State attorney to pursue death penalty, sheds light on work with law enforcement

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  • Aramis Ayala
    Aramis Ayala
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State Attorney Aramis Ayala recently explained why prosecutors and law enforcement officers don’t always agree on how crimes should be charged and pursued in court.

Prosecutors have to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, she said, while law enforcement officers can make arrests and execute warrants based on probable cause.

The divergent standards of evidence and practice shed light on the riff between Ayala and Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson earlier this year over the murder of Nicole Montalvo - a St. Cloud woman whose remains were unearthed at her in-laws’ home in rural Osceola County.

The case was taken away from Ayala’s office last month by Gov. Ron DeSantis amid a public dispute between her and Gibson over the charges against Montalvo’s husband and father-in-law.

The men were named suspects in the woman’s murder by the sheriff in October have since been indicted for her death.

Ayala said a second-degree murder charge is customarily known as a “holding charge” when prosecutors are pursuing first-degree murder charges but need additional evidence or a grand jury indictment.

The Montalvo murder case was the latest case to be transferred out of Ayala’s office by the governor.

Former Gov. Rick Scott, now a U.S. Senator, began transferring death penalty cases to State Attorney Brad King in 2017, after Ayala announced that her office would not pursue the death penalty under any circumstances.

At a recent press conference, she said that her professional assessment of the death penalty had not changed but that her office is pursuing the death penalty in another high-profile domestic violence murder case in Osceola County. Anthony Todt told Sheriff’s Office deputies in January that he killed his wife and their three young children at the family’s home. He is being held at the Osceola County Jail on first-degree murder charges without bond.

A grand jury indicted him on four charges of capital murder and one count of felony animal cruelty for also killing the

All first-degree murder charges in Florida must be issued by a grand jury, she said.

A review team Ayala’s office also concluded that the death penalty should be Todt, said.

She said she established the death penalty review team after the Florida Supreme Court ruled that her office is required to consider death as a sentence

Ayala praised her staff and the Sheriff’s Office for their work on the Todt family murders, and said her office has been in contact with family members of the victims.

“I can’t imagine the pain and agony they’re going through, but we are going to do absolutely do all that we can to make certain that justice is served,” Ayala recently said on the steps of the Osceola County Courthouse.

“It’s my hope that they’re able to find some semblance of peace through this process knowing for certain that we are standing with them and standing with this community.”

Although evidentiary procedures differ among prosecