08 Aug 2018. In the summer of 1973, four college-aged friends set out on a camping trip in New York’s Adirondack Mountains. What happened over the next hours led to a case that generated a national debate about confidentiality between an attorney and client. Commonly referred to as the “Buried Bodies Case,” it is an essential part of law ...
The Buried Bodies Case, also known as the Lake Pleasant Bodies Case, is a mid-1970s upstate New York court case where defense attorneys Frank H. Armani and Francis Belge kept secret the location of the bodies of two women murdered by their client, Robert Garrow, Sr.. Ahead of trial for an unrelated murder, Garrow confessed to his lawyers that he had murdered two missing …
Sep 03, 2019 · Earlier this month, a state appellate court issued a written opinion in a New York homicide case discussing the obligation that the prosecution has to disclose evidence to the defense. Ultimately, the court reversed the defendant’s murder conviction because it found that the prosecutions’ failure to provide video evidence undermined confidence in the jury’s verdict.
Apr 13, 2022 · Search underway for murder victim's car missing after body found. April 12, 2022, 5:06 PM. ... who has long refused to disclose his status, boasted to a megachurch that he's unvaccinated. 19h ago. ... “We are taking this case in an entirely new direction,” Papini attorney William Portanova said.
Buried Bodies Case. The Buried Bodies Case, also known as the Lake Pleasant Bodies Case, is a mid-1970s upstate New York court case where defense attorneys Frank H. Armani and Francis Belge kept secret the location of the bodies of two women murdered by their client, Robert Garrow, Sr. Ahead of trial for an unrelated murder, ...
The Buried Bodies Case attracted significant attention in the mid-1970s in the throes of the Watergate scandal. Several legal scholars believe Armani and Belge acted ethically in refraining from sharing their client's confession. During Watergate, the American Bar Association (ABA) began reconsidering attorneys' ethical obligations. Meanwhile, law schools too began reconsidering the form of legal ethics in their curriculum.
Armani and Belge faced criminal and ethical proceedings that were later found to be unwarranted. People v. Belge. A grand jury investigated the attorneys' conduct. Belge was indicted for allegedly violating two state public health laws by failing to disclose his discovery of the dead bodies. In People v.
The lawyers photographed the remains of both women. Belge moved Hauck's body to ensure a dismembered part was included in the photograph. They later destroyed the photographs, the record of their conversation with Garrow, and the diagram he drew. Belge and Armani told no one about their discoveries.
While ethical rules are determined by each state, portions of the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct have been adopted by 49 states. All states have some ethical duty of confidentiality in their code of professional responsibility.
Following Garrow's confession, Armani and Belge decided to confirm whether Garrow was telling the truth. They used Garrow's diagram to uncover Petz's body in an airshaft of a coal mine.
The attorneys claimed they were bound by the duty of confidentiality not to disclose information that could incriminate their client. Armani and Belge were later absolved of any wrongdoing. The case has become a touchstone in legal ethics courses.