Scott reassigns 21 murder cases
Ayala’s refusal to seek death penalty spurs controversial move
Gov. Rick Scott on Monday 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.
Ayala was in Tallahassee on Monday, meeting with legislators — but 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 statement.
The move comes three weeks after Scott removed Ayala from the case of accused cop killer Markeith Loyd after she announced she will not seek the death penalty for him or anyone else.
That decision made Ayala a darling of death-penalty opponents, but set off both pro- and anti-Ayala demonstrations in Or-
lando and Tallahassee.
Monday’s action by the governor — 21 separate orders — was an extension of his earlier decision to appoint King as special prosecutor in the Loyd case.
Six of the new cases involve murder defendants who have not yet come to trial. The others have already been sentenced to death, and some have cases on appeal.
Louis Virelli, a law professor at Stetson University in DeLand, said the governor’s decision could set a bad precedent.
“When viewed on a case-bycase basis, this remedy by the governor strikes me as dangerous,” Virelli said. “… that’s the general precedent in my mind, is that this opens the door for governors of all political parties to cherry-pick cases away from prosecutors.”
If Scott believes Ayala is neglecting her duties by not seeking the death penalty, he could try to suspend her from office — a process that would require Senate approval and more scrutiny, Virelli said. He could also wait until Ayala, who took office in January, is up for re-election and let voters decide whether they approve of her actions.
The law Scott cited allows a governor to remove prosecutors from cases if the prosecutors are unfit or if there is a conflict of interest.
“I do think this statute is a stretch,” Virelli said.
In a prepared statement, Scott said he made Monday’s decision “in the interest of justice.”
“Each of these cases I am reassigning represents a horrific loss of life,” he said. “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.”
King and his top assistant, Ric Ridgway, were in Orlando on Monday morning for a hearing in the Loyd case. Ridgway said they found out about the new cases at 12:30 p.m.
“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.”
King’s office has not determined yet how to handle the new workload. Five attorneys are qualified to handle death-penalty cases, he said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has offered to loan some of her lawyers, he said.
State Sen. Randolph Bracy, DOrlando, condemned Scott’s decision.
“I think he’s overstepping his authority,” Bracy said. “She’s been independently elected. … He’s taking away the authority that she was given by the people.”
State Rep. Sean Shaw, DTampa, a member of the Legislature’s black caucus, also criticized Scott’s decision.
“The Governor is attempting to set a dangerous precedent that would destroy the idea of independence for State Attorneys throughout Florida who must now fear political retribution … if they make a decision he disagrees with,” Shaw said in a statement.
Six of the newly reassigned cases involve defendants who are awaiting trial. They including Larry Perry, accused of beating his infant son to death in St. Cloud and Juan Rosario, charged with beating his 83-year-old neighbor to death, then setting her house in unincorporated Orange County on fire.
When Ayala’s predecessor, Jeff Ashton, was in office, prosecutors had announced plans to pursue the death penalty in all six.
Monday’s other reassignments involve killers who’ve already been convicted. Eight from that group are likely to win appeals because jurors did not vote unanimously for the death penalty.
They included death-row inmate John Huggins, convicted of murdering Carla Larson, an engineer who disappeared from a Publix near Walt Disney World in 1997, and was strangled; Jermaine “Bugsy” Lebron, convicted of murdering a 22-year-old Belle Isle man in Osceola County in 1995 so he could steal the man’s red pickup; and David Sylvester Frances, accused of killing a woman and her teenage niece.
Absent from the list of 21 were the two defendants most recently sent to death row from Orange County.
They are Bessman Okafor, convicted of killing Alex Zaldivar, a 19-year-old who was set to testify against him in a home-invasion trial, and Dane Abdool, convicted of burning his 17-year-old ex-girlfriend to death in 2006.
Cases that are awaiting court decisions cannot be reassigned until their appeals have concluded, said Lauren Schenone, a spokeswoman for Scott.
Loyd, 41, is accused of murdering Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton in a Wal-Mart parking lot Jan. 9 as she tried to arrest him.
He was wanted in the shooting death of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon, killed Dec. 13.
King has not said what penalty he will seek in either case.