The back-and-forth battle between Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala and Gov. Rick Scott continued on Monday when she sent a letter accusing him of not doing what he said he was going to do when it came to reassigning death-penalty cases.
Ayala wrote the letter in response to Scott’s letter last week, which questioned her handling of her first death-penalty case, against defendant Emerita Mapp.
She also filed a public-records request asking for Scott’s process in picking cases, essentially mirroring what the governor asked for last week. Ayala accused Scott of threatening due process.
“I too, stand with the victims of crime,” she wrote. “But I also stand boldly on, not just the Constitution, but all the Amendments to it, including the 14th Amendment.”
Her office missed the deadline to file its intent to pursue the death penalty, and Scott wanted to know if Ayala’s intent to seek the punishment was well-intentioned.
Ayala said it is, citing her second death-penalty case against an Orlando man accused of killing two people.
“By now, it should be clear to you that my office does consider the death penalty as a potential sentence in first-degree murder cases, and it should be obvious that I do, and have done, everything that I said I was going to do, including following the law,” she wrote. “… The irony here is that you are questioning my behavior when you are the one who failed to do what you said you were going to do.”
A spokesman for Scott called her response “completely insufficient.”
“What is especially troubling is her refusal to answer specific questions about her death penalty review panel,” spokesman John Tubbs said. “State Attorney Ayala needs to be more forthcoming with her office’s death penalty process to make it clear that she is going to follow the law and fight for victims.”
Scott started reassigning first-degree murder cases to Ocala-based State Attorney Brad King in March after Ayala said she wouldn’t be seeking the death penalty at all. But after the Florida Supreme Court ruled she must consider the punishment, she created a panel to review cases.
Its first case was Mapp’s, who was charged in the stabbing death of a man outside a Kissimmee hotel. Mapp ended up with a plea deal and received life in prison last week.
Ayala argued that Scott had the chance to reassign the case before the deadline passed, but did not. She said she advised Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office about the matter, which said the missed deadline would not hurt the case. But Bondi’s office said it was well after the deadline.
“She continues to demonstrate that she is incompetent and unwilling to handle capital cases,” Bondi said in a statement. “We will continue to lend support to any effort to follow the law and ensure justice is done in any homicide in the ninth circuit.”
dharris@orlandosentinel.com, 407-420-5471 or @DavidHarrisOS
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