual questions. Questions that are too vague and answers that are too broad will not support the claim of perjury.

The article on the front page kind of does that. Notice when asked about whether he had a romantic relationship with Christine Beatty, he said no, and she did the same thing. Its out and outl lying.

it's also important to keep in mind that perjury laws can vary from state to state. unlike other states, in michigan the lie does not have to be related to the subject matter of the litigation.

also, the media's trying to make this all about the sexual relationship... but it's actually more than that. he didn't just lie about having an affair, they're alleging that he lied about having knowledge of the officers being fired and other related (and more relevant, in my opinion) matters.

perjury charges are the easiest to get out of. All you have to do is say someone didnt understand the question or was answering his own question rather than the one being asked.

Long drawn-out questions with no real point are the perfect example.

I'm surprised that Kwame isnt facing federal corruption charges yet.

Whether he lied about the police issue, the issue regarding contracts given to his buddy, the sexual relationship he had, he was lying - about all of it. The shame is even if they prove he committed perjury, and I don't see how they can't, he will never spend a day in jail. That's a real shame.