The Florida Supreme Court shot down suspended State Attorney Monique Worrell's challenge to Gov. Ron DeSantis stripping her of power.
Six of seven Justices on the court said DeSantis had the right to suspend Worrell last August, and that an order doing so met requirements of the law. Worrell was first elected in 2020 as State Attorney in Florida's 9th Judicial Circuit, which covers Orange and Osceola counties.
"We cannot agree with Worrell that the allegations in the Executive Order are impermissibly vague, nor that they address conduct that falls within the lawful exercise of prosecutorial discretion," a majority opinion reads.
Justices Carlos G. Muñiz, Charles Canady, John Couriel, Jamie Grosshans and Meredith Sasso all joined in a majority opinion denying Worrell's legal challenge of the suspension. Justice Renetha Francis also agreed with the result of the decision but wrote a separate opinion raising concerns about the process of reviewing suspensions.
Only Justice Jorge Labarga disagreed with the majority, writing in a dissenting opinion that DeSantis failed to show a specific reason for suspending Worrell. He also wrote that State Attorneys must maintain prosecutorial discretion.
"In this case, I would grant Worrell's petition for quo warranto relief because the allegations in the executive order are insufficient to provide her with sufficient notice to allow her to mount a meaningful defense," Labarga wrote.
DeSantis suspended Worrell on the grounds she had failed to consistently enforce the law. The Governor criticized Worrell, alleging that the Democratic official was weak on crime.
An executive order specifically took her to task for seeking mandatory minimum sentences on crimes involving firearms. It noted that the Osceola County Sheriff's Office referred 58 non-homicide robbery with a firearm cases to prosecutors in 2021 and 2022. But as of May, only one of those cases resulted in a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years.
The order also noted that the judicial circuit had one of the lowest prison admission rates in the state for robbery with a weapon, armed burglary and weapons possession.
But Worrell challenged the assertions. In a petition filed to the court in September, the suspended State Attorney argued DeSantis had failed to cite any specific behavior that would allow the Governor under state law to suspend her, such as drunkenness or committing a crime.
"The Executive Order is invalid because it fails to allege any specific conduct of Ms. Worrell that, if true, would constitute a basis for suspension on the ground of neglect of duty or incompetence," the petition reads. "Instead, the Order wrongly attempts to infer her 'practices and policies' from inapposite data, but even if such practices and policies existed, they would not constitute a ground for suspension."
But a court majority felt DeSantis' order had any specifics that he indeed had the authority to suspend Worrell.
"We have said that a suspension order does not infringe on a state attorney's lawful exercise of prosecutorial discretion where it alleges that such discretion is, in fact, not being exercised in individual cases but, rather, that generalized policies have resulted in categorical enforcement practices," the majority opinion reads.
Worrell has already qualified to run for another term as State Attorney, formally launching her campaign in January. She was the only Democrat to qualify.
Andrew Bain, who DeSantis appointed as acting State Attorney in the circuit, qualified to run as an independent. Meanwhile, Republicans Thomas Feiter and Seth Hyman also qualified for a Republican Primary.
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