The Florida House of Representatives has filed an amicus brief showing support for Gov. Rick Scott in his legal battle with Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala, which began after she announced that her office would no longer seek the death penalty.
Representatives argued in the court filing that Ayala does not have the power to act as a legislative policy maker.
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"The Legislature—and no other—sets Florida’s public policy regarding death as punishment for capital murder. The jury—and no other—decides, as part of a legislatively set capital sentencing scheme, whether death will be authorized as a punishment in any particular case following a capital murder conviction," the document says.
The filing calls Ayala's decision "a dereliction of her duties" and "abuse of her office." It asserts that Scott could have gone as far as to remove Ayala from her elected position, but instead opted to issue a series of executive orders stripping her from nearly two dozen first-degree murder cases and reassigning them to a neighboring attorney.
The amicus brief was filed at 11:46 p.m. Wednesday, hours after Florida's top prosecutors voiced their support for the governor.
Ayala announced in a March 16 news conference that pursuing the death penalty against accused double murderer Markeith Loyd or in any other case would not be in the best interest of the community.
Since then, Scott and Ayala have been entangled in an ongoing legal battle. Her supporters, who have also filed an amicus brief, claim that Scott is overstepping his authority by removing Ayala from capital cases.