Florida Supreme Court rules in favor of DeSantis in suspension of Monique Worrell

ORLANDO, Florida. – The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the suspension of Orange-Osceola District Attorney Monique Worrell, ruling that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision was appropriate given his allegations.

Six judges agreed, the seventh dissented.

Worrell, who was elected district attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit in 2020, was suspended last year for neglect of duty and incompetence. DeSantis claimed she avoided imposing mandatory minimum sentences for gun offenses and drug trafficking offenses and followed practices that allowed juvenile offenders to avoid prison time. In some cases, those practices led to worse crimes.

In their motion for reinstatement before the Florida Supreme Court, Worrell’s lawyers argued that DeSantis’ suspension was an “arbitrary, unfounded use of suspension power,” that there were never any specific policies in place to avoid mandatory minimum sentences, and that she followed state practices regarding juvenile offenders.

“Instead, the order refers vaguely throughout to Ms. Worrell’s ‘practices and policies,’ but fails to identify a single, specific policy or practice, making the order different from recent cases involving other Florida prosecutors in which the executive orders identified specific policies that allegedly constituted a dereliction of duty,” the complaint states, referring to DeSantis’ 2022 suspension of Hillsborough District Attorney Andrew Warren.

However, the judges of the Supreme Court disagreed.

“We cannot agree with Worrell that the allegations in the Executive Order are unduly vague and that they relate to conduct that falls within the lawful discretion of the prosecutor,” the statement said.

The court explained that the Florida Constitution prohibits judges from “examining the evidence supporting those facts or determining their sufficiency.”

Worrell issued the following statement on Thursday’s verdict:

“Today’s opinion is disappointing, but not surprising. The governor appointed most of the Florida Supreme Court justices. They took the easy way out by refusing to consider whether the governor’s claims had any factual basis. They do not, and the court today, with the exception of the judge who dissented, rubber-stamped a political ploy.

“There is no evidence that citizens in the Ninth Circuit have experienced higher rates of violent crime due to my administration’s ‘practices or policies,’ and the Executive Order is notably silent on violent crime statistics. These statistics show that violent crime rates in the Ninth Circuit were lower during my tenure than they have been in the past decade. We treated people equally and fairly and worked to hold law enforcement accountable — something the Governor doesn’t like. I still believe in the right of voters to choose their district attorney, even if Florida politics currently does not respect that principle. If re-elected, I will continue to put public safety and accountability above politics. I wish the Governor would do the same.”

Monique Worrell, suspended prosecutor

DeSantis appointed Andrew Bain to serve the remainder of her term as attorney general.

Worrell is running for re-election against Bain and the Republican winner of the August district attorney primary.

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