Dueling "friend of the court" briefs were filed Friday in the case of Gov. Rick Scott v. Florida Ninth Circuit State Attorney Aramis Ayala.
In 30 pages, legal minds from across the country filed an amicus brief to support Ayala.
- 45 judges and lawyers helped file brief supporting Aramis Ayala
- Ayala suing Gov. Rick Scott for pulling her from death penalty cases
- Victim's families file intent to file amicus brief for Gov. Scott
- READ THE DOCUMENTS: Aramis Ayala amicus brief | Gov. Scott amicus brief intent to file (.PDF)
“This case is not about the death penalty, it’s about the prosecutorial discretion of the Governor,” said O.H. Eaton Jr., former judge and death penalty law expert.
Eaton is one the 45 people who helped write and file the brief.
“If you look at the names, there are judges, justices, and prosecutors, lawyers, people from all over the United States that are participating in this,” said Eaton.
An amicus brief, which translates to friend of the court, is an opinion on a legal issue. The brief is given to the Florida Supreme Court justices to review.
In this case, the brief has to do with a legal disagreement between Ayala and Florida Governor Rick Scott.
In March, Ayala said she would not seek the death penalty in any of the current murder cases before her.
In response, Governor Scott removed her from all 22 murder cases and reassigned the cases to another district attorney.
Eaton and many others feel removing Ayala from the cases she was elected to prosecute is a violation of the law.
“I have read almost all of the cases that the courts have rendered in the state of Florida about this subject, and I have not found a single one that says the prosecutor's discretion can be overruled by the governor, so this brief takes the position that the governor overstepped his bounds,” said Eaton.
But family members of Lt. Debra Clayton, who was killed in January, and Sade Dixon, who was killed in December, feel very differently. They filed paperwork Friday to write an amicus brief of their own on behalf of Governor Scott.
Family members did not return our calls Friday night, but write in the brief they hope to file it by May 3.
The Florida Supreme Court justices do not have to act on these briefs, they are there for them to read and gather any useful information from it as they see fit.