DeSantis suspended Florida State Attorney Monique Worrell. Here's his reason
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Orlando-based State Attorney Monique Worrell on Wednesday, claiming that she was prioritizing her “political agenda” while failing to pursue appropriate charges in serious cases.
DeSantis made the announcement on Wednesday, alongside Attorney General Ashley Moody and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass.
“Prosecutors have a duty to faithfully enforce the law,” DeSantis said. “One’s political agenda cannot trump this solemn duty.”
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DeSantis detailed a series of cases over the past two years where those accused of gun crimes, drug-trafficking and other offenses received reduced sentences or had charges lessened or dismissed in Worrell's circuit.
DeSantis didn’t take any questions after the announcement, which ended as Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd held up a placard with a well-known meme depicting a cartoon image of Worrell in a house on fire saying, “This is fine.”
Worrell’s suspension marks the second time DeSantis has suspended an elected official.
Who is Monique Worrell?
Worrell is the State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court, overseeing Orange and Osceola counties.
She is the first State Attorney of Caribbean descent and the second African American elected in the state of Florida, according to her government biography.
She was elected to the position in November 2020 after running on progressive platform with endorsements from Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Bernie Sanders, as reported by Fox 35 Orlando.
She was elected with 67% of the vote in 2020 in Orange and Osceola counties. Worrell succeeded Aramis Ayala, who had been the first Black state attorney ever elected in Florida.
She is a proponent of criminal justice reform. Previous to being elected as State Attorney she was the chief legal officer at a criminal justice reform nonprofit REFORM Alliance. She has also been a clinical law professor at the University of Florida College of Law and the founding director of the University's Criminal Justice Center.
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Why DeSantis suspended Monique Worrell
DeSantis laid out a list of claims against Worrell that he believes justify the suspension. Those claims include:
Pattern or practice to avoid minimum mandatory sentences for gun crimes
Pattern or practice to avoid minimum mandatory sentences for drug-trafficking offenses
Pattern or practice to allow juvenile offenders to avoid serious charges and incarceration altogether
Pattern or practice to avoid valid and applicable sentencing enhancements
Pattern or practice limiting charges for child pornography
Pattern or practice withholding adjudications in situations not permitted under Florida law
DeSantis said that prosecutors have a discretion about which cases to bring to court, but believes Worrell abused that discretion and “effectively nullified certain laws in the state of Florida.”
Cases DeSantis named three cases as examples
DeSantis mentioned three cases during the press conference, including a shooting that happened over the weekend that involved a man who shot and injured two Orlando police officers.
Lorenzo Larry case
Lorenzo Michael Larry, 17, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly shot and killed his 16-year-old girlfriend, De’Shayla Ferguson, while she was 20 weeks pregnant in Orange County. He was arrested in November 2022 and is still awaiting trial.
DeSantis pointed out that Larry had previously been arrested in May 2022 for charges including carrying a concealed firearm, possession of a firearm on school property and criminal possession of a firearm by a minor but was released. He further claimed that Worrell’s office did not act on any of the charges until after he was accused of killing his girlfriend.
However, DeSantis’ claims are murky because Larry was initially arrested as a juvenile, and court records do not reflect prosecutors' actions prior to the case being transferred from the Juvenile Division to the Circuit Criminal Division on Dec. 7, 2022.
Orange County home invasion
DeSantis described another case involving a juvenile offender that occurred in 2018. A suspect allegedly invaded an Orange County home and robbed the occupants at gunpoint, according to DeSantis.
The suspect was charged with multiple counts of armed burglary with a firearm, robbery with a firearm and false imprisonment, which Desantis says carries a 10-year minimum sentence with a maximum of life in prison.
DeSantis claims that Worrell decided not to prosecute five of the charges and withheld adjudication on the remaining charges. The suspect was sentenced to 51 weeks of jail time.
Daton Viel case
The last case DeSantis spoke about involved an incident over the weekend involving a man who shot and critically injured two Orlando police officers during a traffic stop.
The suspect, Daton Viel, has an extensive criminal history with felony charges stemming back to 2016 that include burglary of dwelling, attempted burglary of occupied conveyance, robbery, third-degree grand theft auto, aggravated stalking, trespass on designated construction site, burglary of structure, criminal mischief, two counts of sexual battery of a person between 12 and 18 years old and lewd or lascivious molestation.
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DeSantis and Worrell have past history
DeSantis questioned Worrell in March over her prosecution decisions for a juvenile suspect charged with shooting multiple people, including a TV reporter and a 9-year-old girl, according to the Associated Press.
Worrell issued a letter in return, admonishing the governor's office for using back channel methods to try to get the information. According to her response, the governor's letter, addressed to a district employee, read "this is happening all over the country where these prosecutors are not following the law.”
Worrell went on to criticize the Governor for interfering with her work to further his own campaign.
"The Governor had people fishing around Orange and Osceola counties to see which cases he can single out from over 100,000 cases our office has processed since I have taken office, while he prances around Southeast Asia on his dilapidated presidential campaign tour," Worrell wrote in the letter. "He seeks to exploit his political agenda against me."
Contributors: Kinsey Crowley - USA Today, John Kennedy - Capital Bureau | USA Today Network
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Why did Gov. DeSantis suspend Florida State Attorney Monique Worrell?
