Michael Keetley is on trial for a second time after jurors couldn’t come to a verdict in 2020.
A former Florida ice cream truck driver is on trial for the second time for allegedly committing two murders after jurors couldn’t come to a verdict in what is reportedly Hillsborough County's longest running murder trial.
Michael Keetley was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted murder in a shooting that left two dead and four injured on Thanksgiving Day in 2010, according to a criminal report affidavit filed in Hillsborough County.
Keetley allegedly arrived at one of the victim's residences on Nov. 25, 2010 allegedly looking for a man identified as “Creeper.” He thought that man was behind a prior robbery of $12 and shooting at his ice cream truck that left Keetley shot in the leg, chest, arm and hand, according to reports and the court document.
Keetley was reportedly wearing a shirt that said “sheriff” on it, so the victims listened when he told them to get on the ground, according to the affidavit. Once they laid down, Keetley allegedly began shooting at the six victims, the affidavit says.
Four of the victims were wounded but survived, while brothers Juan and Sergio Guitron died from gunshot wounds, officials said.
In a 2020 trial, Keetley’s defense argued Keetley was injured from the prior robbery and couldn’t have been behind the shooting, according to WFLA.
The jury in the 2020 trial could not reach a unanimous verdict and the judge declared it a mistrial, according to court documents.
Keetley was arrested in 2010. "The case is Hillsborough County's longest running murder trial, spanning nearly a decade since Keetley was arrested and accused of shooting six men on a Ruskin porch early on Thanksgiving morning in 2010," the Ledger wrote in 2020.
Keetley's current trial began Monday and is expected to continue for the next two weeks, according to court documents. Keetley has maintained his innocence.
