Andrade v. State

¶1Gwendy Andrade appeals an order revoking her probation. We affirm.

¶2While testifying at the hearing on revocation of probation, defendant-appellant Andrade stated that she had failed to appear in court on a particular date because her then-counsel told her not to. Later, the State called the former attorney as a witness, who denied giving any such advice.

¶3On this appeal, defendant contends that this testimony was given in violation of the attorney-client privilege. We disagree.

¶4Assuming for present purposes that the point is preserved for appellate review,* we entirely agree with the trial court that the defendant had waived the attorney-client privilege on this particular issue when she testified that her failure to appear was based on the advice of her previous counsel. See § 90.507, Fla. Stat. (2000) (holder of the privilege waives it through voluntary disclosure); Hoyas v. State, 456 So.2d 1225, 1228-29 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984); see also Reed v. State, 640 So.2d 1094, 1096-97 (Fla.1994); Wilson v. Waimuright, 248 So.2d 249, 250 (Fla. 1st DCA 1971).