Opinion ID: 2329620
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Duty to Deliver

Text: Appellants' first argument is that they had no duty to turn over the rifle stock to the prosecutor until ordered to do so by the court. We reject this argument. Although we have no Pennsylvania cases on point, the decisions in other jurisdictions appear to be virtually unanimous in requiring a criminal defense attorney to deliver physical evidence in his possession to the prosecution without court order. It is true that most of the cases arose in the context of appeals from criminal convictions challenging the effectiveness of counsel who had turned over physical evidence, or in the context of litigation of discovery orders or in the context of contempt proceedings against attorneys who failed to produce evidence. The sole case in which an attorney was charged with a criminal offense resulted in the only holding that the concealed evidence was protected by the attorney-client privilege. We join the overwhelming majority of states which hold that physical evidence of crime in the possession of a criminal defense attorney is not subject to a privilege but must be delivered to the prosecution. In re Gartley, 341 Pa.Super. 350, 491 A.2d 851 (1985), while not directly on point, provides guidance and support for our decision. Although the case was decided after the commission of the offenses charged against appellants herein, this court affirmed the proper execution of a carefully-tailored search warrant to seize a client's business records from an attorney's office. We stated that the use of an attorney's office as a haven for evidence material to an ongoing criminal investigation does not place it beyond the reach of a proper search pursuant to a warrant issued on probable cause; we will not restrain the Commonwealth's efforts to obtain otherwise seizable evidence merely because it has been placed in the hands of an attorney. To hold otherwise would mean that a criminal suspect could shield evidence from discovery by the simple expedient of delivery to an attorney, a result we deem patently unreasonable. Id., 341 Pa.Superior Ct. at 367, 491 A.2d at 860 (emphasis in original). Though the case did not involve the question of whether the attorney had a duty to deliver physical evidence sua sponte, we believe the quoted language provides strong support for our holding in this case. Turning to the law in other jurisdictions, we note the much-quoted case of State v. Olwell, 64 Wash.2d 828, 394 P.2d 681 (1964). A criminal defense attorney had been held in contempt of court following his refusal to answer questions or produce weapons at a coroner's inquest, in defiance of a subpoena duces tecum. The appellate court reversed the finding of contempt, holding that the subpoena was defective on its face for invading the confidential relationship between attorney and client so that refusal to testify against the client was not contemptuous. Id. at 833, 394 P.2d 681. The court went on to state that the attorney was required to produce the weapon on his own motion, and that the jury was not to learn the source of the evidence. We do not, however, by so holding, mean to imply that evidence can be permanently withheld by the attorney under the claim of the attorney-client privilege. Here, we must consider the balancing process between the attorney-client privilege and the public interest in criminal investigation. We are in agreement that the attorney-client privilege is applicable to the knife held by appellant, but do not agree that the privilege warrants the attorney, as an officer of the court, from withholding it after being properly requested to produce the same. The attorney should not be a depository for criminal evidence (such as a knife, other weapons, stolen property, etc.), which in itself has little, if any, material value for the purposes of aiding counsel in the preparation of the defense of his client's case. Such evidence given the attorney during legal consultation for information purposes and used by the attorney in preparing the defense of his client's case whether or not the case ever goes to trial, could clearly be withheld for a reasonable period of time. It follows that the attorney, after a reasonable period, should, as an officer of the court, on his own motion turn the same over to the prosecution. We think the attorney-client privilege should and can be preserved even though the attorney surrenders the evidence he has in his possession. The prosecution, upon receipt of such evidence from an attorney, where charge against the attorney's client is contemplated (presently or in the future), should be well aware of the existence of the attorney-client privilege. Therefore, the state when attempting to introduce such evidence at the trial, should take extreme precautions to make certain that the source of the evidence is not disclosed in the presence of the jury and prejudicial error is not committed. By thus allowing the prosecution to recover such evidence, the public interest is served, and by refusing the prosecution an opportunity to disclose the source of the evidence, the client's privilege is preserved and a balance is reached between these conflicting interests. Id. at 833-34, 394 P.2d 681. We have quoted at length from Olwell because most of the cases which follow cite or quote it and raise the same issues addressed in the above passage. People v. Meredith, 29 Cal.3d 682, 175 Cal.Rptr. 612, 631 P.2d 46 (1981), reached similar conclusions. A murder defendant told his attorney where he had abandoned physical evidence of the crime. The attorney's investigator retrieved the evidence, the attorney examined it and then turned