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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has moved to suspend a democratically-elected state attorney in what critics say is his second removal of a prosecutor whose politics don't align with his conservative views.
On Wednesday (August 9), DeSantis said he was suspending Monique Worrell of Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit, accusing her of lenient sentencing and alleging that she declined to prosecute certain charges, CNN reports.
“Prosecutors have a duty to faithfully enforce the law. One’s political agenda cannot trump this solemn duty. Refusing to faithfully enforce the laws of Florida puts our communities in danger and victimizes innocent Floridians,” DeSantis said, adding that Worrell was guilty of “neglect of duty and incompetence."
The suspension comes after DeSantis accused Worrell in February of failing to keep a suspected teenage gunman in jail for a previous charge.
“I know the state attorney in Orlando thinks that you don’t prosecute people, and that’s the way that somehow you have better communities. That does not work,” DeSantis said at the time.
On Wednesday, DeSantis alleged that Worrell had a pattern of allowing juveniles to avoid "serious charges and incarceration” and had avoided “valid and applicable” sentencing enhancements or limiting charges for child pornography.
Worrell decried DeSantis' allegations that she was too soft on criminals and insisted that crime is down in the Orlando area. She called her suspension a “political hit job” and pledged to fight back against it.
“I am a duly elected state attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit,” Worrell said in a statement. “And nothing done by a weak dictator can change that.”
Andrew Bain will serve as Worrell's replacement, according to reports.
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