'Shameful': Ron DeSantis flattened by Florida state attorney over shooting criticism

During an appearance on CNN on Monday morning, Ninth Circuit Florida State Attorney Monique Worrell launched a verbal broadside at Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for politicizing a tragic shooting in her district.

Worrell was reacting to a letter from the governor who is making a big show of demanding why accused shooter Keith Moses, 19, was not in jail over juvenile offenses which, presumably, would have kept him from shooting and killing a woman, a nine-year-old girl and a journalist who was covering the earlier shooting.

Taking a jab at prosecutors who did not prosecute Moses on marijuana charges, a spokesperson for the Florida governor stated, "The shocking nature of these horrific acts is difficult enough to process, but even more galling is the fact that the man who was promptly arrested for these crimes has been allowed to remain on the streets."

Explaining the circumstances of previous Moses arrests, Worrell defended the prosecutors saying they "don't have a crystal ball," before lashing out at DeSantis.

"I will tell you there are many things that I have been working on since I've taken the role as state attorney and it's unfortunate that the governor has chosen to politicize this tragedy that's taken place in our community," Worell told CNN host Erica Hill.

"When I say 'our community,' I want to be very clear: I work in the Pine Hills community, I worship in the Pine Hills community, we serve in the Pine Hills community. So for someone sitting in Tallahassee to politicize a tragedy that my community is still mourning is absolutely shameful.

"But one of the things that I've been working on is changing the juvenile justice system so that we can have more accountability, longer time periods that individuals are kept in the juvenile justice system and something like that could help prevent another tragedy like this and that is within the governor's power to do and to effect," she continued.

"And he needs to do that instead of trying to gain a political moment by coming after me for something that I did nothing wrong in. If he really wants to see that this never happens again, then he should make every effort to make the changes that I've been recommending since I became state attorney."

Watch the video at this link.

CNN 03 06 2023 09 31 31 youtu.be