ROCKVILLE, Md. - Did a Montgomery County (web | news) police officer lie about a case to her superiors and in court? That's under investigation.

In sworn testimony, Montgomery County Officer Dina Hoffman swore that the defendant, 56-year-old George Zaliev, was behind the wheel drunk.

"I was disgusted," said Paul Mack, Zaliev's attorney. "She testified numerous times when she first arrived that he was in the driver's seat with the engine running."

But videotape from a nearby camera showed a different story. Zaliev was in the back seat lying down. You can see his feet hanging out the passenger-side rear door, when Officer Hoffman arrives. And that's not all, said Mack.

"There was a least 10 or 20 instances where her testimony was not the same as the video," he said.

That was a huge problem according to Mack, who said Officer Hoffman told arriving backup police officers and medical technicians that she'd ordered Zaliev to sit in the back seat, after removing him from the driver's seat and taking the keys from the ignition.

"I lost a lot of sleep over this," Mack said. "It was really difficult to comprehend why he got arrested when he didn't do anything legally wrong."

Mack worried that without the video, and only Hoffman's testimony, his client could have been convicted.

"The judge clearly found that her testimony was not supported by the video," Mack said.

The judge immediately found Zaliev not guilty.

Hoffman is the subject of a internal affairs probe into whether she perjured herself, a police spokesperson said. She remains on the job.

Any potential prosecution would be handled by Howard County State's Attorneys.

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