Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Scott PowersAugust 31, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott has the authority to transfer murder cases away from the office of Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala because she refuses to pursue capital punishments, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Ayala greeted the ruling by declaring she was changing her policy, and would set up a special panel to review the death penalty […]

Scott PowersAugust 31, 2017

Two more Orange County murder cases, including one dating to the early 1990s and one from this spring, are being stripped from Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala, with Gov. Rick Scott reassigning the prosecutions to State Attorney Brad King of Ocala. Scott signed two executive orders late Wednesday, reassigning the murder cases of Jermaine A. Foster, […]

Associated PressAugust 21, 2017

A suspect in the fatal shooting of two police officers in Florida will be staying in jail after a judge denied him bond Sunday, saying there was probable cause for his first-degree murder charge Everett Miller wore handcuffs and shackles during a first-appearance hearing that lasted a minute and a half. When it was over, […]

Scott PowersAugust 15, 2017

Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala announced Tuesday she has reformed a key juvenile justice policy in Orange County so that juveniles who are subjects of police reports inquiring about criminal charges, yet who are neither arrested nor ultimately charged, will not have criminal court records. Such cases involve situations where law enforcement officers decide they […]

Scott PowersJuly 17, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott has reassigned the cases of two women accused of abusing a three-year-old Orange County boy to death, transferring their cases from Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala to Ocala’s State Attorney Brad King. The transfers are like more than 20 others the governor has reassigned from Ayala to King since March, when Ayala, the […]

Peter SchorschJuly 12, 2017

Footage of a June 19 traffic stop involving State Attorney Aramis Ayala and two Orlando police officers surfaced online this week. In the Orlando Police Department body cam video, Ayala promptly hands over her license and becomes increasingly annoyed as the officers fumble through an explanation of why they pulled her over. The officers first […]

Jim RosicaJune 28, 2017

A dubious-sounding Florida Supreme Court shellacked Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala‘s lawyer during oral arguments Wednesday, questioning her prosecutorial “discretion” in not seeking the death penalty. “I don’t even see a gray area,” Justice R. Fred Lewis said. “It seems to me that ‘discretion’ is not to ignore Florida law.” Justice Barbara Pariente also raised concerns […]

Associated PressJune 28, 2017

Does Florida’s governor have the power to take away a prosecutor’s case if he disagrees with a decision not to seek the death penalty? The state’s highest court will hear arguments Wednesday over that question in a legal fight between Gov. Rick Scott and State Attorney Aramis Ayala, whose district covers the Orlando area. Their […]

Scott PowersJune 14, 2017

Florida-Conservatives-Concerned-About-the-Death-Penalty.jpg

A handful of Republicans and Libertarians gathered in Orlando Wednesday to announce formation of a conservative group to oppose Florida’s death penalty, yet tried hard to distance themselves from controversial and progressive anti-death penalty State Attorney Aramis Ayala, whose office was only 30 feet away. The group Florida Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty is an offshoot […]

Scott PowersJune 8, 2017

The Florida Supreme Court has remanded another murder case death penalty from Orlando, that of Bessman Okafor, and Gov. Rick Scott quickly reassigned it away from Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala. The move came with swift intervention from state Rep. Bob Cortes of Altamonte Springs, who asked the governor to keep the case from going […]

Tag: Aramis Ayala
Crowds gather to see Atlantis at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. (Gabrielle Russon)

High court backs Rick Scott, Aramis Ayala vows new policy

Rick Scott reassigns two more murder cases from Aramis Ayala

No bond for suspect in officers’ fatal shooting in Kissimmee

Aramis Ayala reforms juvenile justice policy: No charge, no record

Rick Scott reassigns 2 more Aramis Ayala cases, involving alleged child killers

Bodycam video shows Orlando cops pulling over Aramis Ayala; she asks why

Court grills Aramis Ayala lawyer over avoidance of death penalty

Rick Scott, Aramis Ayala fight heads to state high court

Conservative group forms to oppose Florida’s death penalty

Supreme Court sends Bessman Okafor sentence back, Rick Scott reassigns it from Aramis Ayala