I’m Pretty Sure Perjury is a Crime

Tonight on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption Tony Kornheiser said that the perjury conviction and jail sentence for Marion Jones, the perjury investigation on Berry Bonds, and the potential perjury investigation on Roger Clemens is ridiculous. “There are more important criminals out there,” Kornheiser said.

The last I checked perjury is a crime, and a pretty serious one at that. Sure it’s not murder or sexual assault, but lying to a judge or investigators is an illegal action. To ignore it would be a travesty of the legal system. And think about the message it sends. Yeah, don’t worry about telling the truth to the police, or anyone else for that matter because it really doesn’t matter.

Kornheiser tired to justify the athletes lying under oath as a means of protecting their reputation. Ok, that’s ridiculous. If they really care about their reputation they should check their ego at the door and do what Andy Pettitte did — tell the truth. Sure, people might be upset, but for the most part people will respect your honesty and move on with it. Then can lie to the media and say they never did steroids all they want to protect their reputation, but once they lie to investigators, or in front of Congress, well it’s a whole new ball game.

Sure, six months of jail time might seem a little excessive but there needs to be a consequence, even for athletes and celebrities who tend to live life as if they are above the law.