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Gaines v. State

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District
Mar 21, 2007
949 So. 2d 258 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2007)

Opinion

No. 4D05-4700.

January 31, 2007. Rehearing Denied March 21, 2007.

Appeal from the Circuit Court, Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County, Cynthia Imperato, J.

Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Alan T. Lipson, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Laura Fisher Zibura, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.


Claiming revocation was based solely on hearsay, Tiffany Gaines appeals a final order revoking her community control and imposing a sentence of seventy-six months in prison. We affirm.

Gaines' probation officer filed an affidavit of violation, noting nine separate dates that Gaines allegedly failed to remain confined to her residence, the Women in Distress center. In support of these absences, the state presented admissible hearsay, in the form of the center's sign-out logs redacted to protect the confidentiality of other shelter residents. The probation officer's direct testimony was that Gaines was absent without consent each time. On the stand, Gaines admitted that she had signed out of the center two of the nine times, although she denied that the other logged absences were hers.

We do not consider another incident explained by a visit to an emergency room.

Hearsay is admissible in a revocation hearing but cannot be the sole basis. E.G. v. State, 675 So.2d 192, 193 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996). Here, we have Gaines' admissions to support the probation officer's testimony.

TAYLOR, J. and COLBATH, JEFFREY, Associate Judge, concur.


Summaries of

Gaines v. State

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District
Mar 21, 2007
949 So. 2d 258 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2007)
Case details for

Gaines v. State

Case Details

Full title:Tiffany GAINES, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee

Court:District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District

Date published: Mar 21, 2007

Citations

949 So. 2d 258 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2007)