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If you are a defense attorney do you have to believe your client?
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Anonymous
| The Casey Anthony case has me wondering how it works....I mean I would think they would have to believe her but ...it's just so hard to believe...so do defense attorneys always believe their clients or are they just making a case according to what their client says? |
Anonymous
New poster, not a defense attorney, but I have more questions along the same lines: Or do they make suggestions to their client for a story? i.e. Assuming the story about Casey Anthony's father molesting her is made up, where did that lie come from -- Casey, or her attorney? |
Anonymous
| No, I don't think you do, but you have to believe in the system as a whole and trust the system to return the correct verdict. |
Anonymous
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Yea I guess they probably don't have to believe your client...like in murder cases where there is in fact dna but the client is saying not guilty...the evidence is there but the defense attorney I guess has to just make a case for their client even if they totally don't believe them...how can you be a defense attorney and represent these people...so hard I assume.
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Anonymous
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I am not a defense lawyer but I think what they do is make the best case they can with what the client tells them.
On the one hand, they have an ethical obligation to make the best case they can but on the other hand it would be unethical to knowingly mislead the court. Even assuming a lawyer wouldn't knowingly mislead the court, that still leaves a lot of gray area. |
Anonymous
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Of course not you don't. But if you client tells you something incriminating, you can't present something different.
Say Casey Anthony told her attorney she murdered Kaylee -- the defense could not then tell the court she didn't. Alan Dershowitz says that the key is to not get your client to tell you too much. For example, don't ask the client if he killed the person -- what you don't know does not trigger the ethical obligation. You should also not "suggest a story" to the client but I imagine that happens pretty often, not a story but asking legitimate questions in a way that suggests such a story to the client. |
Anonymous
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Generally the latter. But if you know your client is lying, you're not supposed to permit your client to make false statements in court. Most times though, it's not such a stark contrast between truth and fiction -- usually the case revolves around slightly differing interpretations of the a common set of facts. For example, no one disputes that the accused filed a form that has some inaccurate info, but we can argue about whether the inaccuracy was significant or not, and whether the accused intentionally vs. accidentally put inaccurate info in the form.
I did not follow the Anthony trial too closely, but didn't she choose not to testify at all? If so, then she never actually made any statement that was false (no matter where the truth lies). The government simply was unable to convince a jury of good citizens that the evidence clearly proves Anthony guilty. |
Anonymous
| In this case I dont doubt for a minute that it was the defense' strategy and idea to bring up molestation from her father and brother. They are dirty scoundrels but they have to deal with their conscience at the end of the day. |
Anonymous
| If your client says "Yes I did it" but is pleading not guilty...do you then have to toss the case or if you are unethical you just forget he/she said it? |
Anonymous
You can still plead not guilty. You don't have to specify why your client is pleading not guilty. Maybe she killed a guy, but it was self-defense, or an accident, or she was incapacitated at the time .... |
Anonymous
| are there certain classes of women prisoners who are akin to child molesters in men's prisons? |
Anonymous
| oops, wrong thread. |