Ed. Note: The following content was provided by Wade Skalsky, who is a client of KHTS AM-1220.
On the latest KHTS AM-1220 radio show “Wade Beyond the Courtroom,” Santa Clarita defense attorney Wade Skalsky talked about the ethics involved when a defendant takes the stand during their trial.
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As an officer of the court, attorneys are under certain obligations that may conflict with their obligation to their client, which takes precedent in almost all cases, according to Skalsky.
“As an attorney, you’re in a very tough situation,” he said. “The truth of what happened may not really assist your client very much in the case.”
While an attorney should never intentionally allow their client to lie on the stand, it can still happen, Skalsky added.
“This does happen in the justice system,” he said. “Obviously people are under a lot of pressure– there are big hammers for them in terms of if they were to lose their trial or their hearing. There’s a huge incentive for people in that situation obviously to not tell the truth.”
Related: Santa Clarita Defense Attorney Teaches Paralegals Legal Ethics
If testifying with the truth isn’t in the best interest of the client, an attorney will usually advise that the client simply not take the stand, which they are within their rights to do, according to Skalsky.
However, a person also has the right to testify in their own defense and can choose to ignore the advice of their attorney.
If the attorney knows their client is planning to lie to the court, they can choose to withdraw from the case, which Skalsky said rarely happens, or can try to convince their client not to testify at all by stating on the record that they are advising against it. When this happens, the judge will typically also try to convince the client not to testify.
The attorney can also try to alert the judge of their client’s intentions, which can be extremely difficult to do without violating attorney-client privilege.
If a client does take the stand with a false story, the skills and resources of the prosecutor often allows them to catch the defendant in their lies.
“For your client, they’re not the most skilled people in the world at testifying because they’ve never done it before,” Skalsky said. “They have an extremely skilled prosecutor that’s going to be asking them questions on what’s called cross examination that has limitless funds and investigators– as many as they want, experts, as many as they want –so anything that you say they’re going to be able to attack with giant amounts of resources. So unless your story that you’re gonna construct is perfect, you’re going to have some issues big time.”
Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.If the client does plan on telling the truth, but the attorney knows it is not in their best interest to take the stand, they typically would try to change the client’s mind by doing a “mock trial” exercise and acting as a prosecutor during cross examination.
“Usually their story makes no sense,” Skalsky said. “This may seem like a good idea to you… but you need to understand what you’re up against; you need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your case.”
“I don’t want them to put themselves in a situation that will make matters worse,” he added. “At the end of the day, my job as an attorney is to put my client in the best position possible.”
Law Offices of Wade J. Skalsky
450 N. Brand Blvd, Suite 600
Glendale, CA 91203
Toll-free: 800-836-1120
Phone: 855-873-9233