Facts: Defendant repeatedly stabs his girlfriend and she makes statements that night identifying him as the actor. There is also other evidence linking him to the assault. He has an appointed attorney on his Agg. Assault charge.

I'll never understand this but the victim loves him and is doing everything she can to sabotage the criminal case. She has hired "herself" an attorney who contacted our office and informed us that we do not have permission to speak with his "client." I know that this attorney has also visited the defendant in jail on at least one occasion. I do not know if he had the permission of the appointed attorney to do this.

Through recorded jail calls between the victim and the defendant I know this attorney's grand plan. They are going to assert that she lied the night of the incident and have her plead the 5th in trial to avoid incriminating herself on the charge of false report to a P/O. Their jail calls blatantly show that their collective (lawyer, defendant, victim) motive is only to remove her as a witness for the state, not to actually protect her 5th amendment rights.

This attorney is so clueless he has no idea how easy it will be to compel her testimony through immunity, but I'm thinking there have got to be some larger ethical issues with this.