Even the guilty have the right to have a lawyer point out the relevant facts, such as: whether it's their first offense; whether they are sorry, and have co operated with the authorities; what their emotional state was, etc. Only when both sides of the story are given can justice be achieved. level 2. · 8 yr. ago.
In the UK, a lawyer can defend a guilty party as long as the party doesn't lie or intentionally mislead the court. So as long as every statement made by the party is truthful, the lawyer can keep defending them, but as soon as the party lies, the lawyer cannot tell the court about the lie due to the duty of confidentiality they have for their ...
A defense attorney wants to make the prosecution prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty, force them to have a solid case. If they don’t, even if the person did commit the crime, the prosecution hasn’t done its job and it’s better that the criminal go free than for the system to be able to put an unproven-criminal in prison.
He basically knew he was going to lose the case, but performed his duties solely on his belief in the judicial system we have established. EDIT: It wasn't John Adams, it was Sam Amirante, who defended John Wayne Gacy. “Absolutely everybody deserves a defense,” said Amirante.
Defendant a guilty client may mean committing professional suicide. Criminal defense attorneys may vigorously defend guilty clients, but as a couple of examples make clear, they risk committing professional suicide by doing so.
Just because the defendant says he did it doesn’t make it so. The defendant may be lying to take the rap for someone he wants to protect, or may be guilty, but guilty of a different and lesser crime than the one being prosecuted by the district attorney.
Way back in 1840, Charles Phillips, one of the finest British barristers of his era, defended Benjamin Courvoisier against a charge that Courvoisier brutally murdered his employer, wealthy man-about-town Lord Russell. Courvoisier privately confessed to Phillips that he was guilty.
For these reasons, among others, many defense lawyers never ask their clients if they committed the crime. Instead, the lawyer uses the facts to put on the best defense possible and leaves the question of guilt to the judge or jury.
Perhaps no one has ever put the duty as eloquently as Henry VIII’s soon-to-be-beheaded ex-Chancellor Sir Thomas More, who, before going to the scaffold, insisted, “I’d give the devil the benefit of law, for mine own safety’s sake.”.
Feldman knew privately that Westerfield was guilty. Nevertheless, at trial Feldman aggressively attacked Danielle’s parents. He offered evidence that they frequently invited strangers into their home for sex orgies, and suggested that one of the strangers could have been the killer.
The lawyer is there is vouch that the accused is punished as per the act of crime committed by him and to no further extent ie. on any additional count of crime which he has not committed. Lawyers are there to defend horrible people (ie. murderers, rapists etc.) as they have a right to justice.
Logically speaking narcissist would make great lawyer because they don't mind hurting other people. They don't mind if their clients are lying or if they are lying about a case. They don't mind saying whatever they need to say or hurting whoever they need to hurt. Their objective is winning.
There is also a doctrine in the law that relates to therapists, doctors, and sometimes lawyers called the Tarasoff rule, which allows professionals to report imminent and specific threats of future violence to law enforcement without violating ethical duties of confidentiality.
The duty of lawyers is to ensure that justice is discharged as per the case in hand and the crime committed .
Attorney-client privilege is broad, because our justice system is based on clients being able to have open and frank communications with their attorneys.
That’s why an attorney should keep their personal feelings as far as possible from a case. Sure, bring them up when there’s passion to be had over the innocence of your client. But otherwise make it hell for prosecution until they’ve actually 100% demonstrated the guilt of your client, beyond any reasonable doubt.