ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s first African American state attorney says she’s proud to have challenged the status quo with her opposition to the death penalty, even though she eventually lost a legal fight with Florida’s governor on the matter.
State Attorney Aramis Ayala told The Associated Press on Wednesday her decision not to seek re-election next year was made after the Florida Supreme Court sided with former Gov. Rick Scott in 2017.
Scott took away more than two dozen cases from Ayala office after she said she wouldn’t seek the death penalty, and Ayala took the fight all the way to Florida’s highest court.
Ayala announced Tuesday she would only be a one-term state attorney. She says she hasn’t decided what she’ll do when she leaves office in early 2021.
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