Florida Supreme Court upholds Governor DeSantis’ suspension of Monique Worrell

Florida Supreme Court has fired a suspended prosecutor Monique Worrells Challenge for the governor. Ron DeSantis to take away her power.

Six of the court’s seven justices said DeSantis had the right to suspend Worrell last August and that such an order met the legal requirements. Worrell was first elected in 2020 as a prosecutor in the 9th Judicial District of Florida, which includes Orange and Osceola Counties.

“We cannot agree with Worrell that the allegations in the Executive Order are impermissibly vague and that they also relate to conduct that falls within the lawful discretion of the prosecutor,” said a Majority opinion reads.

Judge Carlos G. Muñiz, Charles Canada, John Couriel, Jamie Grosshans And Meredith Sasso all joined in a majority opinion that rejected Worrell’s appeal against the suspension. Renee Francis also agreed with the outcome of the decision, but in a separate statement expressed concerns about the process for reviewing suspensions.

Only justice Jorge Labarga disagreed with the majority, writing in a dissenting opinion that DeSantis failed to provide a specific reason for Worrell’s suspension. He also wrote that prosecutors must exercise discretion in prosecuting cases.

“In this case, I would grant Worrell’s motion for quo warranto because the allegations in the Executive Order are insufficient to give her sufficient time to prepare a meaningful defense,” Labarga wrote.

DeSantis suspended Worrell on the grounds that she had not consistently enforced the law. The governor criticized Worrell, claiming the Democratic officeholder was weak on crime.

A supreme command She has been criticized specifically for calling for mandatory minimum sentences for firearm crimes. It has been pointed out that the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office referred 58 non-homicide firearm robbery cases to prosecutors in 2021 and 2022. However, as of May, only one of those cases resulted in a 10-year minimum sentence.

The order also noted that the judicial district had one of the lowest prison admission rates for armed robbery, armed burglary and weapons possession in the state.

But Worrell denied those claims. In a petition filed with the court in September, the suspended prosecutor argued that DeSantis had not cited any specific conduct that would entitle the governor to a suspension under state law, such as being drunk or committing a crime.

“The Executive Order is invalid because it does not identify any specific conduct by Ms. Worrell that, if true, would constitute a basis for suspension for dereliction of duty or incompetence,” the petition it says. “Instead, the regulation falsely attempts to infer its ‘practices and policies’ from inappropriate data, but even if such practices and policies existed, they would not constitute grounds for suspension.”

But the court majority held that DeSantis’ order did not contain any details showing that he actually had the authority to suspend Worrell.

“We have said that a suspension order does not interfere with the lawful exercise of a prosecutor’s criminal discretion if it is alleged that that discretion is not actually exercised in individual cases, but that general policies have led to categorical enforcement practices,” the majority opinion said.

Worrell has already qualified for another term as prosecutor and officially launched her campaign in JanuaryShe was the only Democrat to qualify.

Andrew Bainwhom DeSantis appointed as acting district attorney, qualified for the race as an independent. Meanwhile, Republicans Thomas Feiter And Seth Hyman also qualified for a Republican primary.

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