TAMPA, Fla. — Judge Christopher Sabella approved the public defender’s motion to withdraw from the Michael Keetley murder trial.
Before making his decision, Sabella asked Keetley if he had any opposition to the public defender asking to be removed from the trial.
“Yes, I do,” Keetley responded.
Since Keetley opposed, Sabella asked to hear the reason why the public defender wanted to be removed from the case.
“I still have a concern, but I don’t want to speculate what the reason will be,” Sabella said.
Rocky Brancato explained to the court there is a professional conflict of interest. Brancato referred to the 2016 case of Young vs. State of Florida. Michael Young, who was on trial for second-degree murder, asked the court to deny his assistant public defender's motion to withdraw based upon a conflict of interest. The motion to withdraw was denied after counsel failed to provide details of what those conflicts could be.
After reviewing the Young vs. State case, Sabella explained there are “a number of reasons, including the fact that this court has had a long relationship with the public defender's office.”
Keetley was not happy with the decision and he made an attempt to explain his concerns. Sabella advised him to not say anything during the hearing that can jeopardize his case going forward.
“I don't want you to reveal these things,” Sabella said to Keetley. “I have faith, and I trust the public defender's office can hear in their motion that whatever the reason was it constituted a conflict that affected their ability to continue to represent you.”
“I don't want to know what you discussed with them,” Sabella said. “I don't want to know what you disclose to them because that is subject to attorney-client privilege. I accept their representation. I trust their decision, and I granted their motion to withdraw.”
Sabella then appointed Christopher Bolt to the case. Bolt and his team will have 30 days to go through Keetley’s case and to identify any conflict of interest.
Another court hearing is scheduled for Sept. 4 and will be held over Zoom.
The former ice cream truck vendor's murder trial ended in a mistrial on Feb. 21, 2020, after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Prosecutors were given 90 days to bring Keetley back on trial. However, the coronavirus pandemic caused the re-trial to be put on hold.
Keetley was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Sergio Gultron and Juan Gultron, and the attempted murders of Daniel Beltran, Gonzalo Guevara, Ramon Galan Jr., and Richard Cantu.
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