State attorney candidate Hyman: Worrell was ‘effectively at war with law enforcement,’ vows opposite

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (FLV) – Seth Hyman, a Republican candidate for State Attorney of the 9th Judicial Circuit, said newly suspended State Attorney Monique Worrell was “effectively at war with law enforcement,” and vowed to do the opposite if he wins the seat in the 2024 General Election.

Worrell declared her intention to seek reelection at an Aug 9. press conference after Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended her for “neglecting her duty to faithfully prosecute crime in her jurisdiction.”

The former state attorney called the move an “outrage” and said there “used to be a very high standard for the removal of elected officials.” She said she “did exactly what I said I would do.”

Hyman, the only person who has filed to run against Worrell as of Aug. 15, said he wants to have a “good relationship” with law enforcement, unlike Worrell and her predecessor, Aramis Ayala.

“They were effectively at war with law enforcement – and that’s the opposite of what needs to happen,” Hyman said.

For the last nine years, Hyman has been practicing criminal law, both as a prosecutor and a defense attorney. He has prior experience serving as an assistant state attorney in Orange County.

“I am the first viable Republican candidate to ever run for state attorney in Orange and Osceola County, there was one person who ran in 2008, who had never been a prosecutor before. So I have the experience in court as being a tough prosecutor and I was a tough prosecutor for three years,” Hyman explained.

If elected, Hyman has said his top priority will be to establish a “close relationship” with law enforcement. 

“You know, there are tools that the state attorney has. […] There are plenty of partners throughout law enforcement in Florida, that if the state attorney has a good relationship with them, they will want to work with them,” Hyman explained.

Hyman said if the state attorney doesn’t feel that they have the evidence for a case, it’s their responsibility to “touch base” and work with law enforcement to make sure that they get the evidence collected.

Hyman told Florida’s Voice that Worrell and Ayala had very “similar policies and procedures,” and were “overly lenient on people that were committed convicted of crimes.”

DeSantis’ office previously stated that the main factors that played into Worrell’s suspension included avoiding minimum mandatory sentencing for gun crimes and drug trafficking offenses, while limiting charges for child pornography and ignoring “valid and applicable” sentencing enhancements.

“Monique Worrell and Aramis Ayala both ran on the premise that the entire system was broken, that law enforcement are not to be trusted, or incompetent. I strongly disagree with with all of those notions,” Hyman said.

Hyman said Worrell and Ayala wanted to use the power of the state attorney to “kind of control how crimes are addressed in the criminal justice system.”

Previously while working as defense attorney, Hyman said he represented a victim of a “very heinous serious crime,” where the father of her children tried to kill her multiple times.

The victim told Hyman that she could not get Worrell’s office to file charges.

Hyman said “no matter how hard she tried,” the victim called multiple times a day, waited in the lobby for “hours,” but she was told to wait.

“Those are the kinds of experiences that I’ve had personally and other other prosecutors, other criminal defense attorneys, we talk, and the management of that office, under both Monique Worrell and Aramis Ayala, her predecessor was so horrible,” Hyman said.

Hyman said “everything just took forever,” and was delayed.

“Justice delayed is justice denied, regardless, and so I think that fighting for victims rights is the number one thing that the state attorney should be doing and protecting the community,” he explained.

Hyman pointed out that Worrell and Ayala were funded by billionaire Democrat George Soros, which was previously reported on by Florida’s Voice.

“I believe that Monique Worrell and Aramis Ayala, they’re two peas in a pod. They were leading based on their own personal political philosophy, and they were imposing that political philosophy on our community,” Hyman said.

Hyman said Worrell and Ayala were not “representing our community.”

“That’s not the the appropriate role for state attorney if she [Worrell] wants to run for legislature, Congress, by all means, go try to change the laws up there – but the state attorney has to execute the law as it’s written,” Hyman said.

Hyman pointed out Worrell was never a prosecutor.

“Her background is that she was a public defender for a couple of years. And that is a completely different perspective on the criminal justice system,” Hyman said.

Hyman said one of the reasons why he wanted to become an assistant state attorney nine years ago, was because he believes in public service, and thinks it’s “very important” that people are held accountable for their actions.

The candidate said he has been out in the community, attending public events, such as farmers markets, to talk to people about “what makes them feel safe.”

“I’m running because I want to protect our community,” Hyman told Florida’s Voice.

Hyman believes the State Attorney’s Office should take a leadership role in teaching the law to law enforcement officers.

He said with an “expanded understanding” of both the statutes and case law, strong cases “will get stronger” and “unnecessary arrests” will decrease.

If elected, Hyman said he would be a state attorney that “follows the law, because that’s necessary for defending victims and protecting the community.”

Hyman said he intends to do “everything he can” to “stop the “revolving jailhouse doors” that let repeat and violent offenders back out on our streets too soon.

“I don’t think people should be back out onto the streets too soon, because the vast majority of people that are accused of crime are eligible for bond, the vast majority of people that are convicted of crime will get out of jail or prison at some point, that is a reality,” Hyman said.

Last week, DeSantis also announced the appointment of Andrew Bain to take over the role of Orange-Osceola State Attorney.

In an interview with WFTV, Bain said he already plans to run for the seat in 2024.

“God closed that door. I only know how to go one way,” Bain said.

The reporter said she was surprised by his answer, and noted he has only been in the position for a few days.

Bain said people in the circuit can “evaluate” him on his job performance .

“People of this circuit can evaluate me on the performance of the job performance, this job election just a job interview,” Bain said to the reporter.

Florida’s Voice asked Hyman his thoughts on Bain potentially running in 2024.

“At this point, the only two candidates that have officially put their names in for 2024 are Seth Hyman and Monique Worrell, so until that changes, I am continuing forward as I have for the last 6 months. If State Attorney Bain does file papers to run, then I will likely have a primary opponent at that time,” Hyman said.