A state appeals court has overturned the conviction of Nathan Hart, one of the first Floridians arrested by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ election police unit in 2022, ruling that state prosecutors never had proper authority for the case.

The Second District Court of Appeal found that the Office of Statewide Prosecution (OSP) lacked jurisdiction to charge Hart because his alleged crimes occurred only in Hillsborough County, not across multiple judicial circuits as the law required at the time. Judges reversed his conviction for falsely affirming that he was eligible to vote during the 2020 presidential election and ordered the case dismissed.

Hart, of Gibsonton, was among 19 people arrested in 2022 during a sweep that DeSantis touted as a crackdown on voter fraud. The arrests followed creation of the Office of Election Crimes and Security, which was established following claims by President Donald Trump and other Republicans that widespread voter fraud marred the 2020 election.

Hart was among defendants who registered to vote after Florida voters approved a 2018 constitutional amendment automatically restoring voting rights for many felons who had completed their sentences. The amendment, however, excluded people convicted of murder or sexual offenses.

Hart had been convicted in 2006 of lewd and lascivious molestation, meaning his rights were not automatically restored. He registered to vote outside a Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles office and later cast a ballot in the 2020 election. A jury last year acquitted him of knowingly voting illegally but found him guilty of lying on his voter registration form.

In its Nov. 7 ruling, the appellate panel said the statewide prosecutor overstepped its constitutional limits because Hart’s actions occurred entirely within Hillsborough County, according to court records. That meant the case should have been handled by the local state attorney, not by the statewide prosecutor.

“Manifestly, the crimes alleged against Hart occurred in but one circuit,” Judge Chris Northcutt wrote in the decision. “As such, they were insufficient to confer jurisdiction on the OSP.”

The decision conflicts with earlier appellate rulings in State v. Hubbard and State v. Miller, two South Florida cases in which other district courts upheld similar prosecutions. The Second District’s opinion instead aligned with a recent Washington ruling from the Sixth District, which held that statewide prosecutors could not pursue single-circuit offenses. Because of the split, the court certified the issue to the Florida Supreme Court.

That question is already before the justices. In Terry Hubbard v. State of Florida, now pending before the high court, defense attorneys argue that constitutional language only grants the OSP jurisdiction over crimes “occurring in two or more judicial circuits.”

State lawmakers have since expanded the office’s powers to allow statewide prosecution of election crimes, even if alleged offenses occur in a single circuit, but those changes did not apply to Hart’s case because the State never invoked the new statute against him. Attorneys in the Hubbard case argue that any legislative attempt to broaden that authority would exceed the limits voters approved when they created the office, according to court records from both cases.

Nearly three years after the 2022 arrests, the results remain mixed. Of the 19 people arrested, one had his case dismissed outright, nine accepted plea deals, and one defendant has since died, as of August. Eight others are awaiting decisions from the Florida Supreme Court while it considers two cases, Hubbard and Robert Lee Wood v. State of Florida.

Hart remains the only defendant from the original roundup found guilty by a jury, though that conviction has now been vacated.

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Florida Politics Reporter Jacob Ogles contributed reporting to this article.