it over to the police, and the evidence was admitted at trial along with testimony of the investigator describing the location of the evidence. On appeal from his conviction, the defendant conceded the admissibility of the physical evidence, but challenged the admissibility of the testimony regarding its location. The court held that the testimony did not violate the attorney-client privilege. When defense counsel alters or removes physical evidence, he necessarily deprives the prosecution of the opportunity to observe that evidence in its original condition or location. . . . To extend the attorney-client privilege to a case in which the defense removed evidence might encourage defense counsel to race the police to seize critical evidence. Id. 175 Cal.Rptr. at 612, 631 P.2d at 46. In People v. Lee, 83 Cal.Rptr. 715, 3 Cal.App.3d 514 (1970), the court also concluded that physical evidence in the possession of an attorney was not privileged. The defendant's wife had given incriminating evidence to his attorney, and the attorney in turn gave it to a third party to hold pending judicial resolution of the proper disposition of the evidence, giving the prosecutor notice of his action. The prosecutor obtained a search warrant from the trial court, seized the evidence and introduced it at trial, together with testimony identifying the defendant's wife as the source. On appeal from his conviction for attempted murder, the court stated that the controlling question is whether the State's seizure of the evidence violated defendant's rights. It did not. [Counsel did not have] the right to withhold the evidence from the State by asserting an attorney-client privilege. It has been held an abuse of a lawyer's professional responsibility knowingly to take possession of and secrete the instrumentalities of a crime. ( In re Ryder, 381 F.2d 713, 714 [4th Cir. 1967].) A defendant in a criminal case may not permanently sequester physical evidence such as a weapon or other article used in the perpetration of a crime by delivering it to his attorney . . . . Although, as the Court held in State v. Olwell, supra , the fact that the client delivered such evidence to his attorney may be privileged, the physical object itself does not become privileged merely by reason of its transmission to the attorney. Id. at 722, 3 Cal.App.3d at 526. The court also approved the testimony regarding the source, for the attorney-client privilege does not protect information coming to the attorney from a third person unless such person is the client's agent. Id. at 723, 3 Cal.App.3d at 527. These California decisions were followed by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on federal habeas corpus review in Clutchette v. Rushen, 770 F.2d 1469 (9th Cir. 1985). The defendant told his attorney where certain evidence was located and the attorney told his investigator to retrieve it; the investigator did so, but gave it directly to the police. The evidence was introduced at trial along with the investigator's description of its location. The court held that neither the sixth amendment right to effective assistance of counsel nor the attorney-client privilege had been violated. The trial court had scrupulously prevented the prosecution from disclosing the source of information leading to discovery of the evidence; the source was privileged but the evidence itself lost its privileged character when the attorney ordered it removed from its original location. The court stated that California law requires that a defense attorney must, after a reasonable time, turn evidence taken from its original resting place over to the prosecution, citing People v. Meredith, supra . The issue in Anderson v. State, 297 So.2d 871 (Fla.App. 1974), was whether an attorney could be required to testify during his client's trial as to the source of stolen property he delivered to the police after receiving it from his client who had been charged with receiving stolen property. The court stated that to require the attorney to testify under these circumstances would be to do violence to the fundamental concept of the attorney-client privilege. . . . Therefore, we hold that [the attorney cannot] be required to divulge the source of the stolen items, and in order for the privilege to be meaningfully preserved, the state cannot introduce evidence that they received the items from [the attorney's] office. Id. at 875. Morrell v. State, 575 P.2d 1200 (Alaska Supreme Ct. 1978), is another direct appeal from a criminal conviction raising the issue of ineffectiveness of trial counsel following his delivery of incriminating physical evidence to the police. A third party had discovered the evidence and brought it to the attorney. Unsure of his duties, he sought guidance from the ethics committee of the state bar association. The committee advised him to return the evidence to the finder, explaining the laws pertaining to concealment of evidence. Counsel did so, and assisted the third party in delivering the evidence to the police. The court held that counsel was not ineffective, stating: As [appellant] notes, authority in this area is surprisingly sparse. The existing authority seems to indicate, however, that a criminal defense attorney has an obligation to turn over to the prosecution physical evidence which comes into his possession, especially where the evidence comes into the attorney's possession through acts of a third party who is neither a client of the attorney nor an agent of a client. After turning over such evidence, an attorney may have either a right or a duty to remain silent as to the circumstances under which he obtained such evidence. . . . Id. at 1207. After reviewing cases