TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday once again suspended an elected Florida prosecutor from office, this time removing a central Florida Democrat that the governor contended was too lenient with criminals and was endangering the public.
The governor’s office had been telegraphing dissatisfaction with State Attorney Monique Worrell for months, including raising questions about how her office had handled past arrests of a 19-year-old man who was ultimately arrested for allegedly killing three people in Orlando, including a television reporter.
The action came just one day after DeSantis reshuffled his presidential campaign, as he tries to close the gap between himself and former President Donald Trump.
DeSantis, during an early morning press conference from the state Capitol where he announced the suspension, cited several examples of where he contended Worrell had failed to pursue minimum mandatory sentences for criminals or did not fully prosecute both adults and juveniles who later went on to commit other crimes. One of those the governor highlighted was a 17-year-old who allegedly shot and killed his pregnant girlfriend just months after he had been initially charged with gun crimes.
“We had a duty to act to prevent this dereliction of duty,” DeSantis said. “Prosecutors do have a certain amount of discretion about which charges to bring. What this state attorney has done is abuse that discretion and has effectively nullified certain laws in the state of Florida.”
Fox News posted a story on the suspension just moments before DeSantis started the news conference.
This is the second time that DeSantis has removed an elected prosecutor from office during his time as governor. He suspended Hillsborough prosecutor Andrew Warren a year ago over several decisions the Democratic elected official made, including signing a pledge that he would not enforce a newly adopted ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Warren challenged his suspension in both state and federal court but has been rebuffed so far in his effort to get reinstated.
DeSantis acted just two days after Worrell pushed back against criticisms from a local police union over the criminal history of a man who shot two Orlando police officers over the weekend before he was killed by a SWAT team. The man, Daton Viel, was out on bond after authorities charged him with sexual assault. Worrell said she had no control over what bond amount was set by the judge in the case.
Worrell was not immediately available for comment.
But Orlando Democrats reacted furiously to the suspension, saying it was a “politically moved action” targeting a part of the state run by Democrats.
“This is absolutely disgusting,” said state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando). “State Attorney Monique Worrell is a duly elected official and the only Black woman serving as State Attorney in Florida right now. Her removal is a complete slap in the face to Orange and Osceola county residents and another example of Gov. DeSantis eroding our local control and democracy.”
DeSantis appointed Andrew Bain, a circuit court judge from Orange County, to fill Worrell’s post. Bain, a Black man, was first appointed to the bench by DeSantis back in 2020 and then won a full term during the 2022 elections.
Bain sent out an email to employees in the state attorney’s office where he vowed to roll back several policies that had been put in place by Worrell.