Florida’s law-enforcement establishment is siding with Gov. Ron DeSantis in Andrew Warren’s appeal of his suspension over alleged incompetence and neglect of duty, arguing the twice-elected Hillsborough County prosecutor impeded their ability to conduct police work.
Warren is before both the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit challenging his suspension, which DeSantis predicated on Warren’s alleged blanket policies against prosecuting low-level crimes, including those arising from bike and pedestrian stops. DeSantis also cited Warren’s decisions to sign open letters objecting to prosecuting abortion- and transgender-care crimes.
The Florida Sheriffs Association, Florida Police Chiefs Association, and Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association filed a 28-page friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court on Wednesday supporting the governor’s contention that Warren abused his prosecutorial discretion. Such filings allow nonparties to legal disputes to advise courts about their preferred outcomes.
“In the present case, Warren was not removed for exercising his prosecutorial discretion. Rather, he established policies indicating that his office would not prosecute certain classes of crimes or that there would be a presumption of non-prosecution for a variety of offenses, including charges arising from pedestrian and bicycle stops,” the brief says.
“These proclamations detrimentally impacted law enforcement’s ability to effectively safeguard the public and foreclose the use of valuable law enforcement tools that result in the discovery of those wanted for other crimes or the discovery of other, more serious offenses.”
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled on Jan. 20 that Warren never imposed any such blanket policies and that DeSantis acted for his own “political benefit,” to burnish his reputation as a law-and-order governor taking down a progressive prosecutor. Hinkle found “not a hint of misconduct” by Warren, but concluded he lacked authority to order his reinstatement.
“Perhaps as an unintended consequence, Warren’s non-prosecution policy encouraged lawlessness. Assuming that officers would no longer effect pedestrian and bicycle stops, drug dealers would be inclined to use these means to carry out their trade. In other words, the policy incentivized criminals to explore methods that would escape the attention of law enforcement because the state attorney announced that these cases would not be charged,” the brief reads.
This article originally appeared in florida phoenix