Surgeon Confesses To Perjury

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A surgeon has been sentenced to 6 months in prison for committing perjury at the trial of a man he sponsored in a drug rehabilitation program.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston also fined Dr. Bruce Barker $35,000 and sentenced him to 6 months of home detention after he is released from prison.

Barker pleaded guilty to lying at the trial of Marvin Washington during Washington's 2002 trial for felony possession of a gun.

Despite Barker's efforts, which included paying for Washington's lawyer, Washington was convicted and sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison.

"I'm willing to pay for his lawyer because I know he's innocent. I was there. I saw this. I know he's innocent," Barker testified.

Barker's attorney, Lidia Stiglich, said that Barker and Washington had been friends for more than 30 years, the San Francisco Chronicle reported, citing court documents. The Chronicle also reported that Stiglich said Barker had been addicted to crack cocaine, and that he lost control while trying to help Washington recover from addiction.

Barker testified that while driving he saw Washington holding a cell phone, not a gun, as prosecutors charged. Barker said he watched Washington run down the street and talk with a security guard. He said that he had seen Washington "simulating a gun by using a cell phone" before. Barker told federal investigators the same story before Washington's trial.

But Barker was tripped up by hospital records that recorded Barker working at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center during the incident.

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