Van der Sloot sues former attorney

Joran Van der Sloot is suing the attorney who represented him during the police interrogation regarding the killing of a Peruvian woman.

Joran Van der Sloot's new attorney Maximo Altez told the Associated Press that his client has filed a suit against Luz Romero Chinchay, who represented Joran in his initial interrogating where he admitted to killing a Peruvian woman. Altez contends that Romero Chinchay misrepresented herself claiming to be a public defendant when in reality she is a private attorney. Altez stated that he could not find her name on a list of public defenders from the Ministry of Justice. In a released statement Altez stated, "We have searched the name of Luz Romero Chinchay in the list of public defenders provided by the Ministry of Justice and her name was not on that list. We do not know why the police called this lawyer. We want to know who paid for her because my client did not." Peruvian law permits for a public defender in the event the defendant has no other representation. Altez has also filed a similar suit against Col. Miguel Canlla, who led the interrogation of Van der Sloot. On June 25th, Joran filed a motion to dismiss his confession claiming it was done under duress. Police claim that Van der Sloot confessed on June 7th to the murder of Stephany Flores on May 30th in a Lima hotel room.