Subornation of perjury is a federal felony under 18 U.S.C. § 1622 that occurs when one person deliberately persuades another to lie under oath in a legal proceeding. A conviction carries up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1622 – Subornation of Perjury2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3571 – Sentence of Fine The person who procured the lie faces the same punishment as the witness who told it.
What the Government Has to Prove
The statute itself is a single sentence: whoever “procures another to commit any perjury” is guilty of subornation.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1622 – Subornation of Perjury That brevity hides four distinct elements, and prosecutors have to prove each one beyond a reasonable doubt.
Someone else must have actually committed perjury. A witness has to make a statement under a valid oath, the statement has to be false, and the witness has to not believe it was true when they said it.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1621 – Perjury Generally If the witness never lies on the stand, the subornation charge collapses, though a conspiracy charge may still be available.
The false statement has to be material. That means it had a natural tendency to influence the decision being made. A trivial lie that couldn’t have affected the outcome usually doesn’t qualify. Courts look at whether the statement could have mattered, not whether it actually changed the result.
The defendant must have intentionally persuaded the witness to give that false testimony. Casual talk that happens to encourage a witness’s existing plan to lie is different from purposefully procuring the lie. Prosecutors need to show a deliberate effort to get false testimony on the record.
And the defendant must have known the testimony was false. This is where many subornation cases fall apart. If you encourage a witness to tell the court something you genuinely believe is true, you haven’t committed subornation even if the statement turns out to be wrong. The crime targets deliberate corruption of testimony, not honest mistakes.
Penalties and Sentencing
The statutory maximum is five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Federal judges rely on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines to decide actual prison time within that ceiling, and the guideline numbers add real texture.
The base offense level for subornation is 14, which translates to roughly 15 to 21 months in prison for a defendant with little or no criminal history. Enhancements can push that higher quickly. If the defendant used threats or physical force to procure the false testimony, the offense level jumps by eight. If the perjury substantially interfered with the administration of justice, such as causing a wrongful verdict, prematurely ending a felony investigation, or wasting significant government resources, the level increases by three more.4United States Sentencing Commission. Perjury or Subornation of Perjury; Bribery of Witness
A cross-reference catches many defendants off guard. When the subornation relates to an underlying criminal case, the guidelines direct the judge to calculate the sentence as if the defendant were an accessory after the fact to that crime, if doing so produces a higher offense level. Suborning perjury in a murder trial, for instance, can expose the defendant to sentencing well beyond what the base perjury guideline alone would suggest.
Statute of Limitations
The government has five years from the date of the offense to bring charges for both perjury and subornation. This follows the general federal rule for non-capital offenses under 18 U.S.C. § 3282, and neither perjury nor subornation qualifies for any statutory extension.5United States Department of Justice. 650. Length of Limitations Period The clock runs from the moment the false testimony is given, not from when investigators discover the lie, so cases built on old grand jury transcripts sometimes hit this wall.
What a Conviction Means Beyond the Sentence
Subornation is a felony, and the collateral effects outlast any prison term. Voting rights are affected in most states, with wide variation: some restore them automatically once the sentence is complete, others require a separate application, and a few remove the right permanently for certain offenses.6Vote.gov. Voting After a Felony Conviction Licensed professionals face steeper fallout. Attorneys convicted of perjury-related offenses typically face suspension or permanent disbarment, and government employees can lose their positions and future eligibility for public service.
Defenses
Most subornation defenses dismantle one of the four elements. Two specific doctrines come up often enough to flag separately.
Literal Truth
In Bronston v. United States, the Supreme Court held that a witness cannot be convicted of perjury for an answer that is literally true, even if the answer was deliberately misleading or evasive.7Legal Information Institute. Bronston v. United States The Court put the burden on the questioning attorney to ask precise questions and follow up when a witness dodges. If a witness gives an unresponsive but factually accurate answer, the remedy is sharper questioning, not a perjury prosecution.
That matters directly for subornation. If the underlying testimony doesn’t qualify as perjury, there’s nothing to have suborned. A defendant who coached a witness toward technically true but misleading answers may have acted unethically, but the federal statute isn’t the right tool for it.
Recantation
Under 18 U.S.C. § 1623, which covers false declarations before a grand jury or court, a witness can escape prosecution by admitting the lie during the same proceeding where it was told.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1623 – False Declarations Before Grand Jury or Court Two conditions apply: the false statement hasn’t yet substantially affected the proceeding, and it hasn’t become apparent that the lie has been or will be exposed. The recantation has to be genuinely voluntary, not a last-ditch move after prosecutors have already caught the falsehood.
The recantation defense only applies to proceedings covered by § 1623. Perjury prosecuted under the general statute, § 1621, has no statutory recantation provision. If a witness’s successful recantation removes the underlying perjury, it also removes the foundation for a subornation charge against anyone else.
Related Charges That Often Ride Along
Prosecutors rarely bring subornation alone. Three related offenses come with it so often that anyone facing a subornation investigation should expect to see them in the indictment.
Witness tampering under 18 U.S.C. § 1512 reaches further than subornation because it criminalizes the attempt to interfere with testimony whether or not the interference succeeds. Offering a bribe a witness refuses, or threatening a witness who then testifies truthfully anyway, still completes the offense. Penalties are tiered by severity and run much higher than subornation: up to 20 years for intimidation, threats, or corrupt persuasion, and up to 30 years when physical force is used or attempted.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1512 – Tampering With a Witness, Victim, or an Informant
Obstruction of justice under 18 U.S.C. § 1503 is the general catch-all. Its omnibus clause reaches any corrupt effort to influence, obstruct, or impede the administration of justice. Most obstruction convictions carry up to 10 years in prison, with higher ceilings when the conduct targets jurors or court officers.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1503 – Influencing or Injuring Officer or Juror Generally
Conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 371 is the fallback prosecutors use when the planned perjury never happens. It requires only an agreement between two or more people to have someone lie under oath and at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement, which can be something as minor as a phone call to set up a meeting.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 371 – Conspiracy to Commit Offense or to Defraud United States Subornation requires that perjury actually happened; conspiracy does not. If the plan falls apart before the witness takes the stand, subornation drops out but conspiracy survives. The maximum is the same five years.
Where Lawyers Fit In
Attorneys are the people most likely to learn in advance that a witness or client plans to lie, which puts them in a particular bind. The American Bar Association’s Model Rule 3.3 imposes a duty of candor toward the tribunal that overrides even attorney-client confidentiality when perjury is at stake. A lawyer who knows a client or witness intends to offer false evidence must refuse to present it, and if the false testimony has already been given, the lawyer must take remedial measures up to and including disclosing the perjury to the court.12American Bar Association. Rule 3.3: Candor Toward the Tribunal
The expected sequence starts with counseling the client against lying. If that fails, the attorney should seek to withdraw. The duty to disclose continues through the end of the proceeding, even when disclosure requires revealing otherwise-confidential information.
An attorney who moves from passive awareness into actively helping a client fabricate testimony faces both bar discipline and criminal liability for subornation. The law draws the line clearly: preparing a witness to present a truthful account effectively is legitimate trial preparation; coaching a witness to say something the lawyer knows is false is a felony.