Ethics test

[MoJoe13]

Here's the scenario: You are called to testify in a murder trial. The method of performing a certain illusion is critical to the case, and one of the lawyers asks you to reveal the method. The judge has allowed cameras in the courtroom and denied your request to not answer the question. So, what do you do?

Thanks for your help with the above poll. I'm asking because I have a fiction story in mind. I think I know what my main character is going to do, but it's a slightly different situation. Nevertheless, I'm wondering what you all would do.

Thanks again!
~mojoe

 

[S3al]

I'm a rebel, I voted not to tell. Besides, I have no faith (well I should not say no faith, maybe very little faith) in the system any way.

 

[Jakeh]

I'd not answer.

And isn't this the same sorta thing that happened in The Prestige?

 

[MoJoe13]

I'd not answer.

And isn't this the same sorta thing that happened in The Prestige?

The Prestige, while a great movie and even better book, never featured a magician compelled to tell the truth in a court of law under oath. To the best of my research (albeit limited), that has never happened in the American judicial system.

 

[Close-Up Expert]

I have a hunch that if any of you were faced with jail time, you'd ball like babies and immediately tell all the ins and outs of a certain illusion. And besides, if it's a murder trial, that is way more important than some magic trick...no?!

-Steve

 

[CDarklock]

I'd tell every detail. I'm a law geek; I hang around online with a lot of lawyers.

A shocking proportion of them are magicians. So, I'm told, are a great many Federal circuit court judges.

And since that's pretty much the entire audience of the transcripts and video of the case, the risk of exposure is miniscule. The general public simply doesn't care. Can you imagine trying to get the public excited about the method of a magic trick being revealed? "Ooh! The outcome of the case rests on the decision of a magician to obey the law, or his secret club's code of ethics! Oooooohh!" Nobody cares. Half the public doesn't even know what ethics are.

Now, your story, on the other hand... that has a much larger audience. I'd structure it like a trick in and of itself, where the explanation is given, containing the relevant information that allows justice to be served - but in the end, the explanation proves to be wrong. Indeed, the trick as explained in the courtroom doesn't work. The real secret is something else.

 

[jimbowmanjr]

Hm...

Spill the beans on the method behind an illusion...

or!

Go to jail for contempt of court and possibly risk letting a murder suspect go free

Tough call there

You guys can talk it up on an internet forum but when faced with the choice between jail time and revealing a secret that you very likely don't even own in the first place you would give it up without blinking an eye. This isn't a test of ethics.

A better test of ethics would be the following:

A good friend of yours decides to release an effect he has recently come up with and not fully tested. You also know for a fact that a large part of the routine itself was "borrowed" from another routine that your friend actually saw prior to coming up with his current effect. Knowing full well that the history behind this effect is going to come out eventually....

Do you:

A. Tell you friend that he shouldn't release it and do everything you can to stop him from releasing it privately
B. Tell your friend that it looks great and you can't wait to roll around in the money with him
C. Tell the guy that he "borrowed" said routine from that his original routine is about to get ripped off in large part
D. [insert custom response here]

--Jim

 

[The Dark Angel]

Hm...

Spill the beans on the method behind an illusion...

or!

Go to jail for contempt of court and possibly risk letting a murder suspect go free

Tough call there

I agree 100%.

There is no circumstance that I can think of where protecting the secrets of an illusion would be more important than helping solve a murder.

 

[supernaturalone]

Tell everything in a forthright manner.

Create a new method that when performed cancels out the old.

 

[mattjones]

And isn't this the same sorta thing that happened in The Prestige?

Yes.


How good is the illusion you're about to expose?

 

[b.boulton]

The Law is the Law...and it's there for a reason.
Somone's life is in your hands, you better tell all you know!

You can ask for a temporary gag order to stop the cameras.


-Brad

PS You last 2 questions are pretty much the same.

 

[AceOfSpades2662]

As stated before this is basically the same thing as what happened in the movie "The Prestige."

In the magicians case it was an incredible illusion for the laypeople in that time. If I were him I would reveal it but with as little publicity as possible. (Which would be very difficult in this time period but maybe easier back then)

I do not know about most of the laws in the courtroom so my definite opinion would come after I learned all I could learn about how I could handle this properly without exposing it to everyone.

But if it meant saving someone's life..............

Nothing is more important than that, no matter to illusion or effect.


Michael

 

[adjones]

I would tell them. Finding someone guilty or non guilty of murder is way more important that a few people knowing the secret to a magic trick.

 

[Sergey]

I put the second one, tell them what the need to know, but not the whole thing, and then everyone is happy!

 

[scubaboy04]

This did happen, but not in a murder trial. John Nevil Maskelyene (spelling?) had copyrighted a certain method of escaping from a trunk i believe, and when he sued someone for stealing his method, they ordered him to reveal how he did it, in order prove that the other person had indeed copied him. he refused, and his case was thrown out of court. if you want to know the whole story, read Hiding the Elephant by Jim Steinmeyer. Great book

 

[Ben Long]

Hmmm...

Wut be ethicks?

But seriously, sounds like a kickass idea. Let us know how it plays out!

 

[elitespart]

Prestige! Good movie. If you're a professional magician and this is your signature illusion then it'd probably be hard to let go. Me, I'd probably reveal the illusion but obviously it's hard to say for sure until I'm actually in the situation.