Man fired for Ayala threat sues Seminole County.

A Seminole County man fired in March for posting on Facebook that Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala “should be tarred and feathered if not hung from a tree” for not seeking the death penalty in capital murder cases is suing his former county government employer, saying his right to free speech was violated.

B. Stanley McCullars is seeking back pay of his $86,060 annual salary as an assistant finance director under Seminole County Clerk of Courts and Comptroller Grant Maloy. The suit filed Thursday in federal court in Orlando against Maloy also seeks compensation for McCullars’ attorney’s fees.

“He’s not proud of what he said,” said his Orlando attorney, Howard Marks. “He’s very upset about the issue. Looking back, would he have used the exact words? I doubt it. But as a government employee, you have a First Amendment right to say these things and not get fired.”

Maloy would not comment on the lawsuit.

On the night of March 19, McCullars, 52, also posted in the Facebook comments under an Orlando Sentinel story about Ayala that “maybe SHE should get the death penalty.” He deleted the posts about nine hours later the following morning. He claims in his suit that he was called into Maloy’s office March 20 and was told by Maloy “it was clearly a First Amendment issue” and he shouldn’t be worried. About an hour later, McCullars was put on administrative leave. He was fired a day later.

That day, Maloy said McCullar’s comments “don’t reflect my beliefs or the beliefs of the comptroller’s office. … The office does not condone or tolerate anything discriminatory, whether a customer, a public official or the public.”

Ayala, the first African-American state attorney in Florida’s history, was removed by Gov. Rick Scott from the case of Markeith Loyd after she said her office would not seek the death penalty. Loyd is accused of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon, and Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton.

McCullars argues in his lawsuit that the Sentinel story on Ayala’s decision generated “much public commentary and impassioned and vigorous debates across the country.” And he got “carried away” and posted the Facebook comment “solely as a private citizen” using his personal social media account.

“It had nothing to do with his job at the Clerk of the Court,” Marks said. “Whether you’re for or against the death penalty, he had a right to make comment.”

McCullars says in his suit that he’s suffered mentally, physically and emotionally from his firing.