FOUR MONTH JAIL SENTENCE FOR FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE FOR
COMMITTING PERJURY
Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that former New York City Police Detective Christopher Perino has been sentenced to 4 months in jail for lying under oath at the trial of a man whom he had arrested for attempted murder.
Perino was sentenced by Acting State Supreme Court Justice James Kindler to concurrent terms of four months in jail along with 5 years probation on each of three felony counts of Perjury in the 1st degree and three years probation on one misdemeanor count of Perjury in the 3rd degree. The People had recommended a sentence of 1-3 years in state prison. Perino was found guilty following a non-jury trial before Justice Kindler, who allowed the defendant to remain free on $15,000 bail pending an appeal of his conviction.
Perino’s false testimony was offered in April 2007 at the trial of Erik Crespo who was charged with attempted murder and other offenses, including criminal possession of a weapon.
The perjury concerned Perino’s testimony about an interview with Crespo that was conducted on December 31, 2005 at the 44th Precinct. The judge found that Perino lied under oath in responding to four separate questions under cross examination by Crespo’s defense attorney:
(Q) Now, you said on direct examination that you never asked him any questions when you were alone with him in the room on December 31, 2005, isn’t that true? (A) That’s correct. He wasn’t questioned.
(Q) Did you ever ask him where did you get the gun? (A) No sir.
(Q) Did you ever ask him what did you do with the gun? (A) No sir.
(Q) Did you ever tell him in that room that evening if he didn’t give a written statement he wouldn’t be able to tell his side of the story? (A) No sir.
The perjury came to light because Crespo had recorded the entire interview on an MP3 player that he had been listening to when he was brought to the precinct. The recording, which was entered in evidence, was an hour and fifteen minutes long.
Although Detective Perino’s false testimony undermined the attempted murder case, Crespo ultimately pled guilty to the illegal gun charge and was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment.
Senior Investigative Assistant District Attorney Larry Hartstein and Assistant District Attorney Jacob Kaplan of the Rackets Bureau prosecuted the case.
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