Democratic lawmakers intervene in Florida Supreme Court petition

Senate Democratic Leader Oscar Braynon on Friday joined fellow Democratic lawmakers in support of Orlando State Attorney Aramais Ayala’s ongoing legal battle with the governor over his meddling in prosecutorial authority.
In a “friend of the court” legal brief submitted to the Florida Supreme Court, Leader Braynon joined Senators Perry Thurston, Gary Farmer, and Jeff Clemens, as well as House Democratic Leader Janet Cruz and Representative Sean Shaw in arguing that Governor Rick Scott’s executive orders stripping first-degree murder cases from Ayala exceeded his authority granted under the state constitution.
Scott issued the executive orders not long after State Attorney Ayala announced that she would pursue life imprisonment without parole over the death penalty in capital cases because of its on-going flaws and protracted appeals process, among other reasons.
“There has been no failure to prosecute; no showing of lack of experience in the State Attorney’s Office to prosecute first degree murder cases; no speedy trial consideration; any other unwillingness or inability by State Attorney Ayala to prosecute any person for the crime of first degree murder in the 9th Judicial Circuit,” the lawmakers wrote.
Nor, they noted, is there any Florida statute mandating a state attorney to seek the death penalty.
Additionally, should the governor’s intervention be allowed to stand, “the Governor may claim the constitutional and statutory power to reassign any case or class of cases” from any state attorney with whom he disagrees in the future, they argued.
The filing of the motion came one week after the Republican leadership of the House was permitted by the Court to intervene in the emergency action on behalf of the governor to show “useful insight.”
In response, the Democrats wrote that they are likewise seeking to provide an “alternative perspective” in order to provide balance to the Court.
The petition for “Quo Warranto” currently pending before the Justices was filed earlier this month. Ayala, who represents the 9th Judicial Circuit, is asking the Court to order the governor to show by what constitutional authority he replaced her on 23 homicide cases pending in her district with a state attorney of his own choosing.