Astacio's lawyer subpoenaed to testify against her

David Andreatta | Democrat and Chronicle

Show Caption Hide Caption Edward Fiandach on being fired and hired in one day Edward Fiandach talks about the few hours he had been fired as Judge Leticia Astacio's attorney.

The case of beleaguered Rochester City Court Judge Leticia Astacio has had more plot twists than a paperback mystery, but the latest may be the most bizarre:

Her lawyer may be compelled to take the stand against her in court.

Ed Fiandach, the lawyer, has been subpoenaed by the prosecution to testify against Astacio during a court hearing Thursday to determine whether she violated a condition of her sentence for her drunken driving conviction.

Astacio is alleged to have refused to take a urinalysis to test for alcohol consumption. Submitting to random court-ordered drug tests and abstaining from alcohol are among the conditions of Astacio’s sentence.

The hearing is slated to begin at 1:30 p.m.

In an interview Thursday, Fiandach said he would ask the court to quash the subpoena. If he were compelled to testify against her, he could no longer be her attorney and the hearing would likely be adjourned to a later date.

Fiandach surmised that the prosecution wants him on the stand in an effort to prove that Astacio was notifed in a timely fashion of her obligation to take a court-ordered ethyl glucuronide test, or ETG test.

The crux of the arguments at the hearing will likely hinge on when Astacio was alerted to the test. The timing is critical because Astacio spent most of May abroad in Thailand and, according to Fiandach, was not aware of the test until shortly before her return.

Prosecutor Zach Maurer said Thursday he subpoenaed Fiandach during the hours-long window earlier in the week in which Fiandach announced that he was no longer representing Astacio. Attorney and client ultimately stayed together.

The subpoena was dated June 6.

He added that he may not call Fiandach to the stand in light of new evidence that he said indicates Astacio was made aware of her obligation to take the test.

The judge overseeing the case, Judge Stephen Aronson, ordered Astacio to take the test after the ignition interlock device on her car registered a high blood-alcohol-content reading on April 29.

It was not clear who blew into the device for that reading, and subsequent re-tests performed by her daughter showed a clean blow. But Aronson said he wanted Astacio to take the urinalysis to alleviate any concern that Astacio may have been drinking.

Fiandach has said in court that he first learned of the mandated urinalysis on May 5 — two days after Astacio arrived in Thailand — and that while he attempted to inform her of the order via cell phone and email, she did not receive his communiques for weeks.

Maurer on Thursday said Fiandach read into the record during a recent court appearance a transcript of correspondence Fiandach had with Astacio while she was overseas that suggested Astacio had, indeed, been aware of the test.

"The likelihood that I would call him as a witness went down significantly after I got this," Maurer said.

Astacio never took the urinalysis and missed a court date in late May that was scheduled to determine the whereabouts of her results. Aronson subsequently issued a warrant for her arrest.

She returned to Rochester last weekend and was brought before Aronson on Monday, who ordered her held without bail until the hearing on Thursday after she declined a plea deal.

That deal, offered by Aronson, would have had Astacio plead guilty to the violation in exchange for a sentence of 45 days in jail, two years of probation and six months of wearing an ankle monitor.

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Fiandach said Thursday that if he were compelled to take the stand he would argue that his communication with Astacio was bound by attorney-client privilege.

Astacio was convicted of drunken driving in August 2016 and sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge. The sentence was later extended to February 2018 after her interlock device found she had been drinking.

DANDREATTA@Gannett.com