Governor Rick Scott exercised his executive authority to reassign capital murder cases again on Aug. 30, reassigning two cases away from the state's Ninth Judicial Circuit and State Attorney Aramis Ayala.
- Ayala announced in March she would not pursue death penalty
- Scott reassigned Markeith Loyd case to 5th Circuit in March 2017
- Cases will again be reassigned to State Attorney Brad King
Following the pattern he established previously when he reassigned the Markeith Loyd case away from Ayala, the cases designated for reassignment on Aug. 30 will go to the Fifth Judicial Circuit and State Attorney Brad King.
Scott issued two executive orders to convey the reassignments. Executive Order 17-231 relates to the ongoing case of convicted murderer Jermaine A. Foster, who was convicted of two counts of first degree murder, one count of attempted first degree murder, and four counts of kidnapping in 1994. With regards to Foster, King will handle a pending motion for "postconviction relief" filed by Foster.
Executive Order 17-232 assigns King the task of handling pending prosecution for Robert Joseph Cardin. Cardin was indicted by the Ninth Circuit grand jury for two counts of first degree murder with a firearm related to the deaths of Cardin's mother, Martha Cardin, and his brother, Steven Cardin, in May 2017.
In March 2017 then-newly elected State Attorney Ayala announced that she would not seek the death penalty in any cases that came before the Ninth Circuit. Her unilateral announcement prompted Gov. Scott to use his authority to reassign cases to move capital murder cases to the Fifth Circuit.