Jim Rosica
The leader of Florida’s black lawmakers Thursday said Gov. Rick Scott would not have stripped Orange-
“Absolutely not,” Sen. Perry Thurston, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, told reporters at a news conference in the Capitol. Ayala, a Democrat, is black.
Members of the Legislative Black Caucus decried Scott’s decision to remove Ayala from the case, in which she decided not to pursue the death penalty. Loyd is charged with killing Sade Dixon, his pregnant ex-girlfriend, and Orlando police Lt. Debra Clayton.
Lake County State Attorney Brad King has taken over the prosecution, and Ayala – elected to a 4-year term last year – has said she will challenge the governor’s authority to remove her from the case.
Ayala later said she would not seek capital punishment in any cases. A Seminole County Clerk of Court employee was suspended for posting on social media that Ayala should be “tarred and feathered if not hung from a tree.”
“It’s 2017 and the duly elected state attorney is threatened with a lynching,” said Rep. Sean Shaw, a Tampa Democrat. “That’s why we’re here today. The death penalty is a link to the sordid past in Florida where lynching were used to terrorize our communities.”
Scott spokeswoman Kerri Wyland said the governor “stands by his decision to assign State Attorney King to prosecute Markeith Loyd after State Attorney Ayala refused to recuse herself.”
“Loyd is accused of executing Lt. Clayton, a brave law enforcement hero who was on the ground fighting for her life, and murdering his pregnant ex-girlfriend,” she said. “Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Norman Lewis was also killed while actively searching for Loyd.
“As Gov. Scott has continued to say, these families deserve a state attorney who will aggressively prosecute Loyd to the fullest extent of the law and justice must be served.”
The caucus’ full press conference can be viewed in a Periscope video below:
Leg. Black Caucus on Ayala/@FLGovScott #FLCapitol https://t.co/1v3mW29BtP
— Jim Rosica (@JimRosicaFL) March 23, 2017
