Altering Or Preparing False Evidence - Penal Code 132 & 134
In Los Angeles County, getting involved with preparing or altering any evidence or testimony is illegal. A lot of times, people are desperate when they're charged with a crime, and they start to get wrong ideas in their mind that they're going to change their testimony or they're going to try to get some witness to alter their testimony. Suppose the prosecutors or police find out that you're changing or altering testimony or evidence in a criminal case. In that case, they will prosecute you and try to punish you severely.
They view it as messing around with the fabric of our judicial system—our criminal justice system—because you're trying to avoid the truth and change the outcome by doing something illegal—like altering or changing evidence of testimony under California Penal Code Sections 132 and 134.
I see this coming up a lot where people are either trying to get a witness to change their testimony or changing their testimony. A lot of times, this comes up in a domestic violence case where the spouse that's in trouble is trying to get the other spouse to change or alter their evidence or testimony related to them, if even trying to get a witness to change their testimony or evidence against them so they can have a not guilty verdict and not be convicted and get punished in a criminal matter pending in Los Angeles County.
Legal Defenses for Altering and Preparing Evidence
One defense is you didn't try to do that, and you look at the facts of the case, and you say, listen, I'm certainly allowed to talk to my spouse or another witness, as long as I'm not trying to get them to do anything that they're not supposed to do. Sometimes, people talk to other people and try to get them to tell the truth.
The other person lied, embellished things, and got angry because of the scenario, or maybe they tried to gain some economic advantage over another person, so they told a bunch of falsehoods and lies, and now they're trying to spin that on the other person and saying that they wanted to get them to alter their testimony or evidence. Then, the prosecutors try prosecuting them under Penal Code Sections 132 or 134. So, the best defense is sometimes the truth. Sometimes, you get to your version of what happened in these altering evidence cases, and once your version is gotten across, the prosecutors can be convinced to dismiss the case, or a jury will find you not guilty.
Developing an Effective Defense Strategy
The biggest problem I see with altering evidence cases or trying to get somebody to change their testimony is that a lot of time, this is brought to the attention of the police or prosecutors, and they rush to judgment. They only get half a story. They don't get the client's version of events, so they're operating under either false facts or not with all the facts. That's where a criminal defense attorney has to come in and look at what happened – have a good conversation with a client and get their version of events.
If their version of events makes sense and it's a complete defense to the crime of altering evidence or testimony, then obviously that's going to have to be discussed with the prosecutors and see if you can get them to dismiss the case, or maybe sometimes the truth lies somewhere in the middle and a good mitigation package could be put together which includes the client's version of events so that everything is looked at. We don't have a rush to judgment, and then the prosecutors can consider that and give a lesser charge.
It boils down to if you have one of these cases where you're charged with California Penal Code Section 132 or 134. If you believe that the prosecutors are not being fair and are claiming that you tried to alter somebody's testimony or evidence, then you need to sit down with a seasoned defense attorney. I've been doing this for twenty-five years, and good communication with clients in these situations is crucial in getting the person the best possible resolution and getting them out of the criminal justice system as fast as possible.
Related Content:
- Planting Or Tampering With Evidence In Los Angeles – Penal Code Section 141
- Using False Documents To Conceal Your True Citizenship – Penal Code Section 114
- Planting, Altering, Or Concealing Physical Evidence – Penal Code Section 141 in Los Angeles
- Destroying Or Concealing Evidence – California Penal Code Section 135
