news-record.com

In a 2003 case, the N.C. Supreme Court stated what we all want to believe: "The primary goal of our adversarial system of justice is to ascertain the truth in any legal proceeding."

But for nearly 20 years, a public defender couldn’t tell what he thought was the truth about a double murder, even though his silence could be keeping an innocent man in prison.

Staples Hughes represented Jerry Cashwell, one of three men charged with two slayings in Fayetteville in 1984. Cashwell confided to Hughes that he acted alone. He was convicted, sentenced to two life sentences and died in prison in 2002.

Cashwell’s co-defendants also were found guilty, one on lesser charges. Kenneth Wayne West got three years, but Lee Wayne Hunt is still serving two life sentences.

Hughes said nothing about Cashwell’s confession because of attorney-client privilege, which prohibits a lawyer from revealing confidential information that might harm his client’s interests. Even after his conviction, Cashwell deserved protection from disclosures that could hamper potential appeals.

Hughes finally stepped forward in 2004, contacting a Chapel Hill attorney who tries to help the falsely convicted. Hughes’ statements formed part of the basis for a new appeal by Hunt.

The effort didn’t succeed. A Superior Court judge last year rejected Hughes’ testimony as inadmissible hearsay and reported him to the State Bar for breaking attorney-client confidentiality. In January, the N.C. Supreme Court refused to hear Hunt’s new appeal.

Hughes received better news: The State Bar dismissed the complaint against him. It should have. In its 2003 ruling in a similar case, the Supreme Court said that when attorney-client communication involves the interests of a third party and doesn’t harm the client, the privilege isn’t absolute. Cashwell is beyond further legal consequences now.

Hughes did the right thing at the right time. If he has found the truth, it should be used in the cause of justice.