JULIANNE HOLT, Public Defender for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County, Petitioner,
v.
MICHAEL EDWARD KEETLEY and STATE OF FLORIDA, Respondents.
NOT
FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION AND, IF
FILED, DETERMINED
Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Circuit Court for
Hillsborough County; Samantha L. Ward, Judge.
Julianne M. Holt, Public Defender, and Jennifer Spradley and
John Morrison, Assistant Public Defenders, Tampa, for
Petitioner.
Lyann
Goudie of Goudie & Kohn, P.A., Tampa, and Wade Whidden,
Tampa, for Respondent Michael Edward Keetley.
Pamela
Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Caroline Johnson
Levine, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Respondent
State of Florida.
ROTHSTEIN-YOUAKIM, JUDGE.
Julianne
M. Holt, the Public Defender for the Thirteenth Judicial
Circuit (the Public Defender), petitions for a writ of
certiorari quashing the circuit court's order appointing
her office to represent Michael Edward Keetley in criminal
case number 10-CF-0018429. Because the Public Defender failed
to preserve the arguments that she now raises and, in any
event, has wholly failed to make the threshold jurisdictional
showing of material injury, we dismiss the petition.
On
December 16, 2010, Keetley was indicted on two counts of
murder in the first degree (premeditated) and four counts of
attempted murder in the first degree. On that date, private
attorney Ariel Garcia filed a notice of appearance on
Keetley's behalf. Thereafter, the clerk determined that
Keetley was indigent and appointed the Public Defender to
represent him, but Keetley declined her services.
In
2011, the State filed its notice of intent to seek the death
penalty, and private attorney Lyann Goudie filed a notice of
appearance on Keetley's behalf. Less than a year later,
private attorney Paul Carr officially appeared on
Keetley's behalf although he had been representing
Keetley since December 2010. Attorney Garcia later withdrew,
and another private attorney also came and went.
In
October 2014, Attorney Goudie moved to have Keetley declared
indigent for costs pursuant to section 27.52(5), Florida
Statutes (2014).[1] The trial court granted the motion. All
along, Keetley's parents had been footing the bill for
private counsel and had already incurred approximately $200,
000 in fees with respect to Attorney Goudie and Attorney
Carr.
Attorney
Goudie subsequently filed an ex parte motion to appoint a
third attorney as penalty-phase counsel. The Public Defender
personally appeared at the August 19, 2015, hearing on this
motion, and the Justice Administrative Commission (JAC)
appeared telephonically.[2] Although present, the Public Defender
declined to comment on the motion, while the JAC generally
argued in opposition to the appointment of a third attorney
at state expense. The trial court orally denied the motion at
the hearing. With respect to the appointment of the Public
Defender, the court explained that its decision was
"based on the plain reading of the rules and statutes
relating to this that prohibit appointment when a Defendant .
. . is being represented by retained counsel."
In May
2016, Keetley, through Attorney Goudie, moved for the trial
court to declare Florida's amended death penalty statute
unconstitutional in light of Hurst v. Florida, 136
S.Ct. 616 (2016). The trial court granted the motion, and the
State sought certiorari review in this court. The Public
Defender represented Keetley in that certiorari
proceeding.[3]
On July
8, 2016 (during the pendency of the certiorari proceeding),
the trial court entered an order of substitution of counsel
that relieved Attorney Carr from further responsibility and
substituted Attorney Goudie as lead counsel. That same day,
Attorney Goudie filed a second motion to appoint
penalty-phase counsel, requesting cocounsel on the grounds
that it is "standard practice in death penalty cases,
for a defendant to be represented by at least two
lawyers" and that she did not feel that she could
"prepare for both first phase motions and trial and
competently and effectively prepare motions, conduct hearings
and arguments on the penalty phase issues." Attorney
Goudie asserted in her motion that the JAC had informed her
that the Public Defender "typically, in these
situations, . . . cites the Statute, the commentary[, ] and
case law to refuse appointment, " at which point the
court will "turn[] to JAC." She contended, however,
that the trial court was not precluded from appointing the
Public Defender to represent Keetley in the penalty phase.
At the
hearing on this motion, the JAC appeared telephonically and
opposed the appointment of a second attorney for the same
reasons that it had previously opposed the appointment of a
third and also because the death penalty seemed to be off the
table in light of Hurst. The record does not
indicate that anyone appeared on behalf of the Public
Defender. The trial court denied the motion in light ...