Legal Ethics
Lawyer Defends Forwarding Admirer’s Revealing Photo to Inmate
Posted May 29, 2009, 07:42 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The lawyer for a Texas inmate facing a possible death sentence is defending a photo she forwarded to him from a bare-breasted admirer.
Vivian King, part of the defense team for convicted killer Robert Fratta, testified Wednesday that the photo was one of dozens of e-mails and letters sent to her office by Fratta’s supporters, the Houston Chronicle reports. She said she asked Fratta to look through the documents to see if they were helpful, and she didn’t realize he had kept several photos from women.
Even so, King said she saw nothing wrong with the revealing photo, which showed the woman exposing one breast. “I don’t think it is inappropriate,” she said. “And I don’t think he’s done anything wrong.”
Judge Belinda Hill ruled jurors considering whether to impose the death penalty could see the photos but would not be told of how Fratta obtained them, ABC13 Eyewitness News reports.
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