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9 Facts: Ongoing death penalty fight between Aramis Ayala, Gov. Scott

By WFTV Web Staff
By WFTV Web Staff

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The fight between Orange-Osceola County State Attorney Aramis Ayala and Gov. Rick Scott over the death penalty stance began in early 2017.

Eyewitness News put together 9 Facts to know about this ongoing case.

  1. Aramis Ayala never disclosed her death penalty stance while she ran for election in 2016.

  2.          State Attorney Aramis Ayala announced in March that she would not seek the death penalty in murder cases. She used accused cop-killer Markeith Loyd's case as an example when  she made her announcement.  
     

  3.           Gov. Rick Scott began reassigning death penalty cases and capital murder cases from Ayala's office to State Attorney Brad King's office.
     

  4.        Ayala filed a federal lawsuit in April against Scott, claiming he violated her constitutional rights and deprived voters of their right to vote by reassigning cases to Brad King.
     

  5.        Ayala petitioned the Florida Supreme Court in April about Scott's decision to reassign cases.
     

  6.        The case went to the Florida Supreme Court in June.
     

  7. Florida Supreme Court Justices rule 5-2 Aug. 31 that Scott acted within his right to reassign cases.
  8. Following the ruling, Ayala said in a written statement that she has organized a death penalty panel comprising of seven assistant state attorneys who will evaluate each first-degree murder case in her district.
  9. Scott said he has no faith in Ayala's death penalty panel, and wouldn't return the 29 reassigned cases to her office.

Cox Media Group

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