Last summer, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis remote Hillsborough County Public Prosecutor Andrew Warren, causing controversy and a major lawsuit. While DeSantis claimed he fired Warren for alleged failure to protect public safety, Warren says it was pure politics. “It has become part of the authoritarian play,” Warren recently told NBC News.

Now, another Democratic prosecutor in the state thinks DeSantis is after her.

Monique Worrell, State Attorney for Florida’s 9th Judicial District for Orange and Osceola Counties, said in a scathing April 28 letter that DeSantis “seeks to use his political agenda against me” and that she believes his office is trying to “build and justify baseless case against the prosecutor, with which he simply disagrees politically.”

DeSantis’ office has not publicly stated whether it is seeking to suspend Worrell, but her office has said recent actions by state officials indicate they are working to create a case for a suspension.

Worrell said state law enforcement officials requested data from her first two years in office, suggesting they are trying to cull incidents to build a case for firing.

Oddly enough, some government officials do not ask about specific cases, but, in fact, ask Worrell to file a case against herself. Late last month, State Committee member Debbie Galvin asked Worrell’s office for examples of cases where victims of human trafficking have not been brought to justice. “She didn’t specify what things she needed. It looks like she wanted us to identify cases for her,” Keisha Malfort, a spokeswoman for Worrell’s office, told HuffPost.

Galvin told a Worrell office employee that she had to give the information to DeSantis and had to give it to them by May 1st.

“RS. Galvin’s efforts confirm the fact that there is no policy that would justify my removal from office and the Governor’s team is conducting this witch hunt to set the stage for the removal of another duly elected prosecutor,” Worrell wrote in a letter. April 28. to Galvin “This request echoes similar requests from local law enforcement officials who requested data on my first two years in office. These requests are unprecedented.”

DeSantis’ office also focused on the February 22 Pine Hills shooting that killed three people, including a local journalist and a 9-year-old child. DeSantis’ office concluded that the accused shooter, Keith Moses, a 19-year-old black male, was a threat to the community and that Worrell’s office was negligent in failing to prosecute him for an earlier marijuana-related offense.

On March 10, Worrell announced that she would press charges against Moses. Nearly a month later, a grand jury charged Moses with first-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty.

When the shooting occurred, DeSantis immediately attacked Worrell.

“I know that the district attorney, the state attorney in Orlando, believes that you are not prosecuting people, and in this way you somehow improve your communities. It doesn’t work,” DeSantis said at a press conference in February.

Ryan Newman, DeSantis’ general counsel, pressed Worrell’s office for a Moses-related connection. The letter outlines Moses’ legal files, citing accusations such as battery, burglary, “repeated cases of resisting an officer” and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon without intent to kill.

DeSantis’ team has focused on one previous arrest that they say was not properly prosecuted. Moses was arrested in November 2021 for possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana and was still on juvenile probation, General Counsel DeSantis said in a letter.

The sheriff’s office said someone threw the gun out of the car before the arrest, and deputies claim to have seen Moses throw it, but the sheriff’s office did not initially send the gun for inspection.

Worrell said her office did not press charges against Moses in the case because the evidence did not prove a crime had taken place, especially without further evidence about the weapon.

DeSantis and other local officials used the “dog whistle” to undermine her authority as a prosecutor, she said.

“They used it as an opportunity to say that I was responsible and my crime policy was to blame, but that argument had no merit at all,” Worrell told HuffPost.

“It is in line with this narrative that I allow violent criminals to walk the streets. I think it’s pretty obvious that this is the current talking point for Republicans.”

Donna Patalano, a defense attorney and former general counsel for Suffolk County, Massachusetts, said DeSantis used the system to his advantage to advance his political agenda.

“Dah. DeSantis manipulated the process for his own political gain,” Patalano told HuffPost. “The fact that Florida doesn’t respect the electorate in its jurisdiction should be of concern to people who are considering his candidacy for a higher office,” Patalano said.

Senator Rick Scott (R-Fla.), a former governor, sent a letter of his own to Worrell’s office in which he said, “In too many cities in America, we’ve seen crime mitigation policies being sold to the public for the lie that lighter punishments. ..does more good than a quick accountability.”

Scott accused the “radical” left for what he called “unsuccessful philosophy”.

While Scott was governor, he removed Aramis Ayalaformer Orlando prosecutor, in 30 murder cases after Ayala announced she would not seek the death penalty in 2017.

Over the past few years, other conservatives have tried to take action to fire other prosecutors considered progressive. In Philadelphia, District Attorney Larry Krasner faced an impeachment attempt by Republicans in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, but their Efforts failed.

Recently, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee took an aggressive stand against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg after indicting former President Donald Trump on felony charges of falsifying business records.

On Thursday, Worrell’s office released crime statistics for the first quarter of this year.

“Our prosecutors received 90% of convictions in cases of serious crimes and 77% of convictions in general. Prosecutors have returned convictions in all 11 felonies tried in Oseola County, resulting in a 100 percent conviction rate,” Worrell’s office said.

In addition, six murder cases were tried, all of which resulted in convictions. Other major cases included sex crimes, drug trafficking and violent crimes.

But Worrell also has a reform agenda. Last year she introduced a 90-day Civic Quote for Adults pilot program. The program will provide for civil penalties rather than criminal misdemeanor charges for offenses such as drug possession, petty assault, disorderly conduct, retail theft and trespassing.

“We understand the injustice that lies within the legal system of criminal justice. We are challenging law enforcement on these issues,” Worrell told HuffPost.

“It’s just based on rhetoric and fear-mongering because research shows that when you make people fear, the pendulum swings the other way. And they will be able to continue the mass incarceration that has plagued this country for decades, if not centuries.”