Left: Suspended Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell (D) (via YouTube screengrab/WFTV). Right: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) speaks during a news conference, May 9, 2023, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File).
Monique Worrell, an elected Democratic prosecutor in Florida who was suspended by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis on August 9, has sued DeSantis to get her job back.
Orange-Osceola County prosecutor Worrell is a former public defender and a professor at the University of Florida who was suspended by DeSantis via executive order for alleged “neglect of duty” and “incompetence.” De Santis’ 40-page order detailed a litany of alleged misdeeds that DeSantis said warranted Worrell’s removal from her post.
The order said that Worrell’s practices “are an abuse of prosecutorial discretion and reflect a systemic failure to enforce incarcerative penalties called for by Florida law.” Specifically, Worrell is said to have failed to impose mandatory minimum sentences for criminals, and did not fully prosecute both adults and juveniles who later went on to commit other crimes.
The order prohibits Worrell from performing any acts, duties, or functions of public office, suspends her indefinitely without pay, and appoints Andrew Bain, a former Orange County judge and member of the conservative Federalist Society, as a replacement for the entirety of Worrell’s suspension.
In her 51-page complaint filed in Florida state court on Wednesday, Worrell asserts that her suspension was invalid and asks the court to declare DeSantis’ executive order null and void.
Over the lengthy document, Worrell argued that DeSantis’ order pointed to no actual malfeasance on her part. Neither prison statistics nor case processing times are actual evidence of Worrell’s practices or policies, the elected prosecutor said.
“Ms. Worrell, as State Attorney, does not control case processing times,” the complaint said, responding directly to the allegations in DeSantis’ order. “Therefore, logically, they are not the result of her ‘practices or policies.””
Worell’s complaint also included a scolding for the Florida Governor who has frequently waged high-profile battles with policy opponents: “The suspension power is not a limitless ‘take my word for it’ license for the Governor to suspend anyone with whom the Governor has a policy dispute.”
The filing also schooled DeSantis on the nature of prosecutorial discretion generally. It explained that, “prosecutors are not only permitted to exercise their discretion when performing their duties, but they are required to do so by their ethical obligations,” argued Worrell as she cited American Bar Association ethics rules.
The discretion required might mean that a prosecutor decides not to use scarce prison resources to seek mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, argued Worrell.
When DeSantis suspended Worrell he vowed, “It is my duty as Governor to ensure that the laws enacted by our duly elected Legislature are followed.”
However, despite the governor’s assertion that Worrell failed to follow state law, Worrell argued in her complaint that DeSantis never actually pointed to any specific statute that she had violated.
“A state attorney’s duty is not to maximize incarceration rates at all costs,” the complaint said sharply.
“My duty is to seek justice, not just to convict,” Worrell said in a news conference after her lawsuit was filed.
Worrell is not the first prosecutor ousted by DeSantis. In August 2022, the governor suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, who had also been an elected Democratic official. DeSantis said Warren was incompetent to hold office and claimed Warren neglected his duty by vowing not to prosecute violations of the state’s 15-week abortion ban and more, as Law&Crime reported at the time.
Warren sued DeSantis in federal court and that case is still pending.
You can read the complaint in here.
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