TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Central Florida lawmaker wants State Attorney Aramis Ayala taken off her latest high-profile murder case.
State Rep. Bob Cortes, R-Longwood, said Ayala’s history of refusing to pursue the death penalty should disqualify her from prosecuting three people allegedly involved in a love triangle murder plot that killed the wrong woman.
Cortes accused Ayala of going soft on murderers even though the state Supreme Court told her she has to hit them with the full force of the law.
Ayala said calls to take her cases at this point are nothing more than noise, distracting from dealing with criminals in Orange and Osceola counties.
"I'm mad because this could happen to any of us,” said Cortes.
"Unfortunately, our state attorney has seen in the past that she's not interested in following our laws. Only the ones that she sees fit,” said Cortes.
Cortes is referencing the abduction and murder of 42-year-old Janice Marie Zengotita-Torres, whose body was found in Ormond Beach last week.
According to investigators, Ishnar Lopez-Ramos, 35, allegedly hired Glorianmarie Quinones-Montes, 22, and Alexis Ramos-Rivera, 22, to kill a woman in a relationship with a man Lopez-Ramos loved.
The trio mistook Zengotita-Torres as their intended target and killed her, according to officials with the Sheriff’s Office.
Cortes sent a letter to Gov. Rick Scott that says, “Reassigning this case would send a strong pro-life message that Florida will not tolerate human life being regarded so casually and taken so cruelly."
"Whether or not a case is heinous is only a factor to be considered in whether or not to seek the death penalty. It doesn't serve as a basis to ask for the removal from the state attorney for that case,” said Bill Sheaffer, WFTV legal analyst.
Sheaffer argues Cortes lacks any legal basis for sidelining Ayala now that she has a panel deciding when to pursue the death penalty.
On the other hand, Cortes believes Ayala’s recent missteps involving missed deadlines for the dealth penalty in another murder case in Kissimmee should be enough to make the governor take a closer look.