Orange County State Attorney Aramis Ayala believes Florida Governor Rick Scott overstepped his authority in pulling her from the Markeith Loyd murder trial. But Scott defends his decision to replace Ayala with fifth district state attorney Brad King.
“So the first thing I did was I asked her to recuse herself, and I talked to her and she said she wasn’t going to, so I moved the case to Brad King," Scott says. "Last week she said she was fine with that. Today she’s changed her position."
"And so the case has been assigned to Brad King, and that was the right decision,” Scott says.
King is an outspoken proponent of the death penalty—speaking many times in favor of non-unanimous jury sentences before legislative panels last year. More recently he applied to fill a vacancy on the state Supreme Court.
