Patterico's Pontifications

12/17/2005

Lawyer Advises Client to Lie — Via E-Mail

Filed under: Crime,Morons,Scum — Patterico @ 10:49 pm



The lesson of this story is simple: if you are a criminal defense attorney counseling your client to lie on the stand, don’t say it in an e-mail.

In a DUI case, legal eagle Scott Pratt wrote his client to say,

they won’t have anyone there to testify how much you had to drink. You won’t be charged with perjury. I’ve never seen them charge anyone with perjury, and everybody lies in criminal cases, including the cops. If you want to tell the truth, then we’ll just plead guilty and you can get your jail time over with.

The judge in the case is “thinking about prohibiting Pratt from practicing in his courtroom.” Really! If I were the judge, I’d be mulling that issue over for all of about two seconds.

Thanks to Eugene Volokh for the pointer.

17 Responses to “Lawyer Advises Client to Lie — Via E-Mail”

  1. Can this man lose his license to practice law?

    Dana R. Pico (a9eb8b)

  2. How does that make this guy different from any other liberal? They all told Clinton to lie.

    DougJ (1efa38)

  3. Dana-

    yeah, if convicted it is pretty much a given, since suborning perjury is a fairly classic “crime of moral turpitude.” I don’t know what the procedure is in Tennessee for disbarment proceedings though. I’d give very good odds on, at the least, a suspension and penalty being imposed.

    Angry Clam (a7c6b1)

  4. Seems this guy forgot the prime directive of criminal law: Even a fish wouldn’t get caught if he’d keep his mouth shut.

    Black Jack (ee9fe2)

  5. I am shocked…shocked! to find a lawyer encouraging a client to lie!!

    I might also be shocked, shocked! to see what kind of story Pratt’s lawyer comes up with. (His lies will be more difficult, given the email record, though not impossible.)

    ManlyDad (b0f23e)

  6. Patterico, how common do you think perjury in general and perjury by police officers in particular is?

    James B. Shearer (fc887e)

  7. What? People lie when they are 100% sure they won’t get caught, and doing so advances their career? Say it aint so.

    Mike W (c20d28)

  8. As a practicing criminal trial attorney and former prosecutor I am truly appalled at this. This is a no-brainer. Not only should the judge refuse to allow this bozo in his court room, his next step should be an immediate call to Bar Counsel to initiate disciplinary action. In fact, most states have a legal obligation for attorneys to notify bar counsel of such illegal conduct on the part of other lawyers. I hope he gets both disbarred and prosecuted for suborning perjury.

    Basilisk (186610)

  9. Shocking, appalling, really? Where are the weapons of mass distruction? When the truth is skewed from the very top leadership, many just follow suit.

    Edward D. Padgett (f5dba9)

  10. Edward – why did you pick that example of the very top leadership lying? Why not the very top leadership lying under oath before a Grand Jury? Or would that lie not fit into your political point of view?

    This tool’s counsel to his client has nothing to do with politics or Presidents’ lying. It has to do with a lawyer being unethical.

    For every criminal defense lawyer that crosses a line there is a cop who “embellishes” his testimony or civilian witness and lawyers in civil court “spinning” their testimony. It’s not limited to the legal profession. One need only open the paper on a daily basis to read about various scams, shakedowns, corruption, etc by non-lawyers.

    For my money this isn’t a bigger story than a stupid, unethical lawyer.

    ThreeSheets (d27e6b)

  11. my bad- I meant lied under oath at a deposition (and on TV wagging his finger to the public).

    ThreeSheets (d27e6b)

  12. I may be a complete cynic, but I can’t believe these conversations don’t go on all the time, just not in writing. I think your post implies the same.

    Attila (Pillage Idiot) (471b7c)

  13. Ed, Bush no more caused this than did Clinton. Are you another one with a difficulty understanding the difference between being wrong and lying?

    Harry Arthur (b318a5)

  14. Like Patterico, I’m a career prosecutor, and I’ve only had one trial wherein a defense attorney caught a cop in a lie; it was a drug possession case, and the crux of the matter was whether or not the cop had checked the back of his patrol car at the beginning of his shift for any trash. If he had, the bindle of meth found after he put the defendant in the back on an unrelated charge belonged to the suspect. If not, it may have been there at the beginning of his shift.

    It’s been a few years, so I may get the details wrong, but the officer claimed he’d folded a pamphlet up and tossed it under the seat; the defense attorney used great stage craft and sarcasm to demonstrate that the crumpled ball found in the car looked nothing like a folded brochure

    I told the jury during closing arguments that if they believed the arresting officer had not told the truth, then they should vote “Not guilty.” The defendant was acquitted.

    It seemed to me that the cop couldn’t remember what he’d done with the paper, and had simply guessed. Do I think he planted the bindle? Hell no. The experience confirmed for me that the lies told by cops are probably related to procedure and search and seizure.

    Do I think police officers regularly lie? I prefer to think not. Most of the cases I prosecute don’t depend on the testimony of a cop without tons of corroborating evidence. Further, my sense is that most cops wouldn’t throw away a career to convict one “dirtbag.”

    I tell every witness I intend to call that the only thing I want — the only thing I insist on — is that they tell the truth. If I have reason to doubt any complaining witness is being truthful, I’ve never hesitated to dismiss the case.

    The most disturbing thing about the defense lawyer mentioned in Volokh’s post is that there’s any discussion at all as to whether or not he ought to be disbarred for life.

    Mike (e9d57e)

  15. Fellas & Gals: Let’s all can the sanctimonious hypocrisy! People lie: young & old, rich & poor, prosecution & defense, Republican, Democrat & independent. They could all spin you an ends-justifies-the-means rationale. Let’s judge not too hastily and with a modicum of mercy.

    The cynicism displayed on paper by this gentleman is no worse than that which is evident in the everyday pursuits of many. Clearly, the responses above are to some extent prey to the same weaknesses.

    It should be noted that at least this man’s profession recognizes the right principles, strives to uphold them, and disciplines such conduct. The penalty (disbarment, suspension, censure) depends on many variables. By contrast, many in other walks of life receive temporal rewards for similar sharp practices and swear by the efficacy of falsehood.

    Brick (3f0fb3)

  16. I worked for Scott Pratt for about nine months and during my employment, I witnessed several incidents that I thought were unethical, if not illegal. I believe that his advising a client to lie is just the tip of the iceberg. Mr. Pratt passed the bar in, I think, 1998, completing law school as an older student. He is intelligent and his career held promise. At first, I believed he was truly interested in practicing law in a an ethical and honest manner, balancing the rights of his clients with respect for the law. I soon found out that Mr. Pratt actually held little regard for the law or his clients. Besides the fact that he is dishonest, he is one of the most arrogant people I have ever met or worked for. His being exposed as unethical was not in the least surprising to me. When I left his employment, I knew it was only a matter of time until he would go down. I was treated rather shabbily by Mr. Pratt, therefore, I do have my own reasons that I am glad that his unethical/illegal practices have been exposed. I’m glad that I’m no longer associated with him.

    Linda (80cffa)

  17. I know this thread is ancient, but I just came across it and have an interesting addition…

    In April, 2002 I became a co-defendant in a civil suit over a real estate transaction (my property was involved). The attorney was a specialist in criminal defense with no experience in civil litigation.

    In June, 2002, his client advised him to hire ME as his paralegal due to my extensive background in civil litigation!

    I met with his attorney, he offered me the job and I advised him of his conflict of interest but he didn’t care!?! Granted, I had a conflict as well but since I wasn’t licensed to practice I wasn’t beholden to the Rules of Professional Conduct or the Canons of Ethics.

    This is getting long so, at the end of the day I worked with the Bar Assocation to get the guy gone.

    Tom (ea536d)


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