Laws and Statutes

OFFICIAL CODE OF GEORGIA ANNOTATED

TITLE 16-Crimes and Offenses (Chs. 1 – 17)

CHAPTER 10-Offenses Against Public Administration (Arts. 1 – 5)

Article 2-Obstruction of Public Administration and Related Offenses (§§16-10-20 to 16-10-34)

§16-10-20. False statements and writings, concealment of facts, and fraudulent documents in matters within jurisdiction of state or political subdivisions

A person who knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact; makes a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or makes or uses any false writing or document, knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of state government or of the government of any county, city, or other political subdivision of this state shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000.00 or by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years, or both.

Annotations

Violation of O.C.G.A. § 16-10-20 constitutes “racketeering activity” for purposes of a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO), O.C.G.A. § 16-14-1 et seq., claim. Maddox v. Southern Eng’g Co., 216 Ga. App. 6, 453 S.E.2d 70, 1994 Ga. App. LEXIS 1415 (1994).

Use of false documents. —

Because O.C.G.A. § 16-10-20 does not place a limitation on the prohibited conduct of “making or using” false documents, prosecution for use of a false document is not limited to those situations in which the person charged uses false documents prepared by another. State v. Johnson, 269 Ga. 370, 499 S.E.2d 56, 1998 Ga. LEXIS 434 (1998).

When the defendants were charged with making or using “any false writing or document, knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry,” the trial court did not err in refusing to instruct the jury that a false writing submitted to an agency must be “material” before it can be considered a crime. Bullardv. State, 242 Ga. App. 843, 530 S.E.2d 265, 2000 Ga. App. LEXIS 261 (2000), cert. denied, No. S00C1219, 2000 Ga. LEXIS 652 (Ga. Sept. 8, 2000).

False statement to government agency. —

O.C.G.A. § 16-10-20 requires proof that the defendant knowingly and willfully made a false statement and that he or she knowingly and willfully did so in a matter within the jurisdiction of a state or local department or agency, but this does not require proof that the defendant made the false statement directly to the government agency, although in such cases it would normally be undisputed that the defendant knew and intended that the statement came within the jurisdiction of the agency; however, the statute does require the defendant to have made the false statement in some intended relationship to a matter within the state or local agency’s jurisdiction, that is, to have contemplated that the statement would come to the attention of an agency with the authority to act on the statement. Furthermore, knowingly and willfully making a false statement in a matter within a government agency’s jurisdiction is a lie that threatens to deceive and thereby harm the government, if only because the government may need to expend time and resources to determine the truth. Haley v. State, 289 Ga. 515, 712 S.E.2d838, 2011 Ga. LEXIS 556 (2011), cert. denied, 567 U.S. 952, 133 S. Ct. 60, 183 L. Ed.2d 711, 2012 U.S. LEXIS 4896 (2012).

Providing documents to others for submission to agency. —

Dismissal of an indictment for the use of false certificates was not required on the basis that defendant did not submit the certificates personally but only provided them to others who submitted them to a state department. State v. Johnson, 269 Ga. 370, 499S.E.2d 56, 1998 Ga. LEXIS 434 (1998).

Jury instructions. —

Court’s charge on criminal intent was sufficient to inform the jury that in order to convict it had to find that defendants intended to make the false statements. Implicit in such intent is knowledge of the falsity. Therefore, it was not reasonable to conclude that the jury could have understood that conviction was authorized even if defendants unwittingly made false or fraudulent statements. Tidwell v. State, 216 Ga. App. 8, 453S.E.2d 64, 1994 Ga. App. LEXIS 1420 (1994).

Award of restitution proper upon defendant’s conviction for false statement. —

Trial court’s award of restitution to the homeowners was supported by a preponderance of the evidence because the homeowners essentially suffered the entire loss of use of their home, and the trial court determined that these damages flowed from the defendant’s false statement which allowed the defendant, a contractor, to skip the requirements for structural engineering and architectural reports on the contractor’s renovation of the owners’ residence and to avoid county inspections, which would have avoided or detected problems as the problems arose. Wilson v. State, 317 Ga. App. 171,730 S.E.2d 500, 2012 Ga. App. LEXIS 657 (2012), cert. denied, No. S12C2008, 2013Ga. LEXIS 45 (Ga. Jan. 7, 2013).

[End]

DemocracyWARS.com is THE HOME for the 100 Million+ ‘homeless’, Centrist, Independent, Non-aligned, Unaffiliated, Center-Right, Center-Left, and Swing voters suppressed for decades by the extreme right and left of our polarized two-party political system.

a centrist-partisan educational and advocacy project for the 100M+ Centrist, Independent, Unaffiliated and Homeless voters outraged by the January 6, 2021, attempted Trump Coup, and other wrongs by the extremist Left and Right, against our government and democracy – and ourselves. We are never beholden to the extremes of the Red or Blue, but unite as Centrists in our own PURPLE PATRIOT ARMY!!

Please Support our Mission to Investigate, Educate and Advocate for the Centrist majority of voters who have been ignored and lied to for so long by the extremist LEFT AND THE RIGHT.

Join our PURPLE PATRIOT ARMY!! The DemocracyWARS Mission and Fight: Wrongs against us will be Righted. Our Rights will be Restored. The Criminals Convicted. ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! Never Give Up. Never surrender to the political criminals again. The 2022 midterm PURPLE POWER election success was just the first skirmish in the long battle to 2024 ahead. Please join our Purple Patriot Army and Support Our Mission!!