Justin King Ethical Dilemma

Justin King has recently informed me that he consumed an unspecified amount of alcohol before operating a vehicle on the day of the accident. I have learned that because he was unconscious after the accident there was no testing done to see if he was under the influence. I have also learned that Paxton Medical Center routinely destroys certain information as part of their document retention policy, and in doing so they have destroyed the toxicology report for Mr. King.

Since Mr. King has informed me that he plans to lie on the stand if questioned about alcohol consumption I that we have a duty to ask him to tell the truth if it is brought up. Because we do not have any evidence to prove whether he was or was not drinking I do not feel that we should not volunteer this information to opposing counsel as this would violate rule 1.6(A) of the ABA model rules of professional conduct. This rule says we cannot reveal information relating to the representation of our client without the clients consent. I think we should invoke rule 3.3 and submit our motion to withdraw. I think this is the best thing to do because rule 4.1 says that a lawyer should not “fail to disclose a material fact to a third person when disclosure is necessary to avoid assisting a criminal or fraudulent act by a client unless disclosure is prohibited by Rule 1.6” and in this instance rule 1.6 (b) would apply. Rule 1.6 (b) allows us to reveal certain information in order to prevent Mr. King from committing fraud that would cause a considerable amount of financial injury to the defendant.

If Mr. King does testify in a false manner we should ask him to correct his testimony as one last attempt to get him to tell the truth.