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Comment by londons_explore | Hacker News Reader

If I were the judge in this case, I would be looking to throw this lawyer in prison for a month, and ban him from ever being a lawyer again...

Deliberately lying to the court, as a professional who should understand the consequences, in a way likely to not be detected, and likely to change the outcome of the case, ought to be met with a really strict punishment.

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It's not clear he deliberately lied. He plausibly misunderstood a new tool he had recently been introduced to.

As a lawyer, though, he has a responsibility for the contents of his filings. And there are legal standards for how to research and verify these things — which he didn't follow.

And he didn't bother to verify the facts before he presented them in court? That's scientifically/logically/professionally unsound and irresponsible.

But it’s not deliberately lying

If you sign you name under "I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct." then you absolutely have an obligation to check that your facts are correct.

Then no one would ever sign. That's why it says "to the best of my knowledge" as part of the statement.

I am curious if an architect or an engineer did this for a design and submitted this, would we extend to them the same "reasonable" explanation and excuse, especially if someone's life was put on the line.

Interestingly, it's exactly the same in court! People's lives are put on the line all the time, and lawyers also sometimes flat out lie. This just further indicts the current legal system because it doesn't really "work" but it's just that the mistakes are often covered-up enough until most people forget about them and move on to something else.

"Your honour, I am not a cat"

Ohhh, yes. Perhaps ChatGPT could be coaxed into writing that decision for the judge? Seems like poetic justice...

Punishment is not technically the point of prisons. Your unhinged comment will pass as normal to so many people who think punishment is the point and that's scary as hell.

At least in the US, I would argue your reply is not totally correct. The US has a long history of not really knowing if it wants prison to be punishment, rehabilitation, or both.

Punishment is absolutely one purpose of prisons. Your unhinged comment will pass as normal to many people who don’t believe in retribution, and that’s why you all belong in Hell.

Insane comment to put your real name on, Noah! You realize this will show up when people Google you?

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