My Lawyer's Seen the Bodies - Law & Order 

Yes, superb actor.

@@Roonlovesfish3874 Personally I prefer him in Invaders.

yes, it gets you unconfortable

They should have shot him in the belly the second he turned around with that knife.

Just think if Heath Ledger had the role……

i was never a criminal, but i used to be as bad as that, id get into fist fights with teachers just because i was bored, i once smashed a mug off a classmates head because they asked me what the time was, i was violent because i could be, thankfully i got treated and now have a quiet life with my wife and 11 kids

Right? The defense attorney is both paid to fight, and ethically _obligated_ to fight for his client. This show is just ..

@@AndyCutright I also don't get how literally every single defense attorney on this show is amoral or argues for themselves using bad logic that no one would ever use.

@@shadowrobot7708 I disagree! I respect many of the defense attorneys. Arthur Gold, Shambala Green, Danielle Melnick to name a few. All of the above are believable advocates for their client but the idiot in this episode seemed more concerned with his own career than his client's.

@@bull705 his client’s career?

@alexbrown7708 Amber Heards Lawyer lol. Real people this stupid actually exist

I love Serena bat Angie is the best ADA in the show

@@thegangsteroflove6802 ~ 👍 Abbie and Jack were my two favorites...

Abbie bluffing about the case in Houston, forcing him to confess and not be extradited to Texas. Where they "pull the switch" much quicker.

@@fromthehaven94 ~ Yup, I loved it. Do you remember that episode's title?

that was the arian brotherhood dude or neo nazi dude? i know he was white supremacist.

Richie Costa, I believe

And he got what he deserved!

@@bull705 How so? The guy was ambitious and wanted to make a name for himself. He can't help that his own client put him in the situation he was in. And it's the DA and judge to blame for forcefully trying to make him break his oath as a lawyer. Even with a heinous monster, revealing information given to by a client to the police or prosecutor sets a dangerous precedent of how protected privileged information really is between clients and professionals. With Schwimmer, he can gain a reputation that he will give away information you give him. A precedent could be set that the state is allowed to bully and coerce you into give away private information. The guy knew the information was important and wanted to give it away, but he's obligated by his oath as a legal representative to keep all information confidential.

The one thing that annoyed me about law and order is that while it's ok to to have characters have morally grey positions the show often seemed to not have consequences for the good guys

Yes he was- at first I thought he was just insane, but no. He knows his fate is sealed one way or another, so it’s all just a game to him. Probably always was.

Richie Costa, I believe. Was the Chechen Joker fed to the dogs in Dark Knight.

@@michaeldiekmann6494 Ah, I knew it! I just could not place the face...at first!

@@michaeldiekmann6494 I LOVED that Chechen character in the Dark Knight . Man this guy IS talented

@@michaeldiekmann6494 “who’s stupid enough to steal from us” such an underrated line IMO

Criminal defense attorney. No. A/C privilege is the oldest and most sacred of the evidentiary privileges. Counsel is not permitted to circumvent the privilege by "dropping hints" and the like.

He can do it, it just wouldn’t be legal or ethical lol

But isn't withholding evidence a big no no for both sides?

P years ago before John gacy was charged He started losing it mentally. The investigation was affecting him. His attorney was visited by the police after Gacy had a long conversation with him. The only thing Gacy's attorney could say to the cops was do not let him out of your sight. He was concerned Gacy would commit another crime and possibly kill himself at the same time.

they say Gacy had a lot of help..@@carmelopappalardo8477

Perfect performance.

I would take the client's word for it, unless any evidence proves otherwise.

“Sure sure, I’ll be right over” ... “hello 911?”

Seeing the bodies is protected under Attorney Client Privilege. An attorney, much like a therapist; can not disclose confessed prior crimes / incidents. They can only report on prospective future crimes, or crimes that they know are currently in progress. If the Attorney discloses about something confessed to them, by a client; the attorney can be censured, or even disbarred. This nutjob ratted himself out. Even if a JUDGE asked the Attorney about seeing the bodies. The attorney can admit to having knowledge about evidence. But can cover himself with the blanket of Attorney client privilege.

He is a very inexperienced lawyer. He admits this. He just didn't think it through. He made one huge mistake by doing that but didn't want to compound that by violating attorney/client privilege. The moral dilemma for him makes this episode even better.

@@LB-gz3ke No it made it worse since he could have went to the ethics committee for actual advice on how to proceed but no he decided to be a selfish twit.

Yeah no

He already got that

Because without lawyers the state becomes judge, jury and executioner. Think of the worst politician you know and imagine that person having absolute power.

@@davidhoward437 I don't have to imagine - Biden is there in the WH now.

