The Republican Party of Florida is getting backlash from the father of one of those slain in a 2023 Pine Hills shooting for politicizing the tragedy, after attack ads placed blame on former Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell.
Court records offer no support for the ads’ suggestion that accused gunman Keith Moses should have been in jail in 2023 based on a 2021 arrest for a misdemeanor drug charge. Further, it is clear Worrell’s office did not mishandle the 2021 case. Moses awaits a murder trial in the Orange County jail.
The ads have a common refrain: Worrell’s practices criticized as soft on crime led to criminals — who had charges dropped or weren’t given harsh-enough sentences — going on to kill innocents.
The latest ad stars retired Orange County Chief Judge Belvin Perry — a Democrat who endorsed State Attorney Andrew Bain — and features images of Moses’ victims: T’Yonna Major, 9; Natacha Augustin, 38; and Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons, 24.
“Andrew Bain is supported by Democrats like me and [Orange County] Sheriff John Mina because he is a courageous prosecutor who locks up criminals and keeps us safe,” Perry said in the TV spot that began airing last week. “Monique Worrell? Disaster. She refused to prosecute career criminals and innocent people died again and again.”