Lake County woman sentenced to nearly five years in jail for lying in court

A Lake County woman was sentenced Wednesday to four years, eight months in the county jail for lying in court, according to the Lake County District Attorney’s Office.

Merissa James, 39, is the first person to be sentenced in the county for perjury since District Attorney Don Anderson formed a perjury investigation unit last summer and announced he planned to aggressively prosecute perjurers. The move was aimed at discouraging people from lying in court, thus preserving the integrity of court proceedings, he said.

James was charged with perjury and other related counts after she lied in court about mailing documents to the probation department, Anderson said. She was on probation at the time for passing fraudulent drug prescriptions, Anderson said.