Anti-Death Penalty Prosecutor Can’t Have Cases Back: Florida Supreme Court

ORLANDO, FL — Lake County State Attorney Brad King will continue to ride herd over first-degree murder cases out of Orange and Osceola counties as a battle over the death penalty plays out in court. The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday denied Aramis Ayala’s request to get her cases back temporarily following Gov. Rick Scott’s decision to pull them over a death penalty dispute.

The state’s highest court’s ruling means the 23 cases Scott pulled from Ayala’s office by executive order will remain in King’s hands for prosecution for the time being. Scott pulled Ayala’s first-degree murder cases after she vowed to not seek the death penalty in any of them.

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Ayala had asked Florida’s Supreme Court to grant an emergency order that would have given her the cases back temporarily while her dispute with Scott is addressed by that court and in a similar filing in the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida. Florida justices, however, deemed it inappropriate to grant such a request on a “temporary” basis before both parties have a chance to be heard.

Ayala filed suit earlier this month, alleging that Scott “violated the Constitution of the United States, usurped Ayala’s authority, and deprived voters in the Ninth Judicial Circuit of their chosen State attorney when, under color of law, he removed Ayala from 23 pending homicide cases in her circuit and replaced her with King,” according to the federal court filing.

Scott’s decision, the suit claims, was not based on “any misconduct on Ayala’s part, but simply because he disagreed with her reasoned prosecutorial determination not to seek the death penalty under current circumstances.”

Ayala contends her decision to not seek the death penalty in the high-profile case against accused cop killer Markeith Loyd and others in the batch of 23 pulled cases is based on research related to the death penalty. The first-term state attorney’s suit says her research showed the death penalty has no positive impacts on public safety, is racially discriminatory, and is too costly, among other factors.

Ayala is asking the courts to deem Scott’s executive orders pulling her from the cases unconstitutional. In addition, she wants to be reinstated on all 23 cases and is asking to recover expenses and fees in addition to “such other and further relief as the court deems appropriate.”

Ayala requested a jury trial in the federal case. It is unclear how soon the court may take up Ayala’s request.

Ayala first ran afoul of Scott when she announced her decision in March to not seek the death penalty in the Loyd case. Following that announcement, Scott issued an order pulling her office from the prosecution. King was placed on the case instead.

In announcing her decision in the Loyd case, Ayala also indicated she had no intention of seeking the death penalty at all during her term in office. Former Orange-Osceola State Attorney Jeff Ashton, who was defeated by Ayala in the August primary, spoke with the Orlando Sentinel after Ayala made her stand on the death penalty known. Ashton told the paper Ayala had no opposition to the death penalty when she worked for him. Her change of heart was "ridiculous,” the paper quoted Ashton as saying.

Ayala, the Sentinel reported, ousted incumbent Ashton with a $1.4 million campaign boost from a political action committee that has ties to George Soros, a well-known liberal activist.

“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 following his decision to pull her murder cases.

Loyd, 41, is accused of shooting and killing Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton on Jan. 9. The former Orlando Police Department master sergeant was promoted to the rank of lieutenant posthumously. Loyd had been a wanted fugitive since Dec. 13, 2016, when he was accused of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon, 24, and wounding her brother.

Clayton, 42, was a 17-year veteran of the Orlando Police Department. She was gunned downed after police say she encountered Loyd at a Walmart store off John Young Parkway. Clayton was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center, but the mother of one, succumbed to her injuries.

Shortly after Clayton was shot, Orange County motorcycle deputy Norman Lewis was struck and killed by a motorist while responding to the manhunt for Loyd.

A date for a federal court hearing on Ayala’s suit against Scott has not been set. The Florida Supreme Court has also not indicated exactly when it intends to rule on the permanent fate of Ayala’s cases.

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