After the trial, there were calls for the defendants, accused of not presenting their case honestly, to be put on trial for committing perjury. "Witnesses either testified inconsistently, or lied outright under oath on several occasions," Jones wrote. "The inescapable truth is that both Alan Bonsell and William Buckingham lied at their January 3, 2005 depositions. ... Bonsell repeatedly failed to testify in a truthful manner. ... Defendants have unceasingly attempted in vain to distance themselves from their own actions and statements, which culminated in repetitious, untruthful testimony." An editorial in the York Daily Record described their behavior as both ironic and sinful, saying that the "unintelligent designers of this fiasco should not walk away unscathed." Judge Jones recommended to the US Attorney's office that the school board members be investigated for perjury.
Specific potential perjury
The defendants claimed that they were presenting an alternative scientific theory, not promoting religion. The Creationist intentions of the Dover School Board are detailed on the site for Lauri Lebo's book, The Devil in Dover. But during the trial, Bill Buckingham claimed, "... we would say 'intelligent design' and they would print 'creationism'. It happened all the time," although the plaintiffs presented video of him advocating creationism.
Of Pandas and People
The Dover School District Superintendent had announced an anonymous donation of books (60 copies of Of Pandas and People). The Board responded that the donors wanted to remain anonymous when pressed by the public.
In his January 2005 deposition, Buckingham denied knowing where the book donations came from.
During the trial, plaintiff attorney Steve Harvey produced a 2004-10-04 check from board member Buckingham for $850 with the memo "for Pandas and People" written out to Donald Bonsell, father of school board president Alan Bonsell. Buckingham had given the check to Alan Bonsell, who gave it to his father, who would "take it off the table" (according to Alan Bonsell) and buy the books. The money had come from donations from parishioners of Buckingham's church after he stood up and said the board needed it. Bonsell also denied in deposition knowing where the books came from.
Board member Buckingham had been a lively person before the trial. During trial he appeared feeble. Then after the trial he was vibrant again. If this assessment is accurate, it could be construed as deceit, but not perjury.
Michael Behe testified on the morning of 2005-10-17, day 10 of the trial, that "... Intelligent Design is a scientific theory." But in his 2005-10-18 afternoon testimony, during cross-examination, Behe said that his definition of a scientific theory differs from the accepted definition and would allow both the long-disproved ether theory of light (idea of luminiferous aether) and astrology to be classified as scientific theories. Since the standard definition of a scientific theory includes "... a well-substantiated explanation ...", Behe's personal definition would allow for disproved ideas to be considered scientific theories, whereas the standard definition does not. Behe defended his version of the definition of scientific theory as being one that is commonly used among scientists. Who these scientists are and where they use the Behe definition was not clarified. But Behe's employer, Lehigh University, in an undated proclamation, stated the department faculty's unequivocal support for evolution and "... It is our collective position that intelligent design has no basis in science ...
Bacterial Flagellum claims
Behe engaged in quote-mining, at best, regarding the bacterial flagellum. During his 2005-10-17 (Day 10) morning testimony, when asked "Have other scientists acknowledged these design features of the flagellum?", Behe cited a 1998 article in the journal Cell by Brandeis University professor David J. DeRosier, The Turn of the Screw, The Bacterial Flagellar Motor, and Derosier's statement that the bacterial flagellum looked designed. Behe left it at that.
He omitted, as Derosier pointed out in the Nova documentary, that Derosier wrote that bacterial flagellum looked like it was designed by a human. Derosier went on to add that in fact, the evidence pointed to evolution. That is not explicit in the article, but Derosier is known as an evolution proponent, so Behe should have known, since he quotes Derosier seemingly as in agreement, that Derosier disagreed with him regarding whether the bacterial flagellum points to evolution or Intelligent Design.