Omar R. Pouncy, 38, of Flint, pleaded guilty to suborning perjury during the second week of his federal trial on several witness tampering and perjury charges, U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. announced on Apr. 10.
The case highlights efforts by law enforcement to address attempts at manipulating the judicial process and underscores the consequences for those who try to obstruct justice.
U.S. District Court Judge F. Kay Behm accepted Pouncy’s plea and scheduled sentencing for July 14, with Pouncy facing up to five years in federal prison. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Pouncy was previously convicted of multiple carjackings and armed robberies in Genesee County in 2005 and later filed a federal habeas corpus petition after exhausting appeals in state court.
During a May 22, 2018 evidentiary hearing on his actual innocence claims, another man named Jaakawa McGruder falsely testified that he had committed the carjackings instead of Pouncy and denied receiving any payment for his testimony. Evidence later showed that Pouncy paid McGruder $10,000 for this testimony and coached him using text messages sent from prison cell phones—messages which were discovered by Michigan Department of Corrections employees.
McGruder and another person involved have already been convicted for their roles in the scheme.
“This violent criminal lied his way back into our community. He endangered the public and directly attacked our justice system. But we uncovered his perjury scheme. And now the same courts he undermined will serve him justice,” stated U.S. Attorney Gorgon.
“Attempting to manipulate the justice system by orchestrating false testimony is a serious crime, and those who engage in schemes to obstruct the truth will be held accountable,” said Jennifer Runyan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office.
The investigation was conducted by special agents from the FBI’s Flint Resident Agency along with officials from the Michigan Department of Corrections.
