I agree with you but defense atty's can acknowledge the victim in a respectful way IMO and still represent their client aggressively.
The fact that Pattis is unable to even extend a brief acknowledgment to children and family of missing mother JD says to me that his case is quite weak at this point. Its an interesting dilemma for a defense atty, but I see a real risk here that Pattis has IMO an unlikable and seemingly untrustworthy client who had demonstrated no care or concern for his missing wife or the impact of this situation his family since this first started.
If Pattis doesn't do something himself to explain how tragic this situation is and how rough this must be for the children then not only will the public continue to hate and not trust his client but they will dislike the person speaking on behalf of this unlikable client and tune him out as many already have done. We have seen some defense atty's masterfully walk this line for clients who are total monsters, but Pattis seems incapable of expressing any level of humanity in this case IMO. Will be interesting to see if this changes in his strategy but given his past history I doubt it.