Page 5 - Florida Sentinel 9-16-22

Feature
Suspended State Attorney Andrew Warren To Be In Federal Court Monday
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
Suspended State Attorney An- drew Warren has said that he will be in Tallahassee on Monday to argue of wrongful suspension by Governor Ron DeSantis. The case will be argued before Judge Robert Hinkle.
“We are excited for Monday’s hearing to take this fight to the governor. As I’ve said from the be- ginning, there’s so much more at stake than my job. This is a fight for democracy — to make sure the governor can’t throw out the peo- ple’s votes and violate their free- doms. I look forward to getting back to doing the work the people elected me to do,” Warren stated.
Gov. DeSantis came to Tampa August 4, 2022, and held a press conference to announce that he was suspending Warren for not prosecuting all cases that come before him. He was joined by sev- eral Florida Sheriffs. The Florida Sheriff’s Association (FSA) has since filed a brief in federal court that they support the governor’s suspension of SA Warren.
Warren was elected twice as the State Attorney for Hillsbor- ough County’s 13 Judicial District.
Among the items DeSantis stated when he made the an- nouncement of the suspension, was against Warren’s statements on abortion and transgender care.
Also specifically included in the
ANDREW WARREN ...Suspended State Attorney
information about the suspension was the biking and pedestrian poli- cies. “Biking and Walking While Black” policies were in place dur- ing the era of former Chief (now Mayor) Jane Castor. Six years ago the Department of Justice said the policy disproportionately tar- geted African Americans.
Gov. DeSantis appointed Susan Lopez to replace War- ren. In one of her initial corre- spondences to the staff, Ms. Lopez said, “...effectively immedi- ately, any policy my predecessor put in place that called for pre- sumptive non-enforcement of the laws of Florida is immediately re- scinded.” She specifically pointed out, “This includes the bike stop and pedestrian stop policy...”
When contacted by the Sen- tinel, about this statement, Ms.
SUSAN LOPEZ ...Replaced State Attorney
Lopez’s emailed statement read: “Rescinding my predecessor’s policies where he unilaterally de- termined, without reviewing even a single fact in a case, that he would not prosecute was an im- portant step to getting this agency back to basics. We will evaluate every case law enforcement sends us and make a decision about whether to prosecute. Some cases will go forward. Some will not. This agency is no longer in the business of substituting its judg- ment for that of the legislature or law enforcement officers.” Susan
Lopez, State Attorney
Warren told the Sentinel: “We
worked with Tampa Police and community leaders to move away from the discriminatory and inef- fective policy of “Biking while Black,” while still protecting public
safety in cases involving pedestrian and bicycle stops. I’m disap- pointed that the governor’s ally, who has never received a single vote to serve this community, uni- laterally decided to move us back- wards.
“I’m proud of the productive re- lationship we’ve had with law en- forcement that led to crime going down and innovative policies that made our community safer and stronger. It’s troubling to hear the acting state attorney say she will be simply a rubber stamp for law en- forcement because everybody knows prosecutors are required to use their own judgment and dis- cretion to pursue justice,” War- ren continued.
“My office always reviewed the facts and circumstances of every case on a case-by-case basis, as prosecutors are ethically required to do. There was a written policy that clearly instructed attorneys to do this. The acting state attorney knows that policy exists because she worked in the office during my administration, so her saying oth- erwise shows she either didn’t fol- low it or isn’t telling the truth,” he stated.
Two weeks ago, several former and current judges and attorneys filed a brief in Tallahassee in sup- port of Warren, stating that the governor’s allegations to suspend an elected official were insuffi- cient.
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