The silence is deafening in Orange and Osceola counties after Monique Worrell ran for State Attorney of the 9th Judicial Circuit on November 5 and won despite being suspended from the same position by Governor Ron DeSantis a little more than a year earlier.
All of this began on August 9, 2023, when DeSantis officially fired Worrell, who had been in office since January 5, 2021, for “neglect of duty and incompetence.” He said this in a statement on his website.
But he took this statement down from his website since then, and the link now does not work. The statement can only be seen now through an internet archive.
This is also true for DeSantis’s order, Executive Order 23-160, which put Worrell on leave. The link either does not work or only takes you to the home page of DeSantis’ official website, and it could only be found in an internet archive.
As DeSantis said in his statement, “Worrels’s practices and policies have too often let violent criminals escape the full consequences of their criminal behavior, putting innocent civilians in danger.”
Attorney General Ashley Moody agreed and said, “Worrell abdicated her responsibility as the circuit is top prosecutor, and her actions undermine the safety and security of our state and Floridians.”
DeSantis’ 40-page executive order also says that Worrell’s past work as a prosecutor shows that she avoids giving minimum mandatory sentences for gun crimes, stops her assistant state attorneys from getting minimum mandatory sentences for drug traffickers, does not properly prosecute “serious crimes committed by juvenile offenders,” limits the number of charges someone can face for having child pornography, and more.
To make this case, DeSantis used “Article IV, Section 7 of the Florida Constitution” to name Andrew Bain to replace Worrell. Assisting State Attorney in the 9th Circuit under State Attorney Jeffrey L. Ashton is what Bain used to do before he became a judge in the 9th Judicial Circuit in Orange County.
The executive order said that Worrell could not work again until “a further executive order is issued” or until further notice. Because she was suspended, Worrell went to court with DeSantis.
For example, the Supreme Court of Florida still has its say on the court case that started when Worrell asked for her job on June 4, 2024. This is different from what DeSantis said and the executive order.
Worrell asked the court for a “writ of quo warranto and a writ of mandamus,” which means she wanted the court to say that she was allowed to be a public official and go back to her job as State Attorney of the 9th Judicial Circuit.
In the end, the Supreme Court of Florida turned down her petition and agreed with the suspension.
Even though the Supreme Court of Florida said no, Worrell still ran for the job she was kicked out of in the November 5 General Election. She ran against Bain, who had already been in office since he was added.
Now that the election is over, Worrell won with more than 56% of the votes in Osceola and Orange County, Florida. He will be the State Attorney of the 9th Judicial Circuit again.
No matter what claims have been made against Worrell, it is clear that the people have spoken.