The Supreme
Court of Florida this week denied [opinion]
a petition by State Attorney Aramis Ayala challenging Governor Rick Scott's power to reassign
her death penalty eligible cases, reported Jurist.
Ayala announced in March of this year that she would no
longer be seeking the death penalty in cases handled by her office. In
response, Scott issued numerous executive orders assigning Ayala's ability to
prosecute such cases to State
Attorney for Florida's Fifth Judicial Circuit Brad King . Scott argued
that the Florida
Constitution empowered him to "take care that the laws be
faithfully executed."
The court concluded that the power to reassign death penalty
eligible cases to another state attorney was well within Scott's constitutional
and statutory powers. The court added, "Ayala's blanket refusal to seek
the death penalty in any eligible case ... does not reflect an exercise of
prosecutorial discretion; it embodies, at best, a misunderstanding of Florida
law." Local news sources have
reported that Ayala respects the decision of the court and will begin
working with fellow state attorneys to resume evaluating first-degree murder
cases in her jurisdiction.
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