During a press conference Wednesday morning in Tallahassee, DeSantis claimed that Worrell, a Democrat, “has been clearly and fundamentally derelict so as to constitute both neglect of duty and incompetence.”
DeSantis has issued an executive order suspending Worrell and appointing judge Andrew Bain, also of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, to take over her position.
Monique Worrell, a Democratic state attorney representing Orange and Osceola Counties in the Ninth Judicial Circuit, was elected to her position as state attorney in 2020, earning 66% of the Orange County votes, or nearly 400,000 votes total.
Critics, including DeSantis, have accused Worrell of being “soft on crime.”
Worrell was castigated after a shooting spree in Orlando’s underserved Pine Hills neighborhood earlier this year, which left three people dead. Most recently, Worrell was denounced after a man who’d previously been arrested on multiple charges (but not yet convicted) shot two Orlando police officers on Friday, critically injuring them.
The man, Daton Viel, had been arrested by Orlando police in March and released on bond weeks later. At the time of the Friday shooting, the 28-year-old had three warrants out for his arrest, including a warrant for violating his probation and fleeing UCF police in June. He had not gone through trial, and thus had not yet been convicted and found guilty of charges levied against him, including a felony sexual battery charge involving a teenager.
As Worrell explained during a press conference Monday, her office is not responsible for setting bond amounts. Viel's bond in March was set at $125,000 — an “unusually high” amount, per Worrell, demonstrating his “potential dangerousness.” Nor would the SAO have any control over the fact that Viel bonded out.
The conference was called after the Fraternal Order of Police, a labor union representing Orlando police officers, derided Worrell over the shooting in a Facebook post published Saturday.
Gov. DeSantis, who’s currently running for U.S. president with the support of Florida’s largest police union, cited this latest case, and what he called a pattern by Worrell of avoiding mandatory minimum sentences for drug trafficking, gun crimes, as well as for allowing children “to avoid serious crimes or incarceration altogether,” as grounds for her suspension.
“Prosecutors do have a certain amount of discretion about which cases to bring and which not, but what this state attorney has done is abuse that discretion and has effectively nullified certain laws in the state of Florida,” said DeSantis. “That breaches her duties that she owes to the people of Florida under our state constitution, and provides the basis for the suspension.”
Attorney General Ashely Moody, Polk County sheriff Grady Judd (who photoshopped Worrell into a “This is fine” meme, earning a grin from DeSantis during the press conference), and Brevard county sheriff Wayne Ivey were also present during DeSantis’ announcement.
No law enforcement from Central Florida — Worrell’s jurisdiction — was present.
Andrew Bain, a graduate of the University of Miami and Florida A&M University appointed to take over Worrell’s position, shared he hopes to “restore order, restore faith to the law, restore public trust,” as state attorney.
“I will make this office accountable to the community we serve and to ensure crimes, criminals who poison society, cause mayhem and murder are held accountable under the law,” said Bain. “We will be good partners to law enforcement.”
Bain was a member of Osceola County Legal Aid Society from 2014-2020 and has served as an Orange County judge since 2020. Information about Bain was available on the ninthcircuit.org website until around 10 this morning, when the page began displaying an "Access denied: You are not authorized to access this page" message. This Orlando Sentinel story, however, mentions his "low marks" in a judicial qualifications poll.
Rep. Anna Eskamani shared an image on social media Wednesday morning, prior to the press conference, of a notice sent to employees of the Ninth Circuit State Attorney’s Office barring them from entry.
“This is absolutely disgusting,” Eskamani shared in a statement following DeSantis’ announcement. “State Attorney Monique Worrell is a duly elected official and the only Black woman serving as State Attorney in Florida right now. Her removal is a complete slap in the face to Orange and Osceola County residents and another example of Governor DeSantis eroding our local control and democracy.
Eskamani called the action “politically motivated,” affecting a majority-Democratic part of the state, which she says “should alarm everyone.”
“DeSantis is extreme, unfit to serve, and must be held accountable,” she concluded.
Former Hillsborough County state attorney Andrew Warren, elected twice to his position in 2016 and 2020, was also ousted by DeSantis last year, replaced by an appointee. He has sued over the ordeal, but has not been reinstated.
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