>I used the syntax that you gave me but it returned 2 records instead of 1. Is there something that I am missing ? the following is the syntax I used
>"SELECT * FROM CIVIL JOIN persons ON persons.pkeyident = civil.keyident AND (persons.per_type = 'D' or persons.per_type = 'C')"

Assuming that you want only info from the main table (correct if I'm wrong)

SELECT DISTINCT civil.* 
  FROM CIVIL 
   JOIN persons ON persons.pkeyident = civil.keyident 
      AND persons.per_type IN ('D', 'C'))

-- or
SELECT * 
  FROM CIVIL 
   WHERE EXISTS (SELECT * FROM persons WHERE persons.pkeyident = civil.keyident 
      AND persons.per_type IN ('D', 'C'))