Legal debate over Aramis Ayala’s decision turns into hockey game

Mark O'Mara, Jeff Ashton and O.H. Eaton

You get a former prosecutor, a retired judge and a defense attorney together to talk about legal issues underpinning Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala‘s decision to not pursue death penalty prosecutions, and you might expect lively disagreement.

But a brawl?

A debate in Orlando Wednesday between former 9th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Jeff Ashton and retired 18th Judicial Circuit Judge O.H. Eaton Jr. broke down into near chaos at times, with shouted interruptions leading to political accusations, a few insults, a bit of belittling, sarcasm and condescension, and angry protests of unfairness.

And most of that wasn’t between the prosecutor and the judge who were officially squaring off, but between Ashton and the debate moderator, Orlando defense attorney Mark O’Mara.

“I hoped this discussion would not become political but it almost immediately did,” said an exasperated-sounding Ashton, who lost the JC9 seat to Ayala in a nasty election battle last year, and then took the positions opposing her decision. “I hoped that somebody would show me a case or an interpretation or a rule or a statutory construction.

“But all I’ve heard is you two yelling at me that I’m wrong!”

“I haven’t yelled at you at all. I’m very soft spoken,” corrected Eaton, quipping about his reputation on the bench.

The debate, held in front of a crowd mostly of lawyers and sponsored by The Ramsey Law Firm, the Law Firm of Jennifer J. Jacobs and a couple of others, illustrated the levels of passion and politics emerging in Orlando from what Ayala has done, and what Gov. Rick Scott has done as a result, stripping her of 22 murder cases.

The combatants Wednesday did agree on one thing, that the ramifications of Ayala’s and Scott’s actions could be far-reaching for Florida criminal justice.

“What is going to happen, I hope, is that Ms. Ayala is going to challenge this and we’re going to get a ruling, and the issue is going to be very clear: does the prosecutor’s discretion trump the governor’s right to disagree with it,” said Eaton, described by the Orlando Sentinel as a “death-penalty expert judge” when he retired in 2010.

“And I agree on both counts,” Ashton replied. “I hope that it goes to the Florida Supreme Court, because this is an issue that could fundamentally change the concept of what a prosecutor is, in the state of Florida.”

And there were other times, especially early on, when the debate flowed smoothly.

Ashton’s chief argument centered on Florida Statute 782.04(1)(b), which states that, in all first-degree murder cases, “the procedure set forth in Statute 921.141 shall be followed in order to determine sentence of death or life imprisonment.” Shall, Ashton said, is a command, not a suggestion. Ayala, he said, did not follow the procedure in 921.141, which essentially is the procedure to determine if there are aggravating circumstances that could lead to a death penalty. She just decided in advance, for all cases, there would be no death penalty.

Eaton argued that prosecutorial discretion, which Ayala claimed in deciding against death penalties, is an absolute concept that dates to English common law, and he cited a number of cases where courts have upheld that discretion.

“If she had said, ‘I’m not going to use the death penalty,’ and gave no reason for her decision, that decision could not be reviewed by any court, and it is not reviewable by the governor, I don’t think,” Eaton said.

He added that he believes the consequences a governor’s action to overrule prosecutorial discretion, as Scott has done, are very serious, because they could send the message to all of Florida’s prosecutors that anytime they use their prosecutorial discretion in a murder case, he might intervene if he doesn’t like the choice.

In short, state attorneys might become politically intimidated by the governor, he said, and very nervous about not pursuing death penalties.

Ashton contested that, and said he wanted to know who could speak up for victims if prosecutors go their own way.

“When the prosecutor decides to break or ignore the law to the benefit of the defendant, how is it reviewed?” Ashton demanded. “Who do you go to? If you are aggrieved victim who believes the state attorney is ignoring the law, who do you go to?”

Scott Powers

Scott Powers is an Orlando-based political journalist with 30+ years’ experience, mostly at newspapers such as the Orlando Sentinel and the Columbus Dispatch. He covers local, state and federal politics and space news across much of Central Florida. His career earned numerous journalism awards for stories ranging from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster to presidential elections to misplaced nuclear waste. He and his wife Connie have three grown children. Besides them, he’s into mystery and suspense books and movies, rock, blues, basketball, baseball, writing unpublished novels, and being amused. Email him at [email protected].


2 comments

  • Robert C. Power

    April 5, 2017 at 8:13 pm

    I’m uncomfortable with the Honorable Aramis Ayala’s blanket announcement of not seeking the death penalty for all capital cases in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. This is mostly because it suggest a lack of case by case review. And while her five listed reasons justifying her announcement are laudable, and even true, and, bureaucratically speaking, efficient; I think it wrong for an elected constitutional officer to avoid, ab inicio, the excercise of discretion delegated her by the people she represents. If in her six year term, no case’s aggravators rise to challenge her convictions, I’d be content to know she had reviewed each and found none to merit changing her mind. I am, however, outraged with the Governor’s excercise of executive power. It aggrieves me that other jurisdictions’ employees are now saddled with additional case loads. This executive usurpation did not need to happen-legally; the citizens of the Ninth Judicial Circuit have a remedy should they feel aggrieved. But the Governor knew this, as he also knows that combining the full brunt of his executive AND political muscle to bear on her will undeniably make Ms. Ayala feel like a defendant charged with murder. I wish Ms. Ayala Godspeed and hope she avails herself of the full process that will eventually find her to have done no wrong.

  • Randall Townsend

    April 6, 2017 at 12:37 am

    The Prosecutor is to present the case to Our 4th Branch of Government –“We the People” “of the Jury”!!!
    It is obstruction of Justice to “impede” the Jury “Due Process”!
    The Defendant is to be tried on all Truthful Evidence and receive the verdict of the Jury of their Peers–“We the People”!
    That is the problem today with our Out of Constitutional Controls is the Government Branches that assumed too many rights that are stolen from “We the People”!

Comments are closed.


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