How long can you go to jail for perjury?

Peter Pocklington – the owner of the Oilers from back in the days of the WHA until 1998 – pled guilty today to perjury during his bankruptcy proceedings. Originally charged with two counts of bankruptcy fraud, the charges were reduced to perjury after Pocklington agreed to plead guilty. In typical Pocklington fashion he accepted no responsibilityand instead blamed his backruptcy lawyers for creating the “misunderstanding”. Pocklington’s sentencing is scheduled for August 9.

If you’re an Oiler fan you probably already know how ironic it is that he’ll be sentenced on that day. If you’re not an Oiler fan I’ll bring you up to speed. You see August 9 will be the twenty second anniversary of the sale of Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings; a day that will never be forgotten, or truly forgiven, here in Edmonton.

I was nine years old when the “trade” happened and I still remember exactly where I was and who told me. I thought it was a joke. Gretzky was the greatest player on the planet, why would he ever be traded? I was nine and I didn’t know that hockey wasn’t a sport, it was a business. In the last twenty two years I’ve manage to, for the most part, come to grips with what Pocklington did. The Oilers winning another Stanley Cup in 1990 certainly helped ease the pain, the twenty winless years since then not as much.

According to the story on TSN Pocklington faces a maximum sentence of five years in jail but probation is a possibility. A maximum of five years and a chance at probabtion after what he did? I hope that the judge factors in what Pocklington did to Oiler fans as part of his sentence, maybe even gives him some extra jail time as a result. The nine year old inside of me thinks he deserves it.