Monique Worrell responded with fury on Wednesday morning after Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis suspended her from office as state attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit for dereliction of duty and incompetence.
DeSantis said that Worrell, who has been financed by a group tied to Democrat billionaire George Soros, has allowed murderers, other violent offenders, and dangerous drug traffickers to receive extremely reduced sentences and escape the full consequences of their criminal conduct.
Her actions that led to her dismissal include avoiding minimum mandatory sentences for gun crimes, avoiding minimum mandatory sentences for drug trafficking offenses, allowing juvenile offenders to avoid serious charges and incarceration altogether, avoiding valid and applicable sentencing enhancements, limiting charges for child pornography, and seeking to withhold of adjudication in situations not permitted under Florida law.
Worrell said at a press conference following her suspension that her office did “things unconventionally” and claimed that DeSantis was a “dictator” who has implemented “tyranny” and has “single handedly destroyed democracy in the state of Florida.”
“Along with me, two of my deputy chief assistants have been fired,” she added. “This should not happen in a democracy.”
Worrell said that the fact that DeSantis suspended her the day before school started was “evil” because she has kids.
She also went after law enforcement for giving DeSantis the information he needed to remove her from office, claiming they wanted her removed because she held them accountable.
Worrell said she had “uncovered just the tip of the iceberg” within law enforcement when she was suspended, and that’s why her deputy chief was fired.
Here is just one of Worrell’s cases: “In November 2022, 17-year-old Lorenzo Larry shot and killed his pregnant girlfriend, De’Shayla Ferguson. Larry had previously been arrested in May 2022 on several charges, including carrying a concealed firearm, possession of a firearm on school property, and criminal possession of a firearm by a minor. But he was released after all these arrests. Worrell’s office did not act on any of these charges until after he killed his girlfriend and their unborn child.”
#BREAKING: Gov. Ron DeSantis suspends Democratic State Attorney Monique Worrell, effective immediately, citing lack of mandatory minimum sentencings for various crimes, neglect of duty, and abusing discretion pic.twitter.com/O0Pe1UbTVH
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) August 9, 2023
State Attorney Monique Worrell responds to Desantis removing her: “If we are mourning anything this morning, it’s the loss of democracy. I am your duly elected State Attorney, and nothing done by a weak dictator can change that.” pic.twitter.com/3Jna55HNQG
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 9, 2023
