TAMPA — In the month since Suzy Lopez secured a full four-year term as Hillsborough County’s state attorney, at least two high-level prosecutors in her office have announced their departures, including one of her chief assistants.
At the same time, turnover in the special victims unit, which handles some of the office’s most egregious and difficult cases, has been noticeable, with three attorneys leaving or planning to leave in the past month.
Meanwhile, the office continues to go without an attorney to review cases for wrongful convictions.
A chief assistant departs
Kimberly Hindman, the chief assistant who oversees all of the office’s felony divisions, will leave next month to take a similar leadership role in the administration of incoming Hillsborough Public Defender Lisa McLean.
“I’m excited for the opportunity,” Hindman told the Tampa Bay Times, adding that it was a “hard decision.”
She declined to answer further questions about the change.
Hindman, 54, has worked for the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office since 2005. She is experienced in handling some of the office’s most serious criminal trials, including homicides and sex offenses.
She became chief assistant during the tenure of former State Attorney Andrew Warren. She served alongside Renee Muratti, the chief assistant overseeing the office’s misdemeanor and juvenile divisions.
Lopez made few personnel changes at the top after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed her to replace Warren, whom he suspended in 2022. Hindman and Muratti continued as Lopez’s chief assistants. Both registered Democrats, they each gave $1,000 financial contributions to Lopez’s ultimately successful campaign against Warren in this year’s election.
It is unclear who might take Hindman’s place at the State Attorney’s Office. Lopez could choose to promote someone from within the office or hire someone from outside. It is also possible that the position could be eliminated, with Muratti taking over Hindman’s responsibilities. Under previous administrations, the office operated with one chief assistant.
Muratti announced Hindman’s departure in a Nov. 20 officewide email.
“While we have not yet made any final determinations about what changes we will make to handle this loss to the office, we are in the process of making those decisions and will share those decisions with all of you as those decisions are made,” Muratti wrote. She asked that staffers share ideas and suggestions with her or the office’s chief of staff, Gary Weisman.
“I have so much more that I would like to say,” Muratti wrote. “I will leave it with, she will be missed.”
Hindman’s spouse, Jennifer Spradley, is a longtime public defender, who currently serves as the homicide bureau chief for outgoing Public Defender Julianne Holt.
Wrongful convictions in limbo
One noticeable void left with Hindman’s exit is in the office’s conviction review unit. For close to a year, Hindman’s responsibilities included reviewing all petitions submitted to the unit, whose purpose is to identify and correct cases in which defendants were wrongfully convicted.
Warren created the conviction review unit and made it a centerpiece of his tenure as Hillsborough County’s top prosecutor. More than 100 similar units exist in district attorney offices nationwide.
It was instrumental in the exoneration of Robert DuBoise, who spent close to 37 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. DuBoise’s story was the focus of the Tampa Bay Times narrative series The Marked Man. The unit also facilitated the exoneration of Tony Hopps, who spent 31 years in prison for a Tampa robbery he did not commit.
The unit received much publicity under Warren. It became more obscure after Lopez took office, though it assisted in the release of three defendants in her first two years.
Diane Marger Moore, the last attorney assigned full time to the unit, left the office in February and now works for the Florida attorney general.
Lopez’s office told the Times this spring that they were interviewing candidates to replace her. But 10 months later, no one has been hired.
“Our office will always review any petitions submitted where defendants believe they have been wrongfully convicted,” a spokesperson for the office wrote in a statement. “While we interviewed several applicants for the position, we have not found a fit. No matter how this work is structured, it is important, and our attorneys will continue to ensure that justice is served.”
The office’s website still features a link to a page where people who claim to be wrongfully convicted can submit petitions to the conviction review unit.
The unit remains listed on the office’s organization chart with the word “vacant.”
A chief resigns
Less than a week after Lopez’s victory, her staff was rocked by the abrupt resignation of Christine Brown, one of the office’s highest-ranking attorneys.
Brown had been with the office since 2001, having served during the respective tenures of State Attorneys Mark Ober, Warren and Lopez. She most recently served as the chief of the traffic homicide division, a position she’d held for more than two years. The role put her in charge of attorneys handling some of the office’s most egregious and legally complicated cases, including DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicides.
Her notable cases included the prosecution of Jorge Britton, whom a jury last year found guilty of driving drunk and causing a fiery crash that killed two men on Interstate 275 in Tampa. She also led the case against Stephen Paleveda, who was convicted in February of causing a wrong-way crash that killed a man on the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.
Brown was also the assigned prosecutor in the case of Jennifer Carvajal, a young woman accused for the second time in her life of driving drunk and causing a fatal crash. Carvajal, who was charged in 2021, has a trial set for February.
The reason for Brown’s abrupt departure is unclear. In response to an inquiry from the Times, a spokesperson for Lopez’s office said only that Brown had resigned. A public records request for documents detailing the reasons for her departure produced a single-line email that Brown sent Nov. 13, stating: “I hereby tender my resignation.”
Brown did not respond to messages for comment. The office said all of her cases had been reassigned to other attorneys.
Turnover in the sex offense unit
The office’s special victims unit, which handles prosecutions of sex offenses and child abuse, has seen remarkable turnover in the last year, including some new departures in the last few weeks.
Of the 10 lawyers assigned to the unit, two of them, including the unit’s deputy chief, have left or announced plans to leave the office since early November. The unit’s previous chief and deputy chief, both veteran prosecutors, left at almost the same time in the summer of 2023 for jobs with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Jessica Couvertier, a felony prosecutor with more than a decade of experience, serves as the unit’s current chief. Of those who remain assigned to the unit, four have worked for the office for less than five years; two of them for less than two years.
Joseph Kudia, a longtime attorney in the public defender’s office, is expected to join Lopez’s office as the deputy chief of the special victims unit. He referred questions about the move to the State Attorney’s Office.
“Prosecuting SVU cases is one of the most difficult and mentally taxing jobs in our office,” a spokesperson for Lopez wrote in a statement. “The turnover in this division has been similar in years past for that reason. Jessica Couvertier will continue to lead the division of incredibly talented attorneys who have a wealth of experience to bring to the table.”
