If you were summoned for jury duty and you didn't show up, what would happen? You'd be in jail!
I suspect that with men like General Petraeus, where honor means something - losing your life is secondary to losing your honor.
The longer you remain silent, the longer you don't turn over documents, a presumption begins to build that you're withholding something. That's human nature. That may not be a legal presumption, but that's a common sense presumption.
When people in positions of trust mislead us - either recklessly, negligently or intentionally - that impacts the republic.
The United States attorney in South Carolina was a Barack Obama appointee. Politically, he is to the left of Mao Zedong.
Even someone as lowly as an assistant U.S. attorney has to undergo a background check, and you're asked a series of very invasive questions, and you're expected to tell the truth and they're under penalty of perjury. And you're asked those questions so you can't be blackmailed or extorted.