Law Student Who Made Up Racial Profiling Claim Received His JD

A University of Virginia law student who admitted fabricating a racial profiling claim has received his law degree.

The student, Johnathan Perkins, was acquitted of a university honor charge this summer by a jury of fellow students, report Above the Law, the Daily Progress and the Cavalier Daily. The acquittal allowed Perkins to receive his JD.

Perkins was a 3L when he alleged in a letter to the law school’s student newspaper that he was a victim of racial profiling by campus police. "As I stood there, humiliated, with my hands on the police car, my only thought was: 'There is nothing I can do to right this wrong,’ ” he wrote. He later admitted he made up the incident to draw attention to police misconduct.

Law school dean Paul Mahoney released a statement saying the university will “furnish a statement regarding the honor charges and underlying circumstances to any state bar” to which Perkins applies.