NEED CRIMINAL DEFENSE IN NEW YORK? Contact The Law Offices
of Jonathan B. Nelson, P.C. by calling 1-888-9-ATTORNEY or (212) 791-0441.
AFTER HOURS CALL (917) 792-1021, enter your call back number with area
code, then enter the Criminal Defense Code of "123" and press #.
WHITE COLLAR CRIMES: OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
Obstruction
of justice, in a common law state, refers to the crime of offering
interference of any sort to the work of police, investigators,
regulatory agencies, prosecutors, or other government officials. Often,
no actual investigation or substantiated suspicion of a specific
incident need exist to support a charge of obstruction of justice.
Generally, obstruction charges are laid
when it is discovered that a person questioned in an investigation,
who is not a suspect, has lied to the investigating officers.
However, in most common law jurisdictions, the right to remain
silent allows any person who is questioned by police merely
to refuse to answer questions posed by an investigator without
giving any reason for doing so. (In such a case, the investigators
may subpoena the witness to give testimony under oath in court).
It is not relevant if the person lied to protect a suspect
(such as setting up a false alibi, even if the suspect is in
fact innocent) or to hide from an investigation of their own
activities (such as to hide their involvement in another crime).
Obstruction charges can also be laid if a person alters or
destroys physical evidence, even if they were under no compulsion
at any time to produce such evidence.
Some famous examples:
Martha Stewart was convicted of obstruction of justice, as well as
other charges, for falsifying her trading records after learning her
friend Sam Wakal, the CEO of the company in whose stock she sold, was
being investigated for insider trading. It appears that Ms. Stewart's
own trading activities did not meet the strict definition of insider
trading, and the falsification of documents was intended merely to
create an explanation for what was a suspicious trade. However, her
actions made it more difficult to prove that Ebbers had also sold his
stock in anticipation of negative news of the lack of FDA approval for
Imclone's product.
President Richard Nixon
was being investigated for obstruction of justice for his alleged role
in the cover-up of the break-in at the Watergate hotel during his 1972
re-election campaign. Although it is widely believed that Nixon had no
foreknowledge of his re-election committee's “dirty tricks" campaign
against Democrat presidential candidates that led to the break-in, it
appears he was aware of it after the fact and planned to pay money to
keep the participants quiet.
An insider
trader instructed his Banker in the Cayman Islands to shred records of
his suspicious trades when he learned he was under investigation by the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Unfortunately, this set up the
banker for a charge of obstruction of justice, and the U.S. Department
of Justice traded immunity for the obstruction charge in exchange for
the banker's testimony about the trades he executed on behalf of the
trader. Ironically, the banker could merely have refused to produce the
trading records when asked, hiding behind the Cayman Islands' bank
secrecy laws without being guilty of obstruction.
NEED CRIMINAL DEFENSE IN NEW YORK? Contact The Law Offices
of Jonathan B. Nelson, P.C. by calling 1-888-9-ATTORNEY or (212) 791-0441.
AFTER HOURS CALL (917) 792-1021, enter your call back number with area
code, then enter the Criminal Defense Code of "123" and press #.
