A lawyer for Annette Livingston — the legal secretary who was released from prison last month after her conviction for the murder of prominent attorney Shirley Playfair was overturned — is asking the media to respect his client's privacy at this moment.

"My instructions are that she isn't doing any interviews now," said Raphael Codlin. "I wish to ask the media to remember that this woman has been incarcerated for 12 years."

The 55-year-old Livingston was released from prison on Christmas Eve.

Her release followed the quashing of her murder conviction by the United Kingdom-based Privy Council in October and the subsequent decision by Director of Public ProsecutionPaula Llewellyn to not prosecute her a second time over the murder of the prominent attorney.

Livingston, 61-year-old taxi driver Ashley Ricketts of Maxfield Avenue, and Ramone Drysdale were convicted in April 2003 — three years after Playfair's throat was slashed at her Seymour Avenue office in St Andrew on April 13, 2000.

The prosecution led evidence that the three participated in a plan to murder Playfair.

They subsequently appealed to Jamaica's appellate court, which reduced Livingston's and Drysdale's sentences. At the same time, the court replaced Ricketts' murder conviction with manslaughter and his sentence to 20 years' imprisonment. He was originally sentenced to life with the possibility of release after serving 45 years.

But Livingston and Drysdale took their case to the Privy Council where Livingston's conviction and sentence were quashed on October 22. However, Drysdale was not so lucky as his application for special leave to appeal his conviction and sentence was turned down.