Montgomery County Police Officer Dina Hoffman [__lied through her teeth__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/maryland-cops-lies-about-dui-arrest-exposed-by-surveillance-video) when she arrested George Zaliev for driving under the influence in Maryland a couple of years ago.
Hoffman claimed Zaliev was passed out in the front seat of a running car in a parking lot when she had to shake him awake.
She wrote that in her report. And she later testified that in court. Eleven times to be exact. Or 12 depending on which news reports you believe.
But that was before she was shown a surveillance video that showed Zaliev was actually passed out in the backseat of the car which was not running.
Hoffman was charged with perjury while the charges against Zaliev were dropped.
Last week, a jury found Hoffman [__not guilty__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/montnew111450_32589.php) of perjury, proving once again that cops have a license to lie.
The lying bitch now plans to return to her job. Once she gets past the internal investigation, which we all know, should be a breeze.
Hoffman, 26, claimed that the discrepancy of what actually took place and what she claimed took place was a simple result of a “mistake” on her part. Or as her attorney called it, “a faulty memory.”
Wait, who was the one who was drunk here?
She claimed that she did not write the report but that another responding officer did.
But if she was not sure, then why did she testify so surely during Zaliev’s trial?
It may have been because Zaliev displayed contempt-of-cop when he was awakened from his drunken slumber.
> *Prosecutors at Hoffman’s trial said the female officer had lied because Zaliev made denigrating comments about women to Hoffman and that Hoffman remembered many other details that were not in the other officer’s report.*
> *“She lied under oath to make an innocent man look guilty,” said Howard County Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Furlong in his closing arguments Thursday. Zaliev should never have been charged with DUI because Hoffman found him in the backseat of the car, Furlong said.*
Despite the blatant video, the jury was still not convinced she had lied under oath.
> *Judge Michael Mason’s Circuit Court jury of 12 members deliberated part of Thursday and the full day Friday. Toward the end of the hearing, the jury asked the judge about more definitions on “beyond a reasonable doubt, preponderance, beyond a reasonable doubt.”*
> *The judge replied the jury had been given all resources available in order to reach a verdict. Just before 6:30, the jury declared “not guilty.”*
The problem with this sympathetic jury is that they obviously did not take into account how close Hoffman came to screwing up Zaliev’s life. And they are not taking into consideration how many other lives she could have screwed up through her “faulty memory.”
According to [__WSUA9__](http://photographyisnotacrime.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/story.aspx?storyid=102456&catid=158), Hoffman believes she has been treated unfairly in the media.
> *She added that the hardest part of the trial was reading the media stories on her case and not being able to tell her side of the story.*
But she did tell her side of the story. Eleven times under oath during Zaliev’s trial. Or 12 depending on which news reports you believe.
The problem was, her side of the story was a bald-face lie.
