In re Armani

Robert Garrow kidnapped and murdered four young campers. Garrow was captured after a 12-day manhunt. By that time, one body had been found, and Garrow was charged with murder. Attorneys Frank Armani and Francis Belge (the lawyers) were appointed to defend Garrow. Garrow told the lawyers he had killed three other people. Another body had already been found, and Garrow told the lawyers how to find the bodies of the two missing campers. The lawyers located and took photographs of the bodies but did not disclose to the authorities, the media, or the campers’ families the fact that Garrow had murdered the campers or the location of the bodies. The distraught parents of one of the two missing young women pleaded with the lawyers to help them locate their daughter. The lawyers told the parents they could not tell them anything. The bodies of the two missing campers were eventually found by passersby. Garrow was tried for the first murder, pleaded insanity, and testified about all four murders. It was disclosed that the lawyers had known about the two missing bodies months before the bodies were discovered. The public was shocked by the lawyers’ silence, and the conduct of the lawyers was investigated by the grand jury. The lawyers submitted claims for compensation in excess of the statutory maximum based on the unusual amount of time they spent defending Garrow and the damage to their law practices occasioned by the public’s outcry over their silence.