Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

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 […]

Scott PowersJune 6, 2017

Attorneys for Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala and Gov. Rick Scott will give their oral arguments on June 28 in the legal battle over the death penalty in Florida’s 9th Congressional District. Each side is being given 20 minutes that day in oral arguments in the case that both sides and multiple friends of the […]

Scott PowersJune 1, 2017

Orlando’s reform-pledging yet controversial State Attorney Aramis Ayala defended her anti-death penalty position as “evidence based” and charged that the Florida Legislature’s $1.3 million cut to her budget will hamper anti-human trafficking and domestic violence prosecutions. In a feature published Thursday morning by Orlando-Rising.com, a sister website to FloridaPolitics.com, the rookie state attorney representing Florida’s […]

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 […]

Scott PowersApril 27, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott together with Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a 60-page response to Orlando’s State Attorney Aramis Ayala‘s charge that he overstepped his authority in reassigning her cases, contending Ayala has asked him to reassign other cases, and that her argument of “prosecutorial discretion” is actually one seeking no discretion. Scott’s response, filed late […]

Tag: death penalty
Sleek F1 machine poised for Miami Grand Prix amid star-studded parties and high-speed action.

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

Supreme Court sets oral arguments in Aramis Ayala-Rick Scott case

Aramis Ayala defends death penalty position, asserts budget cut will hit key programs

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

Rick Scott, Pam Bondi answer Aramis Ayala’s suit: she’s not practicing discretion