Dover School Board Members Investigated
by TChris
In a decision that spanked Dover school board members who wanted to pretend that intelligent design is based on science, Judge John Jones III made clear his belief that some of the board members lied under oath.
In his opinion, Jones accused some of those who testified during the six-week trial in Harrisburg of lying, singling out former board members Alan Bonsell and William Buckingham, the leading proponents of the policy.
Those comments sparked the interest of a prosecutor, who intends to investigate the possibility that perjury was committed. Perjury can be a difficult charge to prove, but Judge Jones was persuaded that the board members were deliberately untruthful.
Buckingham raised money in his church to purchase copies of the book "Of Pandas and People." He then gave $850 to Bonsell's father, who bought the books and donated them to the school district. Neither man admitted knowledge of the fund raising efforts during their deposition testimony.
"The inescapable truth is that both Bonsell and Buckingham lied at their Jan. 3, 2005, depositions about their knowledge of the source of the donation for Pandas. ... ," Jones said in his ruling. "This mendacity was a clear and deliberate attempt to hide the source of the donations by [Bonsell and Buckingham] to further ensure that Dover students received a creationist alternative to Darwin's theory of evolution."
The prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Thomas Marino, says he has "a lot of reading to do" before he decides whether to pursue perjury charges.
(Hat tip to Peter G. for forwarding the link.)
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