We recently posted a short video on our Facebook page that asked Avery Appelman a simple question – “Should I tell my lawyer if I actually committed the crime?” The video caught a lot of attention and attracted many comments, and while we stand by our answer (which you can see in the video below), we want to expand on that answer and clarify some misinformation that is going around in the comments of that video.
Should I Tell My Lawyer If I Actually Committed The Crime?
Let’s first begin by sharing Avery’s answer to the above question.
“You should only answer the question that your lawyer asks you. That’s it. Don’t offer more information. The minute that you give the lawyer facts, information, he or she is bound by that, right? And one of our ethical requirements is that we can’t put somebody on the witness stand to testify under oath to something that we know is false. We can’t suborn perjury. We can’t put you on there to lie. So answer the question your lawyer asks you, and nothing more.”
We stand by this advice, and we want to expand on it a bit in this blog. For starters, some people incorrectly thought that admitting to the crime to your lawyer means that they will go hand over that evidence or tell the judge or prosecutor that you admitted to the crime. Lawyers are not required to tell on a client if they admit to the crime, and this information would be subject to attorney-client privilege. That information stays between us, but we are legally obligated to alter how we pitch your defense if you admit to the crime.
We can’t put a client up on the stand, know that they are guilty because they admitted to it and ask questions that directly cause our client to perjure themselves. Attorneys can’t knowingly put their client on the stand to lie under oath, which is why no attorney worth a damn will ever ask if you committed the crime. There may be physical evidence that suggests you committed the crime, there may be video recordings that appear to suggest you committed the crime, and you may not have an alibi for the night in question, but all of those issues can be worked around by your attorney. Physical evidence could be planted, video recordings could be altered or inconclusive, and the fact that you don’t have an airtight alibi doesn’t mean you certainly committed a crime. We can and routinely work for our clients when the deck appears to be stacked against them.
But legally, we have to alter our defense strategy in the event that our client admits to the crime. Anything short of this, and we can easily create plausible deniability, but when you admit to the act in question to your lawyer, they have to change their defense strategy. Again, they will not take this information and hand it over to the other side, but legally we can’t set you up to willfully and knowingly perjure yourself under oath.
So at the end of the day, follow the advice provided by Avery and only answer the question your lawyer asks, because they’ll never outright ask if you did it. They don’t want to tie their hands and make it more challenging to win a case, so whether you’re talking to a lawyer or police, keep your answers short and only answer the specific question being asked.
If you want to connect with a lawyer who knows how to best defend you against the levied charges and understands how to put you in the best position to win your case, reach out to Avery and the team at Appelman Law Firm today at (952) 224-2277.
