The lawyer of the woman accusing Nelly of rape is now also saying that the rapper and his team have attacked her so harshly in the media that it meets the definition of a crime. According to TMZ, the alleged victim’s attorney, Karen Koehler, sent a letter to prosecutors describing the response of Nelly’s team in the wake of his arrest as “morally reprehensible” and “criminal.”
While Nelly and his associates have been vehement in their denial of the assault accusation, with Nelly’s attorney calling his accuser “a person with an agenda and clearly she has one. The agenda is money, fame, and notoriety,” Koehler claims that his statement constitutes bullying a witness in her letter, saying, “It is morally reprehensible for an accused person and his bully lawyer to issue derogatory and defamatory statements against a young alleged rape victim. It is also criminal — in the State of Washington — when those vicious attacks are issued in the form of threats.”
Koehler also included the Washington statutes for intimidating a witness, which is a Class B felony there. The Washington State legislature defines “intimidation” as attempting to influence the testimony of a witness or convince the witness not to testify. Meanwhile, “threat” is defined pretty broadly, as one can be communicated both directly and indirectly and is “any other act which is intended to harm substantially the person threatened.”
