Pleading guilty when you are innocent is not lying to the judge. You are not under oath when you plead guilty or not guilty.
People withdraw their guilty pleas all the time. You can do it any time before you are sentenced.
You cannot commit perjury unless you lie while under oath. Flynn was never under oath. He was accused of lying to the FBI. That is only a crime if the FBI is working a legitimate investigation. There was no valid predicate for questioning Flynn in the first place. So even if he knowingly lied, he did not commit a crime. It was the FBI that committed all the crimes.
Thank you!
A very nice piece of reasoning!
This has been a very interesting thread. Its the kind of posting that originally led me to Free Republic.
He had to formally attest that he was guilty of the charges.
I wish him well, but he really has a tough road ahead of him.
I have been through a bunch of federal plea hearings as a defense lawyer and every single one was under oath. The INITIAL plea at arraignment was never under oath, but every change of plea hearings absolutely was. (despite all that, I think this entire thing is a travesty, but just commenting on the oath aspect