Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Scott PowersDecember 12, 2017

The ongoing conflict between Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala and Gov. Rick Scott over her death penalty policies took another turn as Ayala cut a murder deal with a suspect that avoids a death penalty then answered the governor’s questions by asking her own questions. Scott and Ayala, state attorney for Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit, […]

Scott PowersNovember 20, 2017

New twists in the battle between Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala and Gov. Rick Scott after she agreed to prosecute death penalty cases; Scott is accusing her of missing a filing deadline, and Ayala responding Monday that Scott missed the case, and it will still be filed for capital punishment. “It is absolutely outrageous that Aramis […]

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 […]

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

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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 […]

Scott PowersMay 9, 2017

In her new response to Gov. Rick Scott‘s argument in their Supreme Court battle over power, Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala contends that the Florida Constitution is clear that she has absolute power over all criminal cases in her jurisdiction, and that the governor can only override it with her permission. The issue is whether […]

Scott PowersMay 4, 2017

In a friend of the court brief bound to raise state attorneys’ eyebrows throughout Florida, the Florida House is arguing that prosecutors have no discretion with regard to capital punishment, that the state Legislature’s intent was to rest all discretion with juries. The House filed the brief in the Florida Supreme Court case of Orlando’s State Attorney […]

Scott PowersMay 3, 2017

“Unlike every other amici in this litigation, the Family Members’ right to be heard is not hypothetical, it is not philosophical, it is not past – it is real and present.” Thus opens a friend of the court brief filed Wednesday by the families of victims of seven homicides in the balance of the Florida […]

Tag: capital punishment

After cutting murder plea deal, Aramis Ayala demands answers from Rick Scott

Rick Scott, Aramis Ayala battle over missed deadlines in death penalty cases

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

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

Aramis Ayala argues that Rick Scott can only reassign cases with consent

House argues prosecutors have no discretion on death penalties

Victims’ families: Aramis Ayala shut us out; prosecutors group: She abolished capital punishment