Illegal bribery [Content of case entrustment]

When a client hires a lawyer, the purpose is to hope that the lawyer will protect his or her own rights and interests. Clients in criminal cases naturally hope that the lawyer can reduce or exempt the defendants involved in the case from criminal liability. If the client makes some reasonable requests to the lawyer, such as investigation and evidence collection, application for re-identification, etc., the lawyer should try to satisfy the client's request within the reasonable and legal scope based on the actual circumstances of the specific case.

However, in daily life, some clients require lawyers to adopt some unreasonable and illegal means to achieve the purpose of representation or defense, which will push lawyers into the abyss of illegal crimes. For such clients, lawyers must remain highly vigilant and strictly refuse to represent them during case negotiations.

According to Article 306 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China :

In criminal proceedings, defenders or agents ad litem who destroy or forge evidence, help parties destroy or forge evidence, threaten or induce witnesses to change their testimony contrary to the facts or commit perjury shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention; if the circumstances are serious, they shall be sentenced to three years to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years but not more than seven years. If the witness testimony or other evidence provided, presented or quoted by the defender or litigation agent is untrue and is not intentionally forged, it does not constitute forged evidence.

This law is a crime specifically designed to target defense lawyers' authority to investigate and collect evidence. It has also become a legal tool for public prosecutors and judicial organs to retaliate against lawyers, and has become the "Sword of Damocles" hanging over the heads of criminal lawyers. This law has been strongly opposed by the legal profession and lawyers since the day it was promulgated, and the debate over its existence and repeal has always existed, resulting in judicial practice where lawyers dare not take on criminal cases, collect evidence, or go all out to fight against the prosecution. Negative impact.

In practice, cases in which lawyers are prosecuted and tried for the crime of obstructing evidence also occur from time to time. Although most of the lawyers involved are found not guilty, such cases have a negative impact on the personal freedom, psychological harm and even the development of the entire legal profession of the lawyers involved. Negative impact. Of course, according to reality, because the lawyer caused the appraiser to make a false identification, which in turn caused the defendant to escape criminal responsibility, the lawyer was punished accordingly.

In practice, Faster Lawyer recommends that when a lawyer encounters a client who hopes to reduce his sentence through illegal bribery, he should consider:

• Inform the client that bribery is illegal. A lawyer's duty is to protect the client's legitimate rights and interests, rather than to use illegal means to fight for them.
• If a lawyer affects the outcome of a case through unreasonable means, it will violate industry disciplines. The lighter case may be punished, and the serious case may bear corresponding penalties.