As this court has twice recently held, "an indigent probationer is entitled to counsel at a hearing involving revocation of probation as well as at the time of sentencing, absent valid waiver of right to counsel." Mullins v. State, 438 So.2d 908 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983); Smith v. State, 427 So.2d 773, 774 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). In Smith, we specifically declined to adopt the rule of Gagnon v. Scarpelli, 411 U.S. 778, 93 S.Ct. 1756, 36 L.Ed.2d 656 (1973), which accords counsel to an indigent probationer only when he denies having committed the alleged violation or when other substantially complicated reasons justify or mitigate a violation and make revocation inappropriate.
The public defender was appointed as a result of Hooper's affirmative answer. By that time, however, the public defender filed a motion to withdraw his client's admission of guilt and to set a final evidentiary hearing, citing as authority Smith v. State, 427 So.2d 773, 774 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983), wherein the court said, "We do not believe the right to counsel should be contingent upon appellant denying the charges or presenting a substantially complicated case." On the day of the sentencing hearing, after the court denied the foregoing motion, Hooper explained he had absconded because someone had stolen his car during his incarceration; his life had been threatened several times; there had been attempts to run him over; there was to be no pay, from the job he had taken, for four months; that he could not find another job; and that his probation officer said she could not help him after his life had been threatened.
The court did appoint the public defender to represent Swift on appeal. In Smith v. State, 427 So.2d 773 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983), this court held that a probationer is entitled to counsel at a revocation hearing even if he does not wish to deny the charges. See also Van Cleaf v. State, 328 So.2d 568 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976).
We agree, set aside his plea of guilty to charges relating to violation of his probation, the revocation of probation and the sentence imposed as a result thereof. In Smith v. State, 427 So.2d 773 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983), this court reiterated the principle that "an indigent probationer is entitled to counsel at a hearing involving revocation of probation as well as at the time of sentencing, absent valid waiver of right to counsel." See also Herrington v. State, 207 So.2d 323 (Fla. 2d DCA 1968).