Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the suspension of woke State Attorney Monique Worrell on Wednesday.
DeSantis suspended Florida’s only Black state prosecutor on Monday for “dereliction of duty.”
DeSantis and Worrell publicly disagreed about her prosecution of mass shooting suspect Kevin Moses earlier this year.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said Moses, 19, killed Nathacha Augustin, 38, Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons, 24, and T’yonna Major, 9, on Feb. 22 in the Pine Hills area of Orlando.
Police said Moses first shot Augustin in the 6100 block of Hialeah Street. Then he returned hours later and fatally shot News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons, who was covering Augustin’s murder.
Moses then shot T’yonna Major and wounded her mother in their home.
In March, Worrell announced criminal charges against Moses, including 3 counts of second-degree murder and 2 counts of attempted 1st-degree murder.
DeSantis criticized Worrell and alleged she is not doing enough to keep criminals off the street.
Calling the shootings “obviously horrific beyond belief,” Gov. DeSantis told Worrell, “You have to hold people accountable.”
DeSantis’s office sent a letter to Worrell demanding a list of documents, including “Information on the number and circumstances of individuals who … were arrested for committing a felony … and were not prosecuted by your office.”
Worrell complied with the other 4 requests in the letter but she refused to provide a list of criminals not prosecuted by her office because she said it was unrealistic to do by the deadline, which was March 14.
“This isn’t about whether or not my policies are a danger to public safety. This is about the governor wanting to control the politics across this state,” said Worrell, a Democrat. “And quite frankly, it’s dangerous, because this is a democracy, not a dictatorship.”
Worrell said the letter from the governor was part of his effort to build a case against her.
