It’s Detroit not New Rochelle but school officials, administrators and personnel locally would do well to heed the lesson from the Kilpatrick case, a lesson which goes back to the days of Watergate, “it’s not the crime that gets you, it’s the coverup”.
In a courtroom this morning, [Detroit Major Kawme] Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two felony counts of obstructing justice by committing perjury. He will spend four months in jail, pay up to $1 million in restitution, and serve five years’ probation.
Many politicians, Olympic athletes, White House officials,lawyers and other people in positions of public trust have believed they could get away with lying under oath. But as even Presidents have learned, there can be a high cost to perjury and obstruction of justice.
While dissembling to the press is not a crime per se it is certainly a breech of public trust. Make material false statements under oath, withholding or destroying evidence and encouraging others to lie under oath, however, are crimes which can be punished by large fines and prison time.