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An amusing tale of failed sentencing fakery from Down Under

By Douglas A. Berman

Here is a local report from Australia, headlined "Fake engineer produces fake references to get a lighter sentence," about an amusing sentencing proceeding: Timothy McCormack produced four excellent character references to persuade a judge to give him a lighter sentence for faking his engineering credentials to work on Qantas aircraft. But during his sentencing hearing in the District Court yesterday he sat hunkered down in the dock with his head between his fists, bent so low that only his hair was visible to the bench. The references were too good to be true, the court heard. The fake engineer had also falsified each of his references. They included a fictional school counsellor, which had been misspelt "councilor", and an allegedly fictional Senior Sergeant Woodward, who purported to be the president of a fictional Hornsby Junior Australian Rules Football Club...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on November 20, 2008 (boomark / email).