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    Penal Code § 141 PC – Planting or Tampering With Evidence – California Law & Penalties

    Is it a crime to plant or tamper with evidence? (Penal Code 141)

    Penal Code § 141 PC makes it a crime to plant or tamper with evidence in order to get someone to be charged with a crime, or to cause deception at a legal proceeding. Doing so is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 6 months in jail and fines of up to $1000.00.

    The language of the code section states that:

    141. (a) Except as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c), a person who knowingly, willfully, intentionally, and wrongfully alters, modifies, plants, places, manufactures, conceals, or moves any physical matter, digital image, or video recording, with specific intent that the action will result in a person being charged with a crime or with the specific intent that the physical matter will be wrongfully produced as genuine or true upon a trial, proceeding, or inquiry, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

    Planting evidence or tampering with evidence is an obstruction of justice crime and can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor.1 Police officers who plant or tamper with evidence will be charged with a felony.2

    In this article, our California criminal defense attorneys explain the following:

    If you would like more information after reading this article, we invite you to contact us at Shouse Law Group.

    forensic officer collecting a firearm from a crime scene - planting or tampering with evidence is a crime under California Penal Code 141 PC

    You violate Penal Code 141 PC when you tamper with evidence.

    1. Illegal Tampering

    Actions that violate Penal Code 141 PC

    You violate Penal Code 141 PC when you tamper with evidence (or potential evidence) by doing any of the following:

    • Changing the evidence,
    • Planting or placing the evidence in a particular place,
    • Hiding the evidence,
    • Moving the evidence, or
    • Making or manufacturing evidence.4

    What counts as evidence?

    California law on planting evidence covers every kind of physical object that might be produced in any kind of legal

    • trial,
    • proceeding, or
    • investigation.

    It also includes digital images and video recordings.5

    Note that this is not just limited to criminal trials. You can be charged with planting evidence in connection with a civil trial, a criminal investigation that has not led to charges yet, or pretty much any other kind of legal process.6

    Example: Donna is in the process of getting a divorce from her husband, Mike. Donna knows Mike has a violent temper and doesn’t want to share custody of their children with him. So she uses a hammer to punch a hole in the wall of her house. Her intention is to present a picture of the hole in the divorce proceedings, and to claim that Mike made the hole with his fist while they were still living together.

    Donna may be guilty of the crime of evidence tampering even though she didn’t intend to have Mike charged with a crime.

    Required state of mind for planting evidence

    The most important “element” of the crime of planting evidence / evidence tampering is your state of mind when you tampered with the evidence.

    So you cannot be convicted of this crime under Penal Code 141 PC unless it can be proven that ALL of these things are true:

    1. You planted or tampered with evidence willfully and intentionally;7
    2. You knew you were planting or tampering with evidence;8 and
    3. When you planted or tampered with evidence, you intended EITHER:
      • a. that it would lead to someone being charged with a crime, OR
      • b. that the evidence would wrongfully be produced as genuine or true in a legal proceeding.9

    Example: Kent and Jill are married and have a young son. Kelli, a volunteer at their son’s school, disciplines their son harshly and engages in a pattern of harassing their family. So, in the hopes of getting Kelli arrested and out of their lives, Kent and Jill plant drugs and drug paraphernalia in her car.

    Kent and Jill may be guilty of planting evidence…they put the drugs in Kelli’s car willfully and knowingly, and their intention was for Kelli to be charged with a drug crime .10

    Example: Jeff is a police officer who badly wants to receive workers’ compensation payments. So he shoots himself and claims that a car burglary suspect did it. This leads to a major manhunt before the rest of the department figures out that he was lying.

    In addition to probably being guilty of workers’ compensation
    fraud    , Jeff can be charged with planting evidence…since his intention was for his shooting to be used as evidence in the legal proceeding to help him get workers’ compensation payments.11

    2. Consequences

    If you are not a police officer, the California crime of planting evidence (evidence tampering) is a misdemeanor.12 This means that the maximum penalty is

    • up to six (6) months in county jail, and/or
    • a fine of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000).13

    If you are a law enforcement officer convicted of planting evidence, the penalty is much steeper. In these cases, planting evidence is a felony. A police officer convicted of evidence tampering will be sentenced to either

    • probation with up to a year in county jail, OR
    • two (2), three (3) or five (5) years in state prison.14
    firearm being collected at a crime scene

    The California crime of planting evidence (evidence tampering) is usually a misdemeanor.

    According to Long Beach criminal defense attorney John Murray:15

    “When you think about it, it makes sense that the crime of planting evidence is punished much more harshly when a law enforcement officer does it. Police officers’ jobs give them countless opportunities to frame people they dislike personally, or to plant evidence just in order to get an arrest. Because the danger of them abusing this power is so great, it’s important that there be steep penalties when they do so.”