@@mr.d.572 Better than trump though at least 😁

@@joshwarren5059 How? He's destroying everything related to this country and it's foundations. Trump cared about America and this guy cares only about pleasing a radical far left base and a Globalist cabal.

@@mr.d.572 He cared so much that he instigated a mob to storm the capitol and a couple of people died. A saint if you ask me.

Very unique performance

I believe his name is Richie Costner

@@ryanthunderhammer9970 Richie Coster also played a nasty Law & Order Criminal Intent bad guy....a war criminal who kidnapped the family of a man who owed money and raped the daughter. Detectives Goren and Eames busted him.

Which show or movie was he in?

Yandere Fangirl the dark knight

Actor was Richie Costa

Fair.

Yea. Alexander Chaplin. He also played James on the first 4 seasons of Spin City with Michael J. Fox.

He is also Bonnies therapist on Mom

And then Cox did his victory dance when Elliot finally figured out he was conning her for drugs.

And then Cox did his victory dance when Elliot finally figured out he was conning her for drugs.

@@E.JayViera How can a man with the last name of Chaplin be so boring a n actor?

The defense lawyer was no hero, he was an idiot and a jerk. He only became a lawyer because he hated teaching algebra, then basically treats his client as a practice case and a stepping stone. I'm glad the moron got locked up.

@@bull705 I didn’t say the defense lawyer was a hero. But at least when he made a mistake he fell on his own sword and stood by his oath for it. My point was more about McCoy’s massive hypocrisy in sacrificing others to achieve his own goals.

@@strategic1710 Screw falling on the sword! Go to the ethics committee and solve this issue properly.

@@strategic1710 BS! The defense attorney had firsthand knowledge of ADDITIONAL crimes committed by his client, that the client was NOT charged with. As an Officer of the Court, he had a duty to recuse himself, and reveal the information that he had. All he did was make himself an accessory after the fact.

The only time an attorney can break privilege is when the client reveals intent to commit future crimes.

The Lawyer was attempting to admit to crimes to lessen the sentence and remove the possibility of a death penalty. The cutting of the deal would also be a make or break for such an arrogant lawyer and so would’ve pursued it as far and as much as possible

Me too. The original run with Jerry Orbach was golden. I can't stand SVU with its wokeness and pathetic Olivia Benson storylines as if she's Wonder Woman and has no flaws. Same with Criminal Intent with its contrived glitzy/OTT scripts like something out of a Hollywood story.

He went to prison for being an accomplice and for not giving the location of the bodies.

@@travisgoonan7667 he's a lawyer how dumb can he be?

@@GodDiggetyDoodle let me give me a better idea. His client has already been found guilty, he’s getting the death penalty, Mr. McCoy offered the lawyer a get out of jail free card if he reveals the location of the bodies, and he’s practically given permission to break attorney/client privilege since it doesn’t allow the lawyer to cover up a crime. You tell me. That sounds pretty dumb to me to go to prison for that genocidal lunatic.

@@travisgoonan7667 genocidal!? How many people did they kill!!!???

@@yucol5661 dozens

At the end the lawyer refused to brake the attorney client privilege and reveal the location of the bodies and is convicted. McCoy thinks that after couple of days in prison the lawyer will give in, tell him where they are and they will commute his sentence but his boss Arthur Branch suggests that anyone with as strong principles as the lawyer won’t give in. The End. TL;DR The episode ends without the viewer finding out if the lawyer tells.

Nope. Schwimmer took attorney client privilege to the grave.

He stuck to his oath he swore into and went to prison

@@TheMan750 Prison for what? Technically he didnt break any laws

@@TheMartuksxxxx The jury convicted him and he was pointlessly imprisoned.

@@TheMartuksxxxx that doesnt matter. get enough jurors against you for one reason or another and your guilty even if you arent. for a real life example look at the george floyd case. floyd died of a drug overdose while in police custody yet because various.... people decided to cause millions of dollars in damages, and cause many deaths and injuries the officer who was just doing his job gets sent to prison.

That's not how things shook out in the real-world case that this episode was based on. The prosecution argued that exact point and the attorneys in that case were cleared of any legal and ethical wrongdoing. Look up "The Buried Bodies Case" for more information.

No, not at all. I don't know where that lie started, but it's entirely untrue. Likely because what is portrayed in this show is nearly entirely fabricated.

In Norway we had a terrorist, which went to kill 83 people, the defense lawyer for him said that everyone deserves a capable defense attorney, and if not him, whom?

It wasn't so much that they weren't allowed to defend their client but more that their client put them in a position where they were likely to be accused of an ethical violation if they continued to represent them. For example, if a client admits that they committed the crime but says that they will say the exact opposite on the stand, their attorney has every right to bail.

