Thank you RedKing and Ein.
if someone comes into a lawyer's office and tells them they murdered another human being and it felt good, the lawyer is actually punished if they report that to the police. They can't do it.
If you are forced to defend somebody in court accused of murder and the defendant confesses to you in private doesn't it become very difficult to represent them? I was under the impression that a lawyer couldn't knowingly give false testament or evidence. I realise most of what I know about law is hearsay and likely rubbish.
Difficult, yes. Impossible no.
First consider the practical side of it. Almost EVERY criminal defendant says they are innocent, same with prison inmates. Except they're in prison.... Many are guilty and thus lied.... Yeah.... The confession makes it harder though. This is why I cut them the hell off proactively, "I do not want to know if you did it; do not tell me either way. Remember, anything you say here, I'm stuck with and you can't change it later. Slow down and calmly tell me...."
Second, assuming confession, there are numerous possible avenues depending on jurisdiction. a.) "testify in the narrative" lawyer asks no questions, and criminal defendant just speaks, b.) correct the record (dangerous and fraught with confidentiality perils), c.) tactfully tell the judge at sidebar, who might chose not to admit the evidence due to this (again confidentiality perils). It really does vary upon what Rules of Professional Conduct are available in your jurisdiction.
Take a look back at the link I posted immediately after that quoted portion. Mr. Frank Armani esq had to deal with Robert Garrow confessing to numerous crimes including murders (plural). He also told his lawyer the location of the bodies; lawyer investigated and yes... there were bodies in the old mine shaft.... Rule 1.6 confidentiality always applies to past committed crimes. This forced Mr. Armani to keep quiet. Public outrage ruined Mr. Armani's law practice, because everyone thought he was "corrupt," for keeping quiet after the confession. He would've been disbarred if he said anything. He is a cautionary tale in legal ethics text books now, and there is still no really good answer to the problem.
http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/the_toughest_call/What's even better, they were forced by the court to represent Mr. Garrow even after they basically begged the judge to let them out of the case. If there was actually Justice, the system would've declared Robert Garrow insane and/or let the lawyers off the hook. Not gonna happen though.