involving duties of attorneys in possession of incriminating physical evidence, the court summarized their holdings. From the foregoing cases emerges the rule that a criminal defense attorney must turn over to the prosecution real evidence that the attorney obtains from his client. Further, if the evidence is obtained from a non-client third party who is not acting for the client, then the privilege to refuse to testify concerning the manner in which the evidence was obtained is inapplicable. Id. at 1210. Another case in which defense counsel, who had received physical evidence incriminating his client from a third party, sought the advice of the state bar association ethics committee is Hitch v. Pima County Superior Court, 146 Ariz. 588, 708 P.2d 72 (Supreme Ct. 1985). The committee's opinion advised him he had a legal obligation to deliver the evidence to the prosecution. He informed the court of the evidence and the ethics committee opinion, whereupon the court ordered him to turn over the evidence and to withdraw from the case. His client, prior to trial, appealed that order. The Arizona Supreme Court, referring to Ethical Standard to Guide [A Lawyer] Who Receives Physical Evidence Implicating His Client in Criminal Conduct, proposed by the Ethics Committee of the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association, 29 Crim.L.Rptr. 2465-66 (August 26, 1981), held that the attorney might return the evidence to its source if he could do so without destroying the evidence, or he must turn it over to the prosecution. Counsel's reasonable belief that the third-party source, a friend of the client, might cause destruction or concealment of the evidence necessitated its delivery to the prosecution. The court also rejected the procedure utilized in the District of Columbia whereby such evidence is given to the local bar association for subsequent delivery to the prosecutor. The court believed that such anonymous transmittal would frequently destroy the evidentiary significance of the physical item, which often depends upon where and under what circumstances it was found. Citing People v. Nash, 110 Mich.App. 428, 447, 313 N.W.2d 307, 314 (1981), the court stated that it is simpler and more direct for defendant's attorney to turn the matter over to the state as long as it is understood that the prosecutor may not mention in front of the jury the fact that the evidence came from the defendant or his attorney. Hitch, supra, 708 P.2d at 79. Finding no dereliction in the attorney's representation of his client, the court held that he need not withdraw unless the client [believes] his attorney no longer has his best interest in mind. Id. The only case we have found involving criminal prosecution of an attorney for failure to deliver physical evidence is People v. Belge, 83 Misc.2d 186, 372 N.Y.S.2d 798 (1975). Representing a murder defendant and relying on an insanity defense, counsel investigated his client's claim that he had committed other murders and discovered one of the bodies hidden in a cemetery. He left the body in situ and did not reveal his discovery until his client's trial. After the murder trial, counsel was indicted for the offenses of failure to assure that a decent burial be accorded the dead and failure to report to authorities the death of a person without medical attendance. Not surprisingly, Public indignation reached the fever pitch. . . . A hue and cry went up from the press and other news media. . . . However, the [Constitution] attempts to preserve the dignity of the individual and to do that guarantees him the services of an attorney who will bring to the bar and to the bench every conceivable protection from the inroads of the state against such rights as are vested in the [C]onstitution for one accused of crime. Among those substantial constitutional rights is that a defendant does not have to incriminate himself. His attorneys were bound to uphold that concept and [to] maintain what has been called a sacred trust of confidentiality. 372 N.Y.S.2d at 801-02. The court held that counsel had conducted himself as an officer of this Court with all the zeal at his command to protect the constitutional rights of his client, id. at 803, and dismissed the indictment. The court did state, however, that the attorney's conduct in balancing his client's rights against the public interest in the administration of justice was, in a sense, obstruction of justice. The court believed the grand jury was grasping at straws, and that if instead of charging the attorney with violation of a pseudo-criminal statute, it had charged him with obstruction of justice under a proper statute, the court would have been faced with a much more difficult decision. Id. With the exception of Belge, id., the foregoing cases provide a consistent body of law, which we adopt. To summarize, a criminal defense attorney in possession of physical evidence incriminating his client may, after a reasonable time for examination, return it to its source if he can do so without hindering the apprehension, prosecution, conviction or punishment of another and without altering, destroying or concealing it or impairing its verity or availability in any pending or imminent investigation or proceeding. Otherwise, he must deliver it to the prosecution on his own motion. In the latter event, the prosecution is entitled to use the physical evidence as well as information pertaining to its condition, location and discovery but may not disclose to a fact-finder the source of the evidence. We thus reject appellants' contention that their conduct was proper and that they had no duty to deliver the rifle stock to the prosecution until they were ordered to do so.