Fla. governor’s death penalty battle escalates

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott yesterday took away 21 more first-degree murder cases from Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala because she refuses to seek the death penalty.

All of them will be handled by State Attorney Brad King, who serves Lake, Marion, and three other counties.

The move comes three weeks after Scott removed Ayala from the case of accused cop killer Markeith Loyd, following a dramatic public announcement.

On March 16 Ayala had stepped to a podium in front of the Orange County Courthouse and said she would not seek the death penalty against Loyd or anyone else. Scott was outraged. A few hours later, he phoned her, asking her to step back from that case, but she refused. Later that day, he signed an executive order naming King special prosecutor.

That decision made Ayala a darling of death-penalty opponents but set off both pro- and anti-Ayala demonstrations in Orlando and Tallahassee.

Yesterday’s action by the governor — 21 separate orders — was an extension of his earlier decision.

Six of the cases involve murder defendants who have not yet come to trial. The others have already been sentenced to death and have cases on appeal.

In a prepared statement, Scott said he made his decision yesterday “in the interest of justice.”

“Each of these cases I am reassigning represents a horrific loss of life. The families who tragically lost someone deserve a state attorney who will take the time to review every individual fact and circumstance before making such an impactful decision,” he said.

Ayala was in Tallahassee yesterday meeting with legislators — not the governor — according to her spokeswoman, Eryka Washington.

“Ms. Ayala remains steadfast in her position that the governor is abusing his authority and has compromised the independence and integrity of the criminal justice system,” Washington said in a prepared statement.

Ayala was in court last week with a Tampa lawyer she had hired to challenge the governor’s decision to remove her from the Loyd case.

King and his top assistant, Ric Ridgway, were in Orlando yesterday for a hearing in the Loyd case. Ridgway said they found out about the new cases shortly after noon.

“You didn’t have to be a psychic to see that this was a possibility,” he said. “It was kind of obvious that something like this might happen.”