How does attorney-client privilege work? And how is it not perjury to defend the innocence of someone who admitted their guilt to you?
In: 2
Not all legal defense strategies involve proof of innocence. there are many possible defense strategies including ‘i didn’t do it’, ‘i did it, but what i did does not amount to the crime alleged’, ‘i did it, but here are the mitigating circumstances around why i did it’, and ‘i did it, but i am unable to tell right from wrong, so i technically didn’t do it’
All accused are entitled to a competent defense, and in order to formulate a proper defense there needs to be free communication between the accused and his counsel. this is why the attorney-client privilege exists. one of the caveats is that your attorney cannot allow you to give false testimony under oath. if you tell him you did X, he cannot put you on the witness stand and allow you to swear to the court that you didnt. if your client tells you he is planning to kill someone or commit some crime in the future, there exists both rules for disclosing that information to the authorities and mandates that some things are reported. the privilege is not unlimited, and failure to abide by the rules opens the lawyer up to suspension/revocation of their law license.
perjury is knowingly offering false testimony under oath. witnesses are under oath, lawyers questioning them are not. your lawyer cannot allow you to commit perjury, if they know you are being untruthful. the lawyers cannot commit perjury themselves unless they are sworn in as a witness and provide testimony. it would be very unusual for either the defense or prosecution lawyers to be called to the stand, so unless they purposefully fill out court documents with incorrect information there is rather few opportunities for a lawyer to perjure themselves.
Latest Answers