DeSantis Fires Soros-Backed State Attorney for ‘Neglect of Duty’
CV NEWS FEED // Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday suspended Soros-backed State Attorney Monique Worrell, D-FL, for her “neglect of duty” and “incompetence.”
Worrell had faced mounting criticism for refusing to fully prosecute many crimes. She was elected in 2020 to be the State Attorney of the 9th Judicial Circuit of Florida. Her campaign was boosted by a “last-minute” million-dollar fundraising blitz from a Political Action Committee (PAC), which was in turn largely funded by multi-billionaire George Soros.
The area Worrell was elected to serve encompasses Orange and Osceola Counties in the heart of central Florida and includes the entire city of Orlando.
Each of Florida’s State Attorneys is supposed to act as the chief prosecutor for his or her region, a role analogous to the District Attorneys of most other states.
However, according to a Wednesday Executive Order from the governor, Worrell did not do the job she was elected to do.
“During Worrell’s tenure in office, the administration of criminal justice in the Ninth Circuit has been so clearly and fundamentally derelict as to constitute both neglect of duty and incompetence,” the Order read:
Worrell has authorized or allowed practices or policies that have systematically permitted violent offenders, drug traffickers, serious-juvenile offenders, and pedophiles to evade incarceation [sic], when otherwise warranted under Florida law.
These practices or policies include non-filing or dropping meritorious charges or declining to allege otherwise provable facts to avoid triggering applicable lengthy sentences, minimum mandatory sentences, or other sentencing enhancements, especially for offenders under the age of 25, except in the most extreme cases.
Worrell’s practices or policies contravene the policies of the Florida Legislature as expressed in statute and undermine the safety, security, and welfare of the communities that Worrell has been elected to serve.
Immediately after Worrell’s suspension, DeSantis appointed Judge Andrew Bain to take over her role as State Attorney on an interim basis. The governor noted that he trusts Bain “will be a prosecutor that faithfully enforces the law and will keep the communities of Central Florida safe.”
DeSantis explained his decision by saying that he had “a duty to act – to protect the public from this dereliction of duty.”
He further elaborated:
It is my duty as Governor to ensure that the laws enacted by our duly elected Legislature are followed. The people of Central Florida deserve to have a State Attorney who will seek justice in accordance with the law instead of allowing violent criminals to roam the streets and find new victims.
DeSantis War Room, an X (formerly Twitter) account run by the governor’s Rapid Response team, justified Worrell’s suspension by citing the case of one violent criminal who murdered his girlfriend after he was released on probation by Worrell’s office.
“There are many tragic examples just like this,” the account wrote.
As reported by Florida’s Voice, Sen. Rick Scott, R-FL, agreed with his governor’s decision.
“She failed to do her job,” the senator said. “This is the right move. Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies are eroding our communities and families’ ability to feel safe.”
Brendon Leslie, the CEO of Florida’s Voice, tweeted a video of Worrell taken following her suspension where she vowed to “continue to fight” before raising her right fist into the air – a gesture often used by far-left violent extremist groups such as Antifa.
Worrell is not the first Soros-backed State Attorney in Florida to be suspended by DeSantis for failing to enforce the state’s laws.
In August 2022, the governor similarly suspended Andrew Warren, D-FL, the State Attorney of the Tampa-based 13th Judicial Circuit, citing his “neglect of duty.”
“State Attorneys have a duty to prosecute crimes as defined in Florida law, not to pick and choose which laws to enforce based on his personal agenda,” DeSantis said when announcing Warren’s suspension.
Warren and Worrell are part of a large network of Soros-backed far-left District and State Attorneys who have espoused “soft-on-crime” beliefs.
Other notable members of this group, who the New York Post in 2021 called “legal arsonists,” include State’s Attorney Kim Foxx of Cook County, IL (which includes Chicago), District Attorneys Larry Krasner of Philadelphia, George Gascón of Los Angeles County, Alvin Bragg of New York County, and the recently-ousted Chesa Boudin of San Francisco.
These “progressive” prosecutors serve a large number of major cities across the country. What all of them have in common is that they were elected due to hefty cash infusions from Soros-affiliated PACs. These monetary boosts have come in sums upwards of a million dollars – unheard of for most local elections.
Last year, the Post reported that Soros, who is in his nineties, said he has “no intention of stopping” his support for the so-called “reform-minded” attorneys.