    3. Defenses

    Obstruction of justice crimes are serious business. However, there are legal defenses that can help if you are charged with evidence tampering.

    Mistake of fact

    State of mind is an important element of the crime of planting evidence or tampering with evidence. You need to have acted willfully, knowingly, and with intent to:

    • have someone charged with a crime or
    • have the evidence presented in a legal proceeding.16

    Because of this, the common legal defense of mistake of fact can help you defend yourself against evidence planting charges.

    If you made a reasonable mistake that meant you could not have known you were planting or tampering with evidence – or if you mistakenly believed that the evidence would not be presented in court – you may be able to get an acquittal on this basis.

    False accusations

    If you are accused of planting false evidence on someone, there is a good chance there’s some bad blood between you and that person. The person who accuses you may very well be lying as a way

    • to gain traction in a lawsuit or legal dispute with you, or
    • to avoid a criminal conviction themselves.

    False accusations are a common feature of criminal cases involving evidence planting. If you are falsely accused of tampering with evidence, a skilled California criminal defense attorney can help you straighten out the facts and use this defense.

    4. Related Offenses

    Conspiracy to plant or tamper with evidence

    Planting evidence can present some real logistical hassles. For this reason, it is common for two or more people to work together to plant or tamper with evidence.

    If this happens, everyone involved can be charged not just with planting evidence, but with criminal conspiracy to plant evidence or tamper with evidence.  A criminal conspiracy takes place when both of the following occur:

    1. Two (2) or more people agree to commit a crime, and/or to falsely indict someone else for a crime they did not commit, and
    2. One (1) of those people commits some overt act to further the agreement.17

    As we discussed above, the crime of planting evidence is a misdemeanor in California (for everyone who is not a law enforcement officer).18 The crime of conspiracy is a wobbler, which means that it may be charged as either

    • a misdemeanor OR
    • a felony.19

    This means that the maximum jail sentence for conspiracy to plant evidence goes up to sixteen (16) months or even two (2) or three (3) years!20 In other words, you can be punished much more harshly if you plant evidence with other people than if you work alone.

    Offering false evidence (Penal Code 132 PC)

    Penal Code 132 PC covers another obstruction of justice crime: The crime of offering false evidence. This law makes it a crime to present any kind of fake, forged, or incorrectly dated written evidence in any kind of legal trial or proceeding.21

    Offering false evidence is a felony. A conviction for this crime can result in a maximum sentence of sixteen (16) months, two (2) years, or three (3) years in prison.22

    Preparing false evidence (Penal Code 134 PC)

    It is also an obstruction of justice crime to prepare any false evidence with the intention of presenting it in a legal proceeding even if it never actually gets used for that purpose.23 The crime of preparing false evidence extends to all kinds of evidence, including things like

    • photographs and
    • urine samples.24

    The crime of preparing false evidence (Penal Code 134) is a felony and, in the worst case, can result in a maximum prison sentence of sixteen (16) months, two (2) years, or three (3) years.25

    man burning piece of paper

    It is an obstruction of justice crime to destroy or hide evidence that you know may be presented in court or another kind of legal proceeding.

    Destroying evidence (Penal Code 135 PC)

    It is also an obstruction of justice crime to intentionally destroy or hide evidence that you know may be presented in court or another kind of legal proceeding.26

    Penal Code 135 PC, California’s law against destroying or concealing evidence, makes destroying or concealing evidence a misdemeanor in California.27 The maximum penalty is:

    • up to six (6) months in county jail, and/or
    • a fine of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000).28

    Perjury

    If you are charged with planting evidence, there’s a good chance you could also be charged with perjury. The crime of perjury consists of willfully saying something false when testifying under oath.29

    If you plant evidence, you may end up testifying falsely in court or a sworn written statement that the evidence is genuine and/or was not planted or moved. In that case, you could be charged both with

    • evidence tampering and
    • perjury.

    Perjury is a felony and can lead to a sentence of two (2), three (3) or four (4) years in jail.30

    5. What if someone plants evidence on me?

    Occasionally police plant evidence in order to “score” an arrest. In one case, a Texas man who pled guilty to a cocaine possession charge was able to produce a video that he claimed showed cops planting a bag of cocaine in his car during a routine traffic stop.31

    If you have been charged with a crime because someone else planted evidence on you, you should fight back. The first order of business should be to get the planted evidence thrown out so the charges can be dropped.

    Because California law makes evidence tampering a crime, you may also be able to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing the person responsible for planting the evidence prosecuted for what they did.

