More than 100 legal experts, most of them death penalty opponents, and Ayala contend that Scott acted outside his executive role by reassigning the case, arguing that prosecutors like Ayala enjoy broad discretion in deciding whether to seek the death penalty in capital cases.
On Thursday, Ayala’s attorney, Roy Austin, requested that Attorney General Pam Bondi begin the process of asking a higher court to decide whether Scott has the authority to take the cases out of Ayala’s hands. The request came despite Bondi’s public condemnation of Ayala’s decision not to seek death in capital cases.
“By unconstitutional and unlawful executive orders issued by Gov. Rick Scott, State Attorney Brad King is wrongfully purporting to exercise the right of State Attorney Ayala to prosecute a number of cases in the Ninth Judicial Circuit,” wrote Austin, an attorney with the Washington, D.C.-based Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis law firm, in a letter asking Bondi to initiate what is called a petition for “quo warranto” writ.