Kenneth Hartley, left, is on Florida’s Death Row for the killing of Gino Mayhew, far right, Middle images are of prosecutor George Bateh and Mayhew’s truck, in which he was shot dead.

The lead attorney who has defended a condemned prisoner for six years has “switched sides” and is now working for the state agency that’s fighting to keep Kenneth Hartley on Florida’s Death Row. It’s a move that Hartley’s pro bono attorneys have argued should result in his case being transferred out of that jurisdiction. 

Hartley was convicted in 1993 in the murder of 17-year-old Gino Mayhew. An investigation by The Florida Trib titled Cold Blooded questioned the veracity of the prosecution against him and his two co-defendants, which relied solely on the eyewitness account of a known liar and three jailhouse informants who all claimed Hartley confessed to killing Mayhew while locked up. 

Hartley’s lawyers are now preparing for a future evidentiary hearing where they will be able to try to pick apart that prosecution in front of a judge. They think they can document that prosecutors withheld information about the star witness’ history of lying, including on the witness stand during a previous murder case, as well as about incentives offered to jailhouse witnesses that were not divulged to jurors. Two of those witnesses have since stated they lied about the purported confession. No physical evidence tied Hartley to the crime scene, and fingerprints found on the truck in which the murder occurred could not be connected to him or his co-defendants, Ronnie Ferrell and Sylvester Johnson, both serving life sentences. 

Hartley’s capital defense attorney, Elizabeth Spiaggi, worked as part of the state-funded Capital Collateral Regional Counsels and had represented Hartley since 2020. According to court documents, Spiaggi tried to remove herself from his case multiple times, arguing once that “the deterioration of the attorney-client relationship and undersigned counsel’s ability/inability to give effective aid,” but each request was denied. She could not be reached for comment.

Hartley obtained pro bono counsel in 2024 and is now asking that his case be removed from the Attorney General’s Tallahassee bureau of the Criminal Appeals Division, where his previous counsel works, and into a different AG region. Though that attorney is not in the AG’s capital unit, Hartley argued that Spiaggi was “entrusted with his confidences and privy to every aspect of his litigation strategy.”

“After making three successive attempts to withdraw from this case, she ‘switched sides,’ joining the Tallahassee bureau that houses the same capital appeals attorney currently co-counseling SAO in this case.” This is even more important, Hartley’s attorneys noted, since “prosecutorial misconduct is already the cornerstone of Mr. Hartley’s claims.”

Kite denied the motion without a hearing, though there is precedent for setting boundaries when an attorney moves jobs. 

Similar case, mostly similar outcome

In 2023, Clay County defendant Hector Sanchez-Torres filed a similar motion, asking a judge to disqualify the entire State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit from prosecuting his case after his public defender took a job as an assistant state attorney for the same office that was prosecuting him, according to court documents.

Sanchez-Torres’ remaining attorneys cited case law that says “an attorney cannot participate in the prosecution of a person whom he previously defended in a criminal case. …Even the appearance of such participation calls into question the integrity of the judicial system.”

Circuit Court Judge James Kallaher called for a hearing on the motion where the attorney testified about her role both as Sanchez-Torres’s attorney and at the State Attorney’s Office.

Kallaher allowed the case to stay in the jurisdiction, but asked the attorney under oath to confirm she would not share information or work on Sanchez-Torres’ prosecution and then prohibited her from viewing the state’s files on the case or assisting the prosecution in any manner.

Hartley’s motion for post-conviction relief has been in Kite’s courtroom since 2023. His next status hearing is scheduled for October. 

Nichole Manna is The Florida Trib’s Senior Investigative Reporter.

Nichole Manna is The Florida Trib's Senior Investigative Reporter. She has been with the organization since 2023 and has covered the criminal justice system for more than a decade.

Nichole has extensively covered conditions at the Duval County jail and in 2024 received first place from the Green Eyeshade Awards in online investigations for her reporting of medical neglect at the facility. That series of stories was recognized with awards at the local, regional and national level. She took home the first place prize for a feature story in a small newsroom from the Online Journalism Awards in 2025 for her series, ‘Cold-Blooded’, which dissected a 1993 death penalty case and questioned whether the defendant received a fair trial.

Prior to joining The Trib, Nichole was an investigative reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas where she was a Livingston Award finalist for a series of stories about a neighborhood with the lowest life expectancy in the state. Her work helped get residents access to free pop-up clinics and they continue to receive help with food disparities.

She is currently working with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network to produce an investigative project.

You can reach her at nichole@floridatrib.org.