ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Another year and another elected state attorney is suspended from office by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“Justice does not prevail in the state of Florida at this time,” now-suspended state attorney Monique Worrell said at a press conference on Wednesday.
DeSantis says the Orange-Osceola County state attorney didn’t do her job and avoided being tough on violent criminals.
“We had a duty to act to protect the public from this dereliction of duty,” the governor said.
Professor and attorney Jeff Swartz says a governor can remove an elected leader from office, but only under certain circumstances.
“Not for the reasons that he took it here. The statute is intended to protect against office holders who are guilty of malfeasance, fraud, or some other criminal offense,” Swartz said.
“Neither Mrs. Worrell nor Mr. Warren are guilty of the kind of offenses or things that the governor should have acted in this way.”
Andrew Warren met the same fate just over a year ago and has battled in the courts to get his position back.
Swartz suggests that Worrell consider taking the issue directly to the Florida Supreme Court and not going down the same route as Andrew Warren.
“Mr. Warren made an error going to federal court,” Swartz said. “There really never was a federal question in this case, and by the time he appeared in state court he was basically told it was too late.”
While Worrell says her team is currently reviewing the administrative order before deciding what to do next, she says her constituents can be sure that she’s going to fight the decision.