Quote:
Originally Posted by RP
She's most likely not be represented because as far as I can see, no charges have been filed. But even is she was, what competent DA in this country would allow her to release her own statements?
None.
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1. District and state attorneys don't represent criminal victims personally (they represent all the citizens of the state or district) and so cannot give legal advice to individuals, let alone control their conduct, regardless if they're criminal victims.
2. No attorney, whether they're representing a client personally in a civil or criminal matter, can control the conduct of their clients. Under the rules of professional conduct an attorney can only inform clients as to the likely consequences of certain conduct and advise for or against the client choosing to take certain actions or engage in certain conduct.
In this case, if she had one, the only thing this woman's attorney could do is inform her of the likely consequences of her releasing any statements, offer to write (or at least assist in writing, and releasing) a statement on her behalf, advise her as to whether or not she should release a statement, inform her that if she chose to ignore said advice, the attorney may choose to terminate the attorney-client relationship, and finally, if she did ignore the advice, the attorney could then actually take action to terminate the attorney-client relationship.