What type of mental state is required for Type 1 spoken perjury?

For Type 1 spoken perjury, the required mental state is intent. This means that the individual must intentionally make a false statement under oath, with knowledge of its falsity. The law mandates that for a conviction of perjury, it is not enough for the person to have spoken untruths; they must have done so with the conscious objective of misleading or deceiving the court.

This mental state differentiates perjury from other offenses that might merely involve negligence or recklessness. In those cases, the individual could have acted without full awareness of the truth or falsity of their statements, which does not meet the strict requirement of purposeful deception that is intrinsic to the act of perjury. Intent implies a deliberate and voluntary action, which is a key element of the legal definition of perjury in this context.