TALLAHASSEE, FL—Suspended Democratic prosecutor Monique Worrell was rightfully pulled from her post by Governor Ron DeSantis, the Florida Supreme Court decided Thursday morning, denying her challenge of wrongful suspension.
"We cannot agree with Worrell that the allegations in the Executive Order are impermissibly vague, nor that they address conduct that falls within the lawful exercise of prosecutorial discretion," the Supreme Court's 6-1 case decision reads.
Worrell was suspended via Executive Order in August for "neglect of duty and incompetence," after 19-year-old Keith Moses was charged with first-degree murder in the Orlando killings of reporter Dylan Lyons, Nathacha Augustin, and 9-year-old T'yonna Major, AP News reported.
DeSantis and his counsel said Worrell failed to keep Moses within the correctional system before the murders: in November 2021, Moses was arrested for cannabis possession during a traffic stop. A police report says that the car's three occupants all had past firearm charges—including Moses—and a gun was thrown out of the window during the stop.
Moses was charged only with a drug offense, but the case was later dismissed. A year later, he shot five people—killing three.
Worrell challenged her ouster in September, alleging that DeSantis' order "does not allege a single instance in which Ms. Worrell's exercise of prosecutorial discretion violated Florida law," the petition reads. "To the extent the Governor disagrees with how Ms. Worrell is lawfully exercising her prosecutorial discretion, such a disagreement does not constitute a basis for suspension from elected office."
The Court disagreed.
Worrell is the second Democratic prosecutor to be suspended by the Republican Governor—in 2022, Hillsborough County attorney Andrew Warren was ousted for "neglect of duty" and "incompetence", the same accusations hurled at Worrell. Like the Orlando prosecutor, Warren challenged his suspension in federal court.
Unlike Worrell, the Judge agreed that DeSantis had violated Warren's rights. In January, however, a federal appeals court ordered the District Judge to reconsider his decision.
