April 25, 2017
Willkie filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the Innocence Network and Witness to Innocence in support of State Attorney Aramis Ayala’s quo warranto petition against Florida Governor Rick Scott.
On April 21, Willkie filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the Innocence Network and Witness to Innocence in the Supreme Court of Florida in support of State Attorney Aramis Ayala’s quo warranto petition against Florida Governor Rick Scott, a case that has attracted nationwide media attention.
State Attorney Ayala was elected to be the prosecuting attorney by citizens of the Ninth Judicial District of Florida, which includes the city of Orlando. Under Florida’s Constitution, only State Attorneys are expressly vested with the power to prosecute cases in their districts. After learning that State Attorney Ayala had decided against pursuing the death penalty in several eligible cases, Governor Scott issued a series of orders summarily removing Ms. Ayala from prosecutorial authority in over 23 death penalty eligible cases pending in her jurisdiction. Following her removal from these cases, Ms. Ayala filed a petition for an emergency writ of quo warranto with the Supreme Court of Florida, seeking a ruling that the Governor’s actions violated the Florida Constitution.
In the brief, Willkie argued that that the Governor’s Orders should be overruled because: (i) they undermined prosecutorial independence in politically unpopular cases, including the ability to exercise independent judgment to avoid executing a defendant who, it later turns out, was innocent; (ii) they improperly impinged on the State Attorney’s authority to allocate crime-fighting resources as she deemed fit; and (iii) they opened the door to political interference by the Governor in prosecutorial decision-making.
The Innocence Network is an association of organizations dedicated to providing pro bono legal services to prisoners for whom evidence discovered post-conviction can provide conclusive proof of innocence. Witness to Innocence is a national organization of death row exonerees, founded by noted anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean, that advocates for abolition of the death penalty.
The Willkie team was led by partner James Dugan and law clerk Steven Ballew.
