Case Name: Dorothy BUTLER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1996-05-01
Citations: 672 So. 2d 653
Docket Number: No. 95-0856
Parties: Dorothy BUTLER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: WARNER and FARMER, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 672
Pages: 653–653

Head Matter:
Dorothy BUTLER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 95-0856.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
May 1, 1996.
Richard L. Jorandby, Public Defender, and Anthony Calvello, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General,' Tallahassee, and Joseph A. Tringali, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

Opinion:
GUNTHER, Chief Judge.
Appellant seeks reversal of her criminal conviction because the trial court denied her attorney's motion to withdraw. The assistant public defender asked the court to review the fact that the public defender had previously defended three of the state's witnesses in the present case, and to determine whether there was a conflict of interest. It is for counsel to determine and state that she has a conflict of interest. See Guzman v. State, 644 So.2d 996 (Fla.1994); § 27.53(3), Fla.Stat. (1993). The court is in no position to do so, as the confidentialities existing between counsel and her former clients are not known to the court.
Here counsel's motion did not state categorically that there were hostile and irreconcilable conflicts between the interests of appellant and the three witnesses the public defender had represented. We find no error on the part of the trial court in denying counsel's motion to withdraw.
We also find no merit in other issues raised on appeal.
AFFIRMED.
WARNER and FARMER, JJ., concur.