Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended the state attorney for the Orlando area on Wednesday after accusing her of neglect of duty and incompetence, The New York Times reported.
DeSantis said the suspension of State Attorney Monique Worrell of the 9th Judicial Circuit is due to her "neglecting her duty to faithfully prosecute crime in her jurisdiction."
DeSantis cited Worrell's handling of three incidents, including one from last weekend in which a man shot and injured two Orlando police officers. DeSantis also said Worrell’s office had avoided seeking mandatory minimum sentences for some cases involving guns or drug trafficking and "has effectively nullified certain laws in the state of Florida."
"It is my duty as Governor to ensure that the laws enacted by our duly elected Legislature are followed," said DeSantis said in a statement. "The people of Central Florida deserve to have a State Attorney who will seek justice in accordance with the law instead of allowing violent criminals to roam the streets and find new victims."
Last year, DeSantis removed another elected Democrat state attorney, Andrew H. Warren, who was the top prosecutor for the Tampa area, after Warren signed a statement vowing not to prosecute anyone who seeks or provides an abortion.
Worrell previously warned DeSantis against removing prosecutors who belong to a different party, saying in March: "This could flip any day — we could get a Democratic governor who then decides to go around suspending all Republican prosecutors because we are not in alignment in ideology. It has to stop. This is a dictatorship. This is not a democracy."
DeSantis appointed Andrew Bain, a former prosecutor and member of the conservative Federalist Society who most recently served as an Orange County judge in the 9th Judicial Circuit, to replace Worrell.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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