Does an attorney need consent to represent someone?

Factual Questions
1

I’m going to try to make this as general as I can. Let’s say that someone gets a desk appearance ticket* for a misdemeanor. They don’t show up for court on the appointed day. There’s a public defender type assigned to the courtroom for the day - can he or she ethically represent the “no-show” in any way without the consent of the no-show?

  • a ticket issued by the police directing a person to go to court on a specified day for an offense which could have instead been handled by the person being taken into custody until they are arraigned.
2

Under the circumstances you describe, no, an attorney cannot just step in an represent the client.

Judges may sometimes appoint defense counsel against a defendant’s wishes if the defendant is incompetent or if the defendant is acting as his own attorney (“pro se”) but is unable to comply with the court’s rules or to give himself even remotely competent advice.