So... someone confesses murder to you

[Slargos]

I wonder if this thread would exist if the story was about some guy throwing someone overboard because of an argument over cards or something, rather than Tah Gay Panic?

I suspect....not.

You can't generalize like that. 

Homophone.

[Caliga]

I wouldn't go to the police, because

a) The only "proof" I would have is some old man's word, who may be suffering from Alzheimer's;

b) All the police could do is question the guy and get the same "proof", which isn't really proof.

Under normal circumstances you can't convict someone of a crime simply because they claim to have done something.... at least not in this country (and probably not Canada either).

[Barrister]

I wouldn't go to the police, because

a) The only "proof" I would have is some old man's word, who may be suffering from Alzheimer's;

b) All the police could do is question the guy and get the same "proof", which isn't really proof.

Under normal circumstances you can't convict someone of a crime simply because they claim to have done something.... at least not in this country (and probably not Canada either).

Sure you can.

[Caliga]

  Really?

So if I go into a police station and say "I killed John Doe" despite there being no evidence I did so or that John Doe even exists, I can go to jail?

[PDH]

Really?

So if I go into a police station and say "I killed John Doe" despite there being no evidence I did so or that John Doe even exists, I can go to jail?

I would demand you fucking hang.

[Valmy]

So if I started having paranoid dellusions I killed somebody named Sally Henrietta Olafson and I confessed it to the cops they would prosecute even if they had no record of somebody named Sally Henrietta Olafson actually being murdered?

[Berkut]

So if I started having paranoid dellusions I killed somebody named Sally Henrietta Olafson and I confessed it to the cops they would prosecute even if they had no record of somebody named Sally Henrietta Olafson actually being murdered?

BB would prosecute at least!

[Malthus]

Really?

So if I go into a police station and say "I killed John Doe" despite there being no evidence I did so or that John Doe even exists, I can go to jail?

I would demand you fucking hang.

Better to demand that he hang while fucking.

[Slargos]

Really?

So if I go into a police station and say "I killed John Doe" despite there being no evidence I did so or that John Doe even exists, I can go to jail?

I would demand you fucking hang.

Better to demand that he hang while fucking.

Oh no he diddin. 

[PDH]

I would demand you fucking hang.

Better to demand that he hang while fucking.

Why do you hate David Carradine

edit - FUCK, beat by 11 seconds!

[Slargos]

I would demand you fucking hang.

Better to demand that he hang while fucking.

Why do you hate David Carradine

You're getting slow, old man. 

[Malthus]

I would demand you fucking hang.

Better to demand that he hang while fucking.

Why do you hate David Carradine

You're getting slow, old man. 

I guess you can't - hang about - when posting. 

[Martinus]

Regarding Martim Silva's post, I think there is a confusion about two issues here.

For example in Poland you have a difference between "ordinary" client-lawyer privilege and criminal defense lawyer privilege.

If the information is something you found out when providing ordinary out-of-court legal advice for your client, then in exceptional cases you may be required to testify in criminal cases.

This is quite different from the situation when you find out about some information while acting in your capacity as the client's defender in a criminal case - in a situation like this, you cannot be required to testify under any circumstances.

I suspect the situation may be similar in Portugal, and Martim Silva is confusing the two situations.

[The Brain]

Martim Silva is confusing the two situations.

No offense but I find this unlikely in the extreme.

[Martinus]

And also, there is a third situation - when the client tells a lawyer he or she intends to commit one of the listed serious felonies - then the lawyer is required to report that.