Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Scott PowersApril 11, 2017

Arguing Gov. Rick Scott had no legal basis to strip murder cases from her jurisdiction, Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala filed challenges Tuesday morning in both the Florida Supreme Court and federal court. In complaints filed by her attorney, Roy Austin Jr. of Washington D.C., Ayala contends that she legally exercised prosecutorial discretion in deciding not […]

Scott PowersApril 10, 2017

A new poll by Public Policy Polling finds that a strong majority of voters in State Attorney Aramis Ayala‘s Orange and Osceola counties prefer some form of life-in-prison sentence for first-degree murderers rather than the death penalty. The poll, commissioned by the Center for Capital Representation at the Florida International University College of Law, finds results that […]

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 PowersMarch 16, 2017

Former State Attorney Jeff Ashton – former boss and then election opponent to current State Attorney Aramis Ayala – said Thursday he believes she might not have legal ground to take the unprecedented “no death penalty” position she announced earlier Thursday. Ashton also said he believes Ayala may have adopted the position to please her political benefactor, […]

Scott PowersFebruary 23, 2017

In a debate Thursday between Orlando’s top prosecutor and public defender, new State Attorney Aramis Ayala said she is looking at rethinking how the 9th Judicial Circuit considers death penalty cases, while Public Defender Bob Wesley urged her not to change policies. Ayala, elected on a judicial reform platform last fall as the top prosecutor for […]

Scott PowersJuly 15, 2016

Have voters anywhere in Florida ever elected an African-American state attorney? Aramis Ayala suspects she has a chance to be first, which would be late-coming, trailblazing history in Florida if she were to upset incumbent Jeff Ashton for the 9th Judicial Circuit post serving Orange and Osceola Counties. Ayala, 41, a former prosecutor in the […]

Tag: 9th Judicial Circuit
Trump's pardons lead to the end of prosecution for some Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendants, starting with a case in Nassau County. Image via AP.

Aramis Ayala files challenges of Rick Scott with Florida Supreme Court, federal court

PPP poll finds Orange, Osceola counties prefer life punishment to death sentence

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

Jeff Ashton: Aramis Ayala may not have legal grounds to ban death penalty

Aramis Ayala pledges change in how circuit considers death penalty cases

Aramis Ayala’s 9th Judicial Circuit state attorney run could be historic