A Florida state attorney has sued Governor Rick Scott for reassigning nearly two dozen first-degree murder cases because she will not consider the death penalty.
In the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court, Aramis Ayala challenges Scott’s decision to reassign 23 homicide cases from her office to another prosecutor. Ayala, who is state attorney for the 9th Judicial Circuit, contends that Scott violated her rights and harmed her reputation by stripping her of the cases.
Scott signed an executive order on April 3 reassigning 21 cases to 5th Judicial Circuit Attorney Brad King.
The Governor had earlier dismissed Ayala from the case involving accused cop-killer Markeith Lloyd and reassigned it to King after Ayala announced her decision not to seek the death penalty in any case her office prosecutes.
“State Attorney Ayala’s complete refusal to consider capital punishment for the entirety of her term sends an unacceptable message that she is not interested in considering every available option in the fight for justice,” Scott said in a statement earlier this month.
Ayala’s office covers Orange and Osceola counties in central Florida. In announcing her decision not to seek the death penalty, Ayala said capital punishment in Florida had led to “chaos, uncertainty, and turmoil.”
Ayala argued that evidence has shown the death penalty is overly expensive, slow, inhumane and does not increase public safety. She said after “extensive and painstaking thought and consideration,” she determined that pursing the death penalty “is not in the best interest of this community or the best interest of justice.”
