Penal Code section 127 concerns one person willfully procuring another person’s actual perjury. It is not a charge for every inaccurate witness statement, ordinary testimony preparation or the accused person’s own false oath. The prosecution must connect the accused’s conduct to another person’s completed perjury, so the alleged statement and the communications leading to it both matter. (Penal Code § 127.)
If a complaint cites § 127, preserve the exact count, the statement said to be false, and the entire message or meeting record. A summary that someone “told a witness what to say” is too thin to resolve the charge.
First identify the perjury allegedly committed by the other person
Penal Code § 118(a) requires a legally authorized oath or statement under penalty of perjury, a material matter, and a willful assertion as true that the speaker knows is false. A mistaken recollection, an immaterial error or an unsworn conversation does not become perjury merely because it conflicts with another account. The context matters: court testimony, a deposition and a signed declaration can have different completion records.
For background on the underlying allegation, see the firm’s perjury defense guide.
The California 2026 criminal jury instruction for perjury, CALCRIM No. 2640, treats materiality as a separate issue; in a court proceeding, information may be material if it was probable that it would influence the proceeding, even if it did not actually change the result. The instruction also identifies an additional signed-and-delivered requirement for a declaration, deposition or certificate when that form is charged. Section 124 describes completion of those documents on delivery to another person with intent that they be uttered or published as true. Compare the actual document and delivery evidence rather than assuming that a working draft completed the offense.
Proof that the statement was false is another specific question. Section 118(b) bars a perjury conviction when falsity rests solely on one other person’s contradictory testimony; direct or indirect additional evidence may establish it. That rule does not require every disputed fact to have two eyewitnesses. Keep the full transcript or filed document and any contemporaneous records that bear on truth, knowledge and materiality.
Then examine the alleged procurement
Section 127 uses the words “willfully procures another person to commit perjury.” Counsel needs the act attributed to the accused, the intended statement, the chronology and a supported link between the procurement and the completed perjury. Did the person actually ask for a knowingly false material statement under oath, or discuss accurate records and how to answer truthfully? What did the other person say or submit, and when? A witness’s later change of story is evidence to examine, not automatic proof that someone procured perjury.
Keep complete messages and recordings, not selected excerpts. Preserve invitations, draft documents, edits, filing receipts and any existing witness-preparation notes without changing them. Do not approach the witness to reconcile accounts. Counsel can determine which communications are relevant and how to obtain other records through the case process.
This completed-perjury accusation differs from Penal Code § 137, which separately addresses a corrupt bribe, certain force or fraud attempts, or knowing inducement of false or withheld testimony or material crime information. The prosecutor may allege one provision, both or another count; a § 137 allegation does not itself prove that someone completed perjury under § 127. An accusation that the speaker personally committed perjury under § 118 is also a different task.
Section 127 says punishment is “in the same manner” as for the perjury procured. Section 126 provides a two-, three- or four-year term under Penal Code § 1170(h) for perjury; the actual exposure requires review of the charge and sentencing record. The Law Offices of David S. Chesley can compare the alleged procurement, underlying statement and available proof in a criminal case. Contact the firm or call (800) 755-5174.