So here’s a dumb question. When facing a charge of obstruction of justice, is a tenable defense questioning the justness of the original crime?
To illustrate: Say an acquaintance of mine is being investigated for aggravated mopery. I refuse to cooperate with the police because I don’t think mopery should be a crime and I end up charged with obstruction. Meanwhile, the moper is either not charged, acquitted or gets the law against mopery declared unconstitutional. Can I use this in my defense, arguing that since the crime that got me charged with obstruction wasn’t charged or wasn’t proven or is invalid, I can’t be convicted of obstruction?
Like I said, it’s a stupid question, probably of interest to no one but me…
In the case where the charge is never filed or the person is acquitted the fact that the prosecutor couldn’t get your friend doesn’t mean you can’t still be prosecuted for your own, wholly separate violation, which is obstruction of justice.
In the case where the law is declared unconstitutional. you might have a marginally better chance at avoiding prosecution. I say ‘marginally’ because when you committed your crime (which again, is different than the crime your friend did), the law was still in effect and so your obstruction charge still applies. My guess would be that any normal prosecutor would throw it out under those circumstances. But why use a fictional crime of mopery? Why not change it to something real? Pretend you are in some oddball county in Nevada and the crime in question in prostitution…
Your judge is going to say, “If it weren’t for your disgusting refusal to testify, we could have [yourfriend’sname] in prison right now, losing job, family, and home, and being raped from morning to night! It’s all your fault that he isn’t! Therefore you deserve to take his place! In fact, obstruction of justice is worse than mopery, so you get that and hard labor and bread-and-water and must be a subject for medical experiments, in a prison a thousand miles away from any possible friend or family that might still want to visit you, and for twice as long a sentence as your friend would have received.”