    Legal References:

    1. Penal Code 141 PC –  Peace officers; intentional alteration of physical matter with intent to charge person with a crime; felony [Planting evidence]. (“(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), any person who knowingly, willfully, and intentionally alters, modifies, plants, places, manufactures, conceals, or moves any physical matter, digital image, or video recording, with specific intent that the action will result in a person being charged with a crime or with the specific intent that the physical matter will be wrongfully produced as genuine or true upon any trial, proceeding, or inquiry whatever, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”). People v. Flood (1998) 18 Cal.4th 470.
    2. Same. (“(b) Any peace officer who knowingly, willfully, and intentionally alters, modifies, plants, places, manufactures, conceals, or moves any physical matter, digital image, or video recording, with specific intent that the action will result in a person being charged with a crime or with the specific intent that the physical matter, digital image, or video recording will be concealed or fraudulently represented as the original evidence upon a trial, proceeding, or inquiry, is guilty of a felony punishable by two, three, or five years in the state prison.”)
    3. Our California criminal defense attorneys have local Los Angeles law offices in Beverly Hills, Burbank, Glendale, Lancaster, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Pomona, Torrance, Van Nuys, West Covina, and Whittier.  We have additional law offices conveniently located throughout the state in Orange County, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, San Jose, Oakland, the San Francisco Bay area, Sacramento, and several nearby cities.
    4. The Judicial Council of California Advisory Committee on Criminal Jury Instruction (“CALCRIM”) § 2630 – Evidence Tampering by Peace Officer or Other Person.
    5. Penal Code 141 PC – Planting evidence. (“(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), any person who knowingly, willfully, and intentionally alters, modifies, plants, places, manufactures, conceals, or moves any physical matter, with specific intent that the action will result in a person being charged with a crime or with the specific intent that the physical matter will be wrongfully produced as genuine or true upon any trial, proceeding, or inquiry whatever, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”)
    6. Same.
    7. CALCRIM  2630 – Evidence Tampering by Peace Officer or Other Person.
    8. Same.
    9. Same.
    10. Loosely based on the facts of an incident that occurred in Irvine, California.  See “Irvine pair charged in framing case aren’t the usual suspects,” Los Angeles Times, June 20, 2012.
    11. Loosely based on the facts of an incident that occurred in Woodland Hills, California.  See “L.A. police officer pleads not guilty to shooting hoax charges,” CNN, May 13, 2001.
    12. Penal Code 141 PC – Planting evidence. (“(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), any person who knowingly, willfully, and intentionally alters, modifies, plants, places, manufactures, conceals, or moves any physical matter, with specific intent that the action will result in a person being charged with a crime or with the specific intent that the physical matter will be wrongfully produced as genuine or true upon any trial, proceeding, or inquiry whatever, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”)
    13. Penal Code 19 PC – Punishment for misdemeanor; punishment not otherwise prescribed.
    14. Penal Code 141 PC – Planting evidence. (“(b) Any peace officer who knowingly, willfully, and intentionally alters, modifies, plants, places, manufactures, conceals, or moves any physical matter, with specific intent that the action will result in a person being charged with a crime or with the specific intent that the physical matter will be wrongfully produced as genuine or true upon any trial, proceeding, or inquiry whatever, is guilty of a felony punishable by two, three, or five years in the state prison.”)
    15. Long Beach criminal defense attorney John Murray has conducted over 70 criminal jury trials involving issues ranging from constitutional violations to prosecutorial misconduct. He represents clients in matters ranging from DUI to homicide.
    16. CALCRIM 2630 – Evidence Tampering by Peace Officer or Other Person.
    17. Penal Code 182 PC.
    18. Penal Code 141 PC – Planting evidence. (“(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), any person who knowingly, willfully, and intentionally alters, modifies, plants, places, manufactures, conceals, or moves any physical matter, with specific intent that the action will result in a person being charged with a crime or with the specific intent that the physical matter will be wrongfully produced as genuine or true upon any trial, proceeding, or inquiry whatever, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”)
    19. Penal Code 182 PC.
    20. Same.
    21. Penal Code 132 PC – Offering forged, altered, or ante-dated book, document, or record.
    22. Same. See also Penal Code 18 PC – Punishment for felony not otherwise prescribed; alternate sentence to county jail.
    23. Penal Code 134 PC – Preparing false evidence.
    24. People v. Bamberg, (2009) 175 Cal.App.4th 618, 628; People v. Morrison, (2011) 191 Cal.App.4th 1551, 1555.
    25. Penal Code 134 PC – Preparing false evidence. See also Penal Code 18 PC – Punishment for felony not otherwise prescribed; alternate sentence to county jail.
    26. Penal Code 135 PC – Destroying or concealing documentary evidence.
    27. Same.
    28. Penal Code 19 PC
    29. Penal Code 118 PC – Perjury defined; evidence necessary to support conviction.
    30. Penal Code 126 PC – Punishment.
    31. See “FBI to review video alleged to show police planting drugs,” El Paso Times, July 31, 2012.

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