Prosecutors have the power to essentially stop the use of the death penalty. How? By pledging not to charge any defendants capitally. It really is that simple. Prosecutors have total control over whether a case is tried as a death penalty case or a case with the maximum punishment of life without the possibility of parole. One prosecutor in Florida is doing just this to take a stand against the use of the death penalty in America.
District Attorney Aramis Ayala, the newly elected and first Black Female state attorney for Orange and Osceola Counties in Florida, has pledged not to pursue the death penalty in any case, according to Slate. In the same article, Ayala was quoted as saying, “While I have discretion to pursue the death penalty, I have determined that doing so is not in the best interest of the community or the best interest of justice,”
Carolina Justice Policy Center commends the stand against the death penalty taken by District Attorney Aramis Ayala. In North Carolina, where no one has been executed in over 10 years, we need district attorneys to join with the shifting consciousness of America and reject the death penalty as a form of punishment.
Read more on District Attorney Aramis Ayala’s courageous stand against the death penalty.