Orlando

Scott PowersApril 7, 2017

An attorney representing embattled Orlando State Attorney Aramis Ayala has initiated the process to challenge Gov. Rick Scott‘s murder case reassignment orders by asking State Attorney General Pam Bondi to petition the court on Ayala’s behalf. Ayala intends to challenge the legality of Scott’s now 23 and counting executive orders stripping 9th Judicial Circuit first-degree murder cases from […]

Scott PowersApril 7, 2017

After going through the usual positive notes on the economy, building activity, law and order, and county finances, Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs turned Friday to the heart as she delivered her annual state of the county address. For all the government service activity high points she presented, it was Orange County’s – Central Florida’s – […]

Scott PowersApril 7, 2017

Former Osceola County chairman, Florida state representative, and Kissimmee Mayor Frank Attkisson was killed Thursday night when the bicycle he was riding was struck by a car, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Attkisson, 61, was riding on Kissimmee Park Road near St. Cloud around 6:30 p.m. Thursday when his bike was struck from behind […]

Scott PowersApril 6, 2017

Update: On Friday morning, about 12 hours after this story was originally posted, the Libertarian Party of Florida Chairman Char-Lez Braden issued the press release Augustus Invictus said he wanted, retracting statements made in a 2015 press release that had accused Invictus of supporting eugenics and state-sponsored murder. The new release indicates the party found […]

Scott PowersApril 5, 2017

Mark-Omara-Jeff-Ashton-and-O.H.-Eaton.jpg

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 […]

Scott PowersApril 4, 2017

Repeatedly saying that his concern is with her blanket statement to decline death penalty prosecutions, state Rep. Bob Cortes renewed his call Tuesday for the resignation or suspension of Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala. Cortes is emerging as one of Ayala’s sternest critics after the state attorney for Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit announced last month […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 4, 2017

In Jacksonville Tuesday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott discussed his ongoing war with State Attorney Aramis Ayala. In March, Scott took the Markeith Loyd murder case away from Ayala, due to her reluctance to pursue the death penalty for the cop killer. In April, Scott scored another pre-emptive strike: reassigning 21 first-degree murder cases that “represent a horrific loss of life.” […]

Scott PowersApril 4, 2017

Democratic state Senator Randolph Bracy has published a national defense of Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala Tuesday with an op-ed column in the New York Times contending Gov. Rick Scott has overreached in removing cases from her. In the column headlined “Florida’s Vengeful Governor,” Bracy argues that Scott’s reassignment of 22 death penalty cases from […]

Scott PowersApril 3, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott has stripped 21 more first-degree murder cases from Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala and reassigned them to Ocala’s State Attorney Brad King to prosecute. In 21 new executive orders decrying Ayala’s announced policy to not pursue the death penalty in any cases in her 9th Judicial Circuit, Scott declared his “grave concerns […]

Scott PowersApril 3, 2017

The Florida Legislature may be negotiating how to cut funding to the office of 9th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Aramis Ayala — and ironically the less-controversial potential cut to her budget is the bigger of two now moving through committees. That sorting may begin this week when the House and Senate appropriations committees begin their […]

Orlando
Aerial photo courtesy Jesse Biter.

Aramis Ayala asks Pam Bondi to initiate challenge of Rick Scott’s murder case orders

Teresa Jacobs: ‘We discovered our culture of compassion’

Frank Attkisson killed in bicycle-car crash

Domestic violence report, lawsuit threats, video complicating Augustus Invictus-Libertarian Party bonds

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

Bob Cortes, others renew call for Aramis Ayala’s removal

Rick Scott says decisions related to Aramis Ayala ‘nothing to do with politics’

Randolph Bracy comes to Aramis Ayala’s defense with NY Times op-ed

Rick Scott strips 21 more murder cases from Aramis Ayala’s jurisdiction

Legislature to consider cuts to Aramis Ayala’s office — deeper or angrier