Lawyers in the United States cannot use their authority or expertise to conceal evidence or otherwise interfere in an ongoing investigation on anything other than via court order. Ie. You can't advise people to destroy evidence. You can't conceal the whereabouts of a fugitive of the law. Had the lawyer been an irl lawyer, he would have put the photos in a safe in his office and never directly visited the locations himself. Once a lawyer inserts themselves into the facts of the case - as was done later in this episode - they cannot ethically represent the defense because the lawyer themselves had become a material witness in the case. Now, what ALSO needs to be considered is that a lawyer representing a client may not want to help them at all and must identify themselves as too compromised to objectively provide my legal services to them.

It's insane, but defense lawyers are legally obligated to pretend that their client is innocent even if they have undeniable proof that their client is guilty. Prosecutors can and will also lie profusely by pretending that they know the accused is guilty even when they have no idea if the accused did it or not. Defense lawyers and prosecutors are clowns, made to perform in the theatre of law. The law cares about appearances, it doesn't care much for the truth. One thing defense lawyers can't do, however, is allow their client or witnesses to lie on the stand.

4:18 "because he saw them" wasn't word for word but still said the layer has seen them

That’s exactly what brought me here…. Checking to see if they ever did a follow-up…. Wow….

Absolutely not, for reasons stated during the trial, it would set a horrible standard for case law and be cited in future cases as grounds to "justify" breaking attorney-client privilege. A show as realistic (for tv, anyways) as this would never do such a thing.

@@Nepomniachtchi_Austin Except this isn't attorney-client privilege, this is obstruction. Being a lawyer doesn't excuse you from following the law, and there is obviously laws saying you can't withhold information about a murder.

@@420mralucard Objection. Counsel is grandstanding, your honor.... SUSTAINED.

The lawyer should have just made an anonymous call to the police about where the bodies were

I sort of like Jack bending the law to get justice for those who have been let down by it. Yes it's hypocritical but it's also right

Richard Coster

Alexander Chaplin. He was on the tv sitcom Spin City with Micheal J Fox from 1996-2000

Better than being a Maineiac!

The Laywer did not commit a crime. The information disclosed to him was protected by Attorney/Client Privelage. This is actually based on a famous Legal case known as "The Buried Bodies Case." Two lawyers were defending a murderer and he confessed to them that he had also committed two unrelated murders and told them where the bodies were hidden. After finding the bodies, the two lawyers did not disclose this information to the authorities. Belge (the main attorney int h case) was indicted over violating two Public Health laws by failing to disclose the locations of the dead bodies. The laywers argued that the information was protected by Attorney/Client Privilege, and they were both cleared fo any legal and ethical wrongdoing. That sais, many legal scholars disagree with the outcome of the case, and even though the Appeals court shot down an appeal by the prosecution, they did so while expressing concerns over "limitless Attorney/Client Privilege," and noted that while Lawyers must protect their clients, they should also observe "basic human standards of decency." Furthermore, it's also been argued that Laywers should not be exempt from laws, and that both attorneys violated the law by not reporting decomposing bodies for proper disposal.

Granted, lawyers have screwed up a lot of things in this country. Not to mention many attorneys are crooked as hell. Personally, I don't trust most of them. Unfortunately though, these "legal manipulators" are a necessary "evil"...

@@Deborahtunes Both my grandfathers hated lawyers, especially defence lawyers. One of them was a head master of a boy's high school ( that meant principal in neo independent India, about 70 years back), the other a magistrate. Both didn't allow anyone from their children to become a lawyer. Because it was their belief that lawyers would defend their own daughters' rapists and their parents' murderers for the right price. They didn't want any of their children to be a part of such sick bunch. Can't say they were wrong. 😬

i put lawyers right up there with car salesmen and mechanics on the trust scale...I once saw a lawyer bill a client 7k off of 1 phone call..and yes they are a necessary evil...like files who eat our waste

@@sanjuktachatterjee6807 ~ I can't blame your family either...

everybody hates lawyers, until they need one

Can you telle what happened? I can't find this episode. 🙂

@@wandachristian1884 Do you have Prime video? It's available in Canada, it may be available elsewhere. But I'll tell you what happens if you'd like.

Wouldn’t attorney client priviledge protect him?

@@inferics3602 Yes, but they still charged him with accessory and the jury convicted him. Great episode.

@@inferics3602 It would. But keep in mind that in USA you dont need to do anything against the law for jury to convict you. Technically speaking defence lawyer didnt commit any crimes. But jury disliked him, so made guilty verdict

Nope he learned it from seeing the bodies you do know that right!?