I was in a class today, learning about legal ethics, and what duties I will or will not have to my clients if I choose to follow a career in the legal profession. I must say, the ethics in the world of law often scare me, and even more often leave me wondering what my own views are. We looked briefly at a case that I thought was noteworthy on the basis of the ethical dilemma it posed. It left me wondering what I would do in the same situation, whether I could follow the rules in the name of confidentiality.
The Garrow case of 1973 was about a murderer/rapist who had hidden his victims bodies in various locations near New York. He was on trial for the murder of an 18 year old boy, and he let slip to his lawyer, where the bodies were located. Admittedly, I would not go looking for the bodies. I would much rather leave that for people who are trained to find them however, this is what his lawyers did. They found the bodies, and did not report them to authorities on the basis of client/lawyer confidentiality. The issue is, should they have reported those bodies, or not? The legal profession have hailed them as heros as a result of this case. They never breached confidentiality, they kept their secret. Was there any harm in taking this approach? People have said that they were outrageous for not telling authorities, but would you risk your job for that? Would you risk not being able to provide for yourself or your family just so that a family of a victim can have closure? The more I think about this, the more it makes sense that you wouldn't and shouldn't tell.
People were dead. Reporting where they were would not bring them back. Reporting where they were would not make anything better. Reporting where they where would lose you your job. Reporting where they were would bring the profession into disrepute for breaching confidentiality. Reporting them really had no benefit other than personal emotional closure. The fact that the lawyers refrained and continued to defend their client was a display that I think is honorable, as it shows how seriously they take the profession. Would you want to tell a secret to your lawyer, and have them blab to police? No, you wouldn't. You have a right to keep certain information confidential and therefore your lawyers should ensure that this is possible.
Later, when all was said and done, Garrow actually managed to escape from prison, and stay on the run for 11 days. In fact, he was hiding in the bushes just outside the prison. He was, shot dead when he was found. This case seemed like something that I would be torn about should I be faced with such a scenario. I would like to say that I would have the heroic strength to do what Armani did, although I am just not 100% sure I would. Still, we should all be hailing lawyers like Armani, because without people like that, secrets would become futile in the legal profession and there would be none of this "Everything you say here will be kept confidential" business. Trust in your lawyer, would be a thing of the past.
http://law.gsu.edu/ccunningham/PR/Garrow-NYTimes.htm (Check out this link for a report done, in June 1974 on the matter)
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