Orlando prosecutor defends stance against death penalty
Aramis Ayala, the elected Orlando prosecutor who refuses to seek the death penalty, defended her actions Wednesday as she faced a flurry of hostile questions from Florida Supreme Court justices.
Ayala filed suit against Gov. Rick Scott and is challenging his legal authority to transfer two dozen cases to another state attorney over her refusal to seek the ultimate punishment in the case of Markeith Loyd, accused of killing his pregnant former girlfriend and a police officer who tried to arrest him.
Ayala’s attorney, Roy Austin, argued that the prosecutor has “absolute discretion” under law to seek or not seek the death penalty.
But Florida Solicito
r General Amit Agarwal, who works for Attorney General Pam Bondi, forcefully defended Scott’s right to take action against any state attorney for any “good and sufficient reason ... that the ends of justice would be best served.”
Agarwal said Ayala’s “blanket policy” of refusing to seek the death penalty nullifies a law enacted by the Legislature.
“No one individual in our society has the right to say, ‘I’ve taken a hard look at this ... and I’m going to make a policy judgment that is blanket across the board,’ ” Agarwal told the court.
A skeptical Justice Fred Lewis asked Ayala’s attorney, Roy Austin, whether a prosecutor could refuse to enforce state laws against drunk driving. Lewis also suggested that Scott had the power to suspend Ayala on the grounds of “misfeasance” in office.
Chief Justice Jorge Labarga raised a hypothetical example of prosecutors in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties having opposing philosophies about capital punishment.
“How is that proper?” Labarga asked.
Justice Charles Canady asked some of the most pointed questions.
Canady, a former Republican member of Congress and state legislator, has wide knowledge of the reassignment of cases between state attorneys, usually because of conflicts of interest, as a legal adviser to former Gov. Jeb Bush.
This story was originally published June 28, 2017 at 1:50 PM with the headline "Orlando prosecutor defends stance against death penalty."