For Immediate Release

Monday, March 20, 2017

More Than 120 Legal Leaders -- Including Two Former Florida

Supreme Court Chief Justices and Three Dozen Former Prosecutors
and Judges -- Sign Letter Expressing Concern with Governors
Removal of States Attorney Aramis Ayala from Death Penalty Case

Legal Experts Express Deep Concerns with Infringement on

Prosecutorial Independence

Orlando, Florida -- In a letter issued today, former Chief Justices of the Florida Supreme Court
Harry Lee Anstead and Gerald Kogan joined with three dozen current or former judges and
prosecutors and approximately 90 law professors in signing a letter to Governor Rick Scott
urging him to reverse his decision to remove State Attorney Aramis Ayala from the Markeith
Loyd case. The letter states that Governor Scotts effort to remove State Attorney Ayala
infringes on the vitally important independence of prosecutors, exceeds your authority,
undermines the right of residents in Orange and Osceola counties to the services of their
elected leaders, and sets a dangerous precedent.

VIEW THE FULL LETTER HERE:

https://www.scribd.com/document/342443894/FloridaSign-OnLetter

The letter also includes the signatures of five retired state Supreme Court Justices (Carlos
Moreno (CA), Joseph Grodin (CA), Bobbe J. Bridge (WA), Norman Fletcher (GA), and Emily
Jane Goodman (NY)), retired Superior Court Judges, and more than two dozen current or
former state and federal prosecutors.

The letter is also signed by approximately 90 law professors, including 16 from Florida. Among
the signers are Florida attorney Talbot Sandy D'Alemberte, President Emeritus and Professor
of Florida State University College of Law and the former President of the American Bar
Association, as well as former State Attorney for Florida's Fourth Judicial Circuit Harry L.
Shorstein, Melba Pearson (Immediate Past President of the National Black Prosecutors
Association and Former Assistant Chief of the Career Criminal & Robbery Unit for the
Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office) and Neal R. Sonnett (Former Assistant U.S. Attorney and
Chief of the Criminal Division, Southern District of Florida; Former Chair, American Bar
Association Criminal Justice Section; Former President, National Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers). Another signatory is current federal prosecutor William Jorden, who is
President of the National Black Prosecutors Association.
In supporting State Attorney Ayalas use of discretion, the letter reads, State Attorney Ayala, as
the duly elected, constitutional office holder of State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, is
solely empowered to make prosecutorial decisions for her circuit. Your executive order that
seeks to remove State Attorney Ayala from this position in the Loyd case--absent any showing
that her decision is violative of the state or federal Constitution--compromises the prosecutorial
independence upon which the criminal justice system depends.

The letter concluded by expressing concern in regard to the longer term precedent set by the
Governors infringement on an elected prosecutors exercise of her discretion: This action sets
a dangerous precedent. The governor picking and choosing how criminal cases are prosecuted,
charged or handled in local matters is troubling as a matter of policy and practice. Indeed, there
appears to be no precedent in Florida for this type of use of power.

For more information please contact Jon Crane at 203-982-4575, jon@criticalpr.com.

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