Florida judges support DeSantis in suspending prosecutor Monique Worrell

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Governor Ron DeSantis’ decision to suspend Orlando-area district attorney Monique Worrell, saying he had made sufficient allegations of dereliction of duty and incompetence.

DeSantis issued an executive order in August suspending Worrell, a Democrat elected in 2020 to the 9th Judicial District, which consists of Orange and Osceola counties. The move attracted widespread attention and came after DeSantis also suspended Hillsborough County Prosecutor Andrew Warren, a twice-elected Democrat.

In the Worrell order, DeSantis made a number of allegations, such as that prosecutorial guidelines prevented or discouraged assistant district attorneys from seeking minimum sentences for gun offenses and drug trafficking offenses. In another example, the order alleged that Worrell’s guidelines prevented assistant district attorneys from seeking “sentencing enhancements” for certain defendants.

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Worrell filed suit in the Supreme Court in September, arguing that DeSantis had no legal basis for the suspension, but the justices ruled in DeSantis’ favor in a 6-1 decision on Thursday.

“(We) have said that a suspension order does not interfere with a prosecutor’s lawful exercise of prosecutorial discretion when he claims that such discretion is not actually exercised in individual cases, but that general policies have led to categorical enforcement practices,” the main opinion said Thursday, citing a 2017 precedent. “Although prosecutorial discretion is broad in its legal scope, it is not a complete defense to allegations of incompetence or dereliction of duty.”

Chief Justice Carlos Muniz and Justices Charles Canady, John Couriel, Jamie Grosshans and Meredith Sasso dissented, while Justice Renatha Francis wrote a concurring opinion. All but Canady were appointed to the Supreme Court by DeSantis.

Judge Jorge Labarga dissented, pointing to decisions prosecutors routinely make on issues such as whether there is sufficient evidence to bring charges against defendants. He wrote, “It is difficult to understand how Worrell will be able to mount a meaningful defense to allegations of ‘incompetence’ and ‘dereliction of duty’ given the unique challenges and circumstances her diverse district presents in handling specific cases — even though she essentially uses similar practices, albeit more frequently, than other prosecutors in our state.”

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“If this (Supreme) Court allows Worrell’s suspension to stand based on the allegations set forth in the executive order, then whenever a district attorney in Florida tries similar cases with any degree of regularity because the particular challenges of that district so require, that district attorney too can expect to be suspended and replaced, even though he was overwhelmingly elected by the voters of that district,” wrote Labarga, who was appointed along with Canady by former Governor Charlie Crist.

But the court majority rejected Labarga’s claim that Worrell was “overwhelmingly elected.”

“The dissenting opinion appears surprised that a ‘prosecutor … faces suspension and replacement despite being overwhelmingly elected by the voters of the district.’ An elected official’s head start has no constitutional relevance to the governor’s suspension power,” a footnote in the main opinion states.

Although DeSantis suspended Worrell, the Florida Senate would have the final say on whether to remove her from office. However, the Senate took no action because the case was still pending before the Supreme Court.

DeSantis appointed Andrew Bain, who served as an Orange County judge, to replace Worrell. However, Worrell has qualified to run in the November election to reclaim the post. Bain has also qualified to run as a candidate with no party affiliation.

In a petition filed with the Supreme Court in September, Worrell’s lawyers cited “prosecutor’s discretion” and argued that DeSantis had no basis for suspension.

“Ms. Worrell was elected to serve as a prosecutor, not a governor,” the petition states. “A mere disagreement between a governor and a prosecutor over where within statutory discretion should be exercised is far from sufficient to establish constitutionally required dereliction of duty or incompetence.”

But in a response filed in October, DeSantis’ lawyers disputed Worrell’s arguments about prosecutorial discretion.

“Ms. Worrell does not have the discretion to abuse her power to file criminal charges because Florida’s laws are chronically under-enforced,” the response said.

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Two voters and the group Florida Rising Together also filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging Worrell’s suspension, but U.S. District Judge Julie Sneed issued a 15-page ruling last month finding that the plaintiffs did not have standing to pursue the suit.

The state Supreme Court also dismissed Warren’s lawsuit against his suspension last year, saying he waited too long to file suit.

In another federal court case, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle last year upheld Warren’s suspension. But a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January that the suspension violated First Amendment protections and ordered Hinkle to reconsider the case. The state has asked the Atlanta appeals court to take up the dispute.

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