What happens to a defense lawyer if their client admits to the crime but the lawyer continues to defend them?
Thursday, April 15th, 2010 at
7:37 pm
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The lawyer cannot lead any evidence he knows is untrue. If you know your client did the crime, you can’t put your client on the stand to claim innocence. You can’t lead alibi evidence. You can’t lead evidence that somebody else committed the crime.
However, you *can* continue to argue that the prosecutor’s case doesn’t meet the threshold of "beyond a reasonable doubt."
You *can* challenge the admissibility of evidence.
You *can* lead affirmative defences (unless your client’s admission of guilt precludes them).
You also can make arguments about mitigating factors on sentencing.
He cannot question his client in a way he knows will elicit a lie. Did you do it?
Called "sup……..ing perjury".
Defending a client’s constitutional and legal rights in court does NOT mean that an attorney is arguing a claim of innocence.
Nothing. Most defendants are guilty and most admit their guilt to their lawyers. Then the lawyers do what they can for their client. A lawyer can get in trouble for presenting perjured testimony at trial, but most defendants do not testify at trial.
When you hire a lawyer, you hire him to help minimize the damage. The lawyer is duty-bound to do just that. When you hire a plumber to solve a problem with broken pipes, the plumber does not decide if you deserve better pipes, he just does what he can to fix the problem. Same with lawyers.
Nothing. It is their job to defend someone even if the client admits to being guilty. It is up to the prosecution to prove that the person is guilty. The right to an attorney and the right to a trial are part of the justice system.