Attorney May Lose License For Admitting Deceased Client Committed Murder
Titan Barksdale writes in the Raleigh News & Observer about how an attorney who revealed that his deceased client committed a murder – so as to exonerate another man who has served 21 years in prison –may lose his law license for the effort.
North Carolina public defender Staples Hughes disclosed that his former client, now deceased, who was charged in two murders, confessed 20 years earlier that he was solely responsible for the deaths. A co-defendant, Lee Hunt, was also convicted and sentenced to two terms of life in prison based upon the testimony of his co-defendants, who received immunity or reduced prison time for their testimony, and upon a now discredited form of bullet lead analysis.
After his former client's death and a court ruling in 2003 that held a judge can force a lawyer to reveal confidential statements from a dead client, Attorney Hughes revealed his knowledge to a lawyer who is now representing Hunt, and Hughes subsequently testified as to his deceased former client's confession before Judge Thompson. The Judge rejected Hughes's testimony and warned him that he would file a complaint against Hughes with the state bar for testifying. Hughes, who believes that his confidentiality obligation died with his client, has received a letter from the state bar regarding an ethics violation.
A North Carolina appellate court has refused to hear the case regarding Hunt's imprisonment, leaving only an appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court.