Section 578.385

Title XXXVIII CRIMES AND PUNISHMENT; PEACE OFFICERS AND PUBLIC DEFENDERS

Chapter 578

Effective - 28 Aug 2002, 2 histories, see footnote   (history) 

  578.385.  Until December 31, 2016 — Perjury — committed when obtaining public assistance, penalty. — 1.  A person commits the crime of perjury for the purpose of this section if he knowingly makes a false or misleading statement or misrepresents a fact material for the purpose of obtaining public assistance if the false or misleading statement is reduced to writing and verified by the signature of the person making the statement and by the signature of any employee of the Missouri department of social services.  The same person may not be charged with unlawfully receiving public assistance benefits and perjury pursuant to this section when both offenses arise from the same application for benefits.

  2.  A statement or fact is material, regardless of its admissibility under rules of evidence, if it could substantially affect or did substantially affect the granting of public assistance.

  3.  Knowledge of the materiality of the statement or fact is not an element of this crime, and it is no defense that:

  (1)  The defendant mistakenly believed the fact to be immaterial; or

  (2)  The defendant was not competent, for reasons other than mental disability, to make the statement.

  4.  Perjury committed as part of a transaction involving the making of an application to obtain public assistance is a class D felony unless the value of the public assistance unlawfully obtained or unlawfully attempted to be obtained is less than five hundred dollars in which case it is a class A misdemeanor.

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(L. 1987 S.B. 259 § 6, A.L. 2002 H.B. 1888)

Transferred 2014; now 570.408; Effective 1-01-17