Gov. Ron DeSantis Suspends Another Woke Prosecutor in Florida

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 20: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to police officers abou
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Hannah Knudsen

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, seemingly taking a brief break from the presidential campaign trail, announced on Wednesday he is suspending woke prosecutor Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell.

DeSantis made the announcement during a press conference in Tallahassee.

“The state of Florida is a law and order state, and that means we support the men and women who wear the uniform who protect and serve. It means we have strong policies to hold criminals accountable for their misconduct,” DeSantis said, explaining that prosecutors “have a duty to faithfully enforce the law.”

“Once political agenda cannot trump this solemn duty, refusing to faithfully enforce the laws of Florida puts our communities in danger and victimizes innocent Floridians,” he said, laying out the case for suspending Worrell.

That includes the pattern or practice of avoiding minimum mandatory sentences for gun crimes, avoiding minimum mandatory sentences for drug trafficking, and limiting charges for child pornography, in part.

“Monique Worrell’s administration of criminal justice in the Ninth Circuit has been clearly and fundamentally derelict so as to constitute both neglect of duty and incompetence,” DeSantis said, describing the grounds for suspension:

Pattern or practice to avoid minimum mandatory sentences for gun crimes; pattern or practice to avoid minimum mandatory sentences for drug trafficking offenses; pattern or practice allowing juvenile offenders to avoid serious charges and incarceration altogether; pattern or practice to avoid valid and applicable sentencing enhancements; pattern or practice limiting charges for child pornography; pattern or practice for seeking withholding of adjudication in situations not permitted under Florida law.

As a result, DeSantis has appointed Judge Andrew Bain to replace Worrell, effective immediately.

“Judge Bain is currently a judge in Orlando. He is a native Floridian. He attended University of Miami where he played football and he received his law degree from Florida A&M Law School, and I trust that he will be a prosecutor that faithfully enforces the law and will keep the communities of Central Florida safe,” DeSantis concluded.

This is not the first time DeSantis has taken such action as governor, suspending State Attorney Andrew Warren this time last year as well after detailing the prosecutor’s disregard for the law “from refusing to enforce any prohibitions on sex change operations for minors, regardless of action from the legislature, to asserting that he would not enforce any laws relating to protecting the right to life in the Sunshine State,” as Breitbart News detailed at the time.

“It’s not for him to put himself above that [the legislature’s action] and say that he is not going to enforce the laws. We don’t elect people in one part of the state to have veto power over what the entire state decides on these important issues,” DeSantis said at the time.

“The constitution of Florida has vested the veto power in the governor, not in individual state attorneys, and so when you flagrantly violate your oath of office, when you make yourself above the law, you have violated your duty,” he continued, emphasizing that his administration will ensure that “laws are enforced and that no individual prosecutor puts himself above the law.”

At the time, members of law enforcement praised DeSantis for taking decisive action.

“It’s about ensuring our loved ones are safe. It’s about the victims and their voices. There aren’t Republican and Democratic victims, just victims. They matter. And they should be heard,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said at the time, adding that Warren had “acted as an adjudicator of all, as some type of supreme authority by reducing charges, dropping cases, and singlehandedly determining what crimes will be legal or illegal in our county.”

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