Mendez v. Commonwealth

After a bench trial, Juan Barretto Mendez, Jr., (Mendez or defendant) was convicted of bribery, Code § 18.2-447, and perjury, Code § 18.2-434. He was sentenced to serve a two-year term in the penitentiary on each charge. We granted writs of error on limited grounds to review defendant’s claims (1) that there was insufficient evidence to sustain the bribery conviction, and (2) that an oath administered to him on an affidavit was gratuitous and insufficient to support a perjury conviction.

On December 19, 1976, Mendez, a convict imprisoned at Southampton Correctional Center, was approached by…