Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans are criticizing yet another woke prosecutor for a soft-on-crime approach that arguably led to three people being murdered, including a 9-year-old girl.
GOP officials slammed Democratic State Attorney Monique Worrell, whose election was backed by left-wing billionaire George Soros after a gunman with a long record was freed before he went on a shooting spree.
Last week Orange County deputies arrested Keith Moses, 19, the prime suspect in multiple shootings that killed 9-year-old T’yonna Major, 38-year-old Nathacha Augustin, and Dylan Lyons, a 24-year-old reporter for Spectrum News 13.
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Two other people were wounded, including Lyons’ videographer.
Moses’ record includes at least eight felony and 11 misdemeanor arrests.
DeSantis ripped Worrell for her unwillingness to protect the community from a career criminal.
“I cannot believe they let this guy — you have to hold people accountable,” DeSantis said in response to a reporter’s question. “I know the … state attorney in Orlando thinks that you don’t prosecute people and that’s the way that you somehow have a better community — that does not work.”
“And you have these people when they’ve had multiple arrests, multiple times where they could be held accountable, and you keep cycling them out into the community, you are increasing the chances that something bad will happen,” DeSantis continued.
“This was horrific beyond belief.”
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott also denounced Worrell and demanded that she be removed.
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“A woman, a nine-year-old little girl, and a bright, young news reporter were heinously murdered in Pine Hills by a vile criminal that never should have been on our streets. These innocent Floridians were the victims of past justice denied and a leftist, soft-on-crime approach that is spreading like cancer through America’s criminal justice system and taking countless innocent lives along the way,” Scott said in a statement on Friday.
“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Every prosecutor that chose to give this young criminal a pass should be fired TODAY, and State Attorney Worrell must immediately account for how her office failed to protect the community from a violent criminal and outline what she’s changing to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Some will say this is a horrible outlier in a system designed to give second chances,” Scott added. “Tell that to the families of the three slain Floridians that will never get a second chance at spending time with their loved ones.”
“In Florida, we believe in law and order, and any member of the criminal justice system that doesn’t shouldn’t keep their job. I urge state officials to look at every option available to force accountability on this office.”
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Worrell had defended her actions at a press conference last week.
Her office opted not to charge Moses in 2021 for possession of 4.6 grams of marijuana during a previous arrest.
“When you have a quantity that low, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement does not test the substance, and that means the State Attorney’s Office cannot prove the case.”
Yet investigators noted that as they approached Moses and two other men who they believed were smoking pot in a car in Pine Hills, one of them threw a gun out the window.
The gun turned out to be stolen. Deputies noted in reports that Moses and the other two had “multiple” previous charges for firearm possession, including for attempted first-degree murder and armed robbery. All three also had ski masks either on them or in the car.
Worrell explained last week that “nowhere in the state of Florida when a child is arrested, that the result of that arrest is a conviction.”
She added that she has proposed to state lawmakers that laws be changed to increase the time in custody so “children can be placed in programs when they commit violent offenses.”
Sheriff John Mina has said Moses will face a first-degree murder charge for killing Nathacha and that more charges will follow.
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