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Modern 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 (usually government) officials. Often, no actual investigation or substantiated suspicion of a specific incident need exist to support a charge of obstruction of justice. Image File history File links Scale_of_justice. ...
Criminal law (also known as penal law) is the body of statutory and common law that deals with crime and the legal punishment of criminal offenses. ...
This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...
Actus reus is the action (or inaction, in the case of criminal negligence and similar crimes which are sometimes called acts of omission) which, in combination with the mens rea (guilty mind), produces criminal liability in common law based criminal law jurisdictions such as the United States, United Kingdom. ...
In law, causation is the name given to the process of testing whether defendants should be fixed with liability for the outcome to their acts and omissions that injure or cause loss to others. ...
For other uses, see concurrency. ...
The mens rea is the Latin term for guilty mind used in the criminal law. ...
In the criminal law, intention is one of the three general classes of mens rea necessary to constitute a conventional as opposed to strict liability crime. ...
In English criminal law, intention is one of the types of mens rea (Latin for guilty mind) that, when accompanied by an actus reus (Latin for guilty act) constitutes a crime. ...
In the criminal law, recklessness (sometimes also termed willful blindness which may have a different meaning in the United States) is one of the three possible classes of mental state constituting mens rea (the Latin for guilty mind). To commit an offence of ordinary as opposed to strict liability, the...
Willful blindess is a term used in law to describe a situation in which an individual seeks to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally putting himself in a position where he will be unaware of facts which would render him liable. ...
Criminal negligence, in the realm of criminal common law, is a legal term of art for a state of mind which is careless, inattentive, neglectful, willfully blind, or reckless; it is the mens rea part of a crime which, if occurring simultaneously with the actus reus, gives rise to criminal...
It has been suggested that presumed knowledge of the law be merged into this article or section. ...
The legal principle of vicarious liability applies to hold one person liable for the actions of another when engaged in some form of joint or collective activity. ...
In the criminal law, corporate liability determines the extent to which a corporation as a fictitious person can be liable for the acts and omissions of the natural persons it employs. ...
In criminal law, strict liability is liability where mens rea (Latin for guilty mind) does not have to be proved in relation to one or more elements comprising the actus reus (Latin for guilty act) although intention, recklessness or knowledge may be required in relation to other elements of the...
The term felony is used for very serious crimes, whereas misdemeanors are considered to be less serious offenses. ...
In many common law jurisdictions (e. ...
A hybrid offence or dual offence are the special offences in Canadian criminal law where the prosecution may choose whether to proceed with a summary offence or an indictment. ...
A misdemeanors (or misdemeanour), in many common law legal systems, is a lesser criminal act. ...
Infraction as a general term means a violation of a rule or local ordinance or regulation, promise or obligation. ...
A lesser included offense, in criminal law, is a crime for which all of the elements necessary to impose liability are also elements found in a more serious crime. ...
In many common law jurisdictions, the crime of battery involves an injury or other contact upon the person of another in a manner likely to cause bodily harm. ...
Mayhem, under the common law of crimes, consisted of the intentional and wanton removal of a body part that would handicap a persons ability to defend themselves in combat. ...
In the United States, larceny is a common law crime involving stealing. ...
The Skyline Parkway Motel in Afton, Virginia after an arson fire on July 9, 2004. ...
False pretenses is a common law crime. ...
Extortion is a criminal offense, which occurs when a person obtains money, behaviour, or other goods and/or services from another by wrongfully threatening or inflicting harm to this person, reputation, or property. ...
Forgery is the process of making or adapting objects or documents (see false document), with the intention to deceive. ...
Computer Crime, Cybercrime, E-Crime, Hi-Tech Crime or Electronic Crime generally refers to criminal activity where a computer or network is the tool, target, or place of a crime. ...
Bribery is a crime implying a sum or gift given alters the behaviour of the person in ways not consistent with the duties of that person. ...
Perjury is the act of lying or making verifiably false statements on a material matter under oath or affirmation in a court of law or in any of various sworn statements in writing. ...
Misprision of felony, under the common law of England, was the crime of failing to report knowledge of a felony to the appropriate authorities. ...
An inchoate offense is a crime. ...
Solicitation is a crime; it is an inchoate offense that consists of a person inciting, counseling, advising, urging, or commanding another to commit a crime with the specific intent that the person solicited commit the crime. ...
The crime of attempt occurs when a person does an act amounting to more than mere preparation for a criminal offense, with specific intent to commit a crime, if that act tends but fails to effect the commission of the offense intended. ...
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more natural persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement. ...
An accessory is a person who assists in or conceals a crime, but does not actually participate in the commission of the crime. ...
Criminal procedure refers to the legal process for adjudicating claims that someone has violated the criminal law. ...
A contract is any promise or set of promises made by one party to another for the breach of which the law provides a remedy. ...
In the common law, a tort is a civil wrong for which the law provides a remedy. ...
Property law is the area of law that governs the various forms of ownership in real property (land as distinct from personal or movable possessions) and in personal property, within the common law legal system. ...
In the common law, a will or testament is a document by which a person (the testator) regulates the rights of others over his property or family after death. ...
The law of trusts and estates is generally considered the body of law which governs the management of personal affairs and the disposition of property of an individual in anticipation and the event of such persons incapacity or death, also known as the law of successions in civil law. ...
The law of evidence governs the use of testimony (e. ...
This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...
A detective is an officer of the police who performs criminal or administrative investigations, in some police departments, the lowest rank among such investigators (above the lowest rank of officers and below sergeants), a civilian licensed to investigate information not readily available in public records (a private investigator, also called...
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...
Suspicion DVD cover Suspicion (1941) is a film noir directed by Alfred Hitchcock starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine as a married couple. ...
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. In the parlance of criminal justice, a suspect is a term used to refer to a person, known or unknown, suspected of committing a crime. ...
The right to silence is a legal protection enjoyed by people undergoing police interrogation or trial in certain countries. ...
A subpoena is a writ commanding a person to appear under penalty (from Latin). ...
In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. ...
An oath (from Old Saxon eoth) is either a promise or a statement of fact calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually a god, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. ...
Notable examples
- Martha Stewart was convicted of obstruction of justice, as well as other charges, for falsifying her trading records after learning her friend Sam Waksal, the CEO of Imclone, the company 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 Waksal 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 United States 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.
Martha Stewart (born August 3, 1941) is an American business magnate, author, editor, former model, convicted criminal and homemaking advocate. ...
Samuel D. Waksal is an immunologist and businessman who founded the biopharmaceutical company ImClone Systems in 1984. ...
ImClone Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: IMCL) is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing biologic medicines in the area of oncology. ...
Insider trading is a term often used to refer to a practice, which is illegal in many jurisdictions, in which an investor trades securities of a company (, stocks, bonds or stock options) based on material non-public information which was obtained by an officer, manager, or other corporate insider, during...
NIXON GOT FUCKED RIGT UP THE ASS BY A BUG FAT BLACK MAN WITH A BIG ASS DICK. HE LOVED IT AND MOANED ALOT CAUSE OF IT. HE LOVES DICk ! President: | Dwight D. Eisenhower |- ! Political party: | Republican |} In 1952, he was elected Vice President on Dwight D. Eisenhowers ticket. ...
The Watergate building. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States; the other being the Republican Party. ...
For other uses, see Bank (disambiguation). ...
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, commonly referred to as the SEC, is the United States governing body which has primary responsibility for overseeing the regulation of the securities industry. ...
DOJ headquarters in Washington, D.C. Justice Department redirects here. ...
Bank secrecy (or bank privacy) is a legal principle under which banks are allowed to protect personal information about their customers, through the use of numbered bank accounts or otherwise. ...
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