Suspended Florida prosecutor urges Ron DeSantis to reinstate him following judge’s ruling

When U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle issued a ruling on the suspension of Andrew Warren, the Democratic Florida prosecutor suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis, he was critical of DeSantis but also said that he did not have the power to give Warren his job back. Hinkle urged DeSantis to reinstate Warren and clearly viewed the suspension as political, yet ultimately left the decision to the Florida governor himself.

Warren is arguing that in light of Hinkle’s ruling, DeSantis should do the right thing and restore him as prosecutor. The judge, Warren is stressing, made it clear that he disagreed with the suspension.

According to Tampa Bay Times reporter Sue Carlton, Warren told that publication, “The court’s findings were crystal clear — I’d done my job extremely well without any hint of misconduct. The governor’s allegations were totally false and illegal.”

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Hinkle wrote, “If the facts matter, the governor can simply rescind the suspension. If he does not do so, it will be doubly clear that the alleged non-prosecution policies were not the real motivation for the suspension.”

Hinkle, Carlton notes in an article published by the Times on January 25, agreed with Warren that DeSantis was punishing him for his views. Warren was elected to his position by voters in his area, and he has been arguing that DeSantis needs to let him do the job that voters chose him for. The prosecutor’s defenders have noted that prosecutors have some discretion when it comes to choosing what to prosecute or not prosecute.

“DeSantis’ motives were central in Warren’s three-day trial to try to get his job back,” Carlton reports. “While the governor said the state attorney neglected his duties, Warren, a progressive Democrat, called his removal ‘a political stunt, a cheap trick to add one more misleading line to the governor’s stump speech’ in DeSantis’ expected run for president. In his ruling, Hinkle said a governor ‘cannot properly suspend a state attorney based on policy differences’ and issued a challenge to DeSantis.”

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Read the Tampa Bay Times’ full article at this link.