Is it legal for a lawyer to file false affidavits?

[MiguelT]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NJ

Due to some confusion on the previous thread due entirely to my own fault for not having all of the info on my case before posting I'm reposting it under a different title.

To put it shortly, on a post conviction relief my attorney filed an affidavit on behalf of my old attorney that had handled the original case. I was supposed to show it to my old attorney, but was still waiting on the file from my current attorney and hadn't had the time to pursue it. It turns out my previous attorney hadn't even seen the affidavit, and the prosecutor had to read it to him over the phone. He had never signed or notarized it, but it was filed in his name regardless by my lawyer who's just been doing one strange shady thing after another. Understandably this has caused some problems with the prosecutor when it turned out that some of the information on the affidavit was in his opinion not correct, and they're now telling him that if the post conviction relief does go through that they'll be prosecuting the original case to the fullest extent of the law. I'm aware they entirely have the right to do so, but my lawyer filing a false affidavit certainly hasn't helped.

In the filing my attorney had noted that although the included documents weren't signed and notarized that they'd been agreed to by the parties and would be available upon request after receipt. Obviously this has turned out to be false.

Is it legal for an attorney to do this? It seems really really... strange to me.

 

[Isis1]

What about the affidavit is false? Was it written by the attorney and signed by you? Was it written by you and signed by you? Was it written by the attorney and signed by the attorney? What has your new attorney said about the matter?

 

[MiguelT]

What about the affidavit is false? Was it written by the attorney and signed by you? Was it written by you and signed by you? Was it written by the attorney and signed by the attorney? What has your new attorney said about the matter?

What about the affidavit is false? Was it written by the attorney and signed by you? Was it written by you and signed by you? Was it written by the attorney and signed by the attorney? What has your new attorney said about the matter?

It was written by my current attorney and signed by no one, although it has a space for my old attorney to sign and a spot for notarizing. It's a certificate of ineffective counsel, there are some parts that make my old attorney look bad and there are a few points noted that are not entirely accurate in the point of view of my old attorney. Regardless of what's factual, in his opinion it is false and rightly so should never have been filed on his behalf.

My new attorney called me after the prosecutor talked to him, but he was very misleading about what had actually happened. He said the prosecutor was angry because my old attorney wasn't verifying what had happened and would prosecute the case to the fullest extent of the law. He told me that he'd sent my old attorney the affidavit, which is not true, and omitted anything else. He never let me know he'd filed an unsigned affidavit and that this was most likely the root of the issue, he recommended that I pull the post conviction relief petition and consult with an immigration attorney (long story) because we could always refile at a later date. I only found out about the affidavit being filed unsigned after a copy of the case filing arrived at my house a week after that conversation.

 

[Isis1]

If it's not signed, it's completely worthless. Regardless if it's factual or not.

 

[MiguelT]

I completely agree, but is there any ethical or legal resource I can pursue or are attorneys able to file documents on behalf of others in hopes of the documents not being verified by the court?

 

[Isis1]

You could report him to the state bar and THEY can determine if the action was unethical.

Just keep in mind, this will have no bearing on the outcome of YOUR criminal matter.

 

[MiguelT]

Thanks very much for your replies, I know that it won't affect my case but I'll be contacting the state BAR so that they can decide whether or not anything unethical happened.