Law and order, the TV show, Lawyer discussion.

I was watching the show, "Law and Order," with my housemates, it was the episode where an innocent man had been in jail for the past 20 or 20 something years. The catch is was that there was a lawyer who knew that he innocent but learned about it because her client was the guilty party. The lawyer learned about her client's guilt before the innocent man was put on trial. She could not say anything because of attorney-client privilege and if she had spoken up she would have lost her career and possibly faced jail time.

So, one housemate spoke up and said, "I would never trade my life for the life of another."
I responded, "So you would rather be mugged than defend yourself?"

Was that a bad analogy?

Where do you think the line of attorney client privilege should be drawn?

Should we punish lawyers who would speak up to keep and innocent person out of prison?

Would you give up your career and possibly face jail time to keep an innocent person out of jail/prison?


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For the last question, my answer is, maybe. It would depend on a totality of circumstances.

Nightmare said:

If a priest enjoys privilege then it's a small step down to a lawyer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessional_privilege_(United_States)

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That's why my priest is also my lawyer !!!!


As far as lawyers go ... they represent their client, not another.

Remember, if you're innocent, you have nothing to fear ! Oh boy....

You guys do realize you are discussing a FICTION based TV show?

WalkingWolf said:

You guys do realize you are discussing a FICTION based TV show?

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1. That is the point of the social lounge,
2. this is to pose real questions that this show raised, and
3. since our 'entertainment' drives our culture it makes the questions worth asking.

Nightmare said:

Hooo! I hope not. Maybe yours and Limbaugh's.

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I don't even normally watch TV. This was a rare exception to for.

I have observed that much of public parroting (opinion?) is controlled by the popular media outlets.

WalkingWolf said:

You guys do realize you are discussing a FICTION based TV show?

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In college I took a mass media class and we studied a good bit about how TV shows are made. You'd be surprised how many TV episodes, particularly crime shows like L&A, are taken from news articles 5-10 years ago. The story makes the plot, the producers add a few characters and interesting twists if need be, and there you have it.

Freedom1Man said:

...Where do you think the line of attorney client privilege should be drawn?...

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Good question.

There has got to be some actual lines drawn somewhere, right? We already know we can't just go with what a TV writer used for a show.

That said, I need to go see Rebecca De Mornay defending Don Johnson in Guilty as Sin again.

Q-Tip said:

In college I took a mass media class and we studied a good bit about how TV shows are made. You'd be surprised how many TV episodes, particularly crime shows like L&A, are taken from news articles 5-10 years ago. The story makes the plot, the producers add a few characters and interesting twists if need be, and there you have it.

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I watched L&O quite a bit in 2004. I remember most of the plots as being adaptations of news stories I'd seen years before. L&O seemed to rely on them for inspiration more than most shows, in fact.

Well, they did always claim that their stories were "ripped from the headlines."

I am sure that they have legal consultants keeping them essentially on track. However, as happens in real court rulings, they are willing to stretch and contort the law to their own purposes.

eye95 said:

Well, they did always claim that their stories were "ripped from the headlines."

I am sure that they have legal consultants keeping them essentially on track. However, as happens in real court rulings, they are willing to stretch and contort the law to their own purposes.

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They may be adaptations of real cases, but I believe that a lot of artistic license is used portraying the activity presented in the courtroom. I have been present at quite a few trials and have served as a jury member, and I have never seen the kinds of in-court situations presented on L&O being allowed to happen. I suspect that they have to present a stylized version due to time constraints. Most court cases are deadly boring and not at all like the "gotchas" presented in the old Perry Mason shows or on L&O.