Florida’s Republican governor on Monday took 21 more first-degree murder cases away from a Democratic prosecutor who has said she will no longer seek the death penalty.
(FOX)- Gov. Rick Scott gave the cases being handled by Orlando-area State Attorney Aramis Ayala to neighboring judicial circuit State Attorney Brad King.
Ayala has come under fire recently after announcing she wouldn’t seek the death penalty against Markeith Loyd or any other defendant. Loyd is charged with killing an Orlando police lieutenant and his pregnant ex-girlfriend earlier this year. Scott took the Loyd case away from Ayala last month and reassigned it to King.
“If you look at these cases they are horrendous cases,” Scott told The Associated Press. “And so I’m going to continue to think about the families and that’s how I made my decision today.”
In a statement, Scott added that “Ayala’s complete refusal to consider capital punishment for the entirety of her term sends an unacceptable message that she is not interested in considering every available option in the fight for justice.”
Ayala’s spokeswoman said Scott never notified her office about his order and that the prosecutor instead learned about it through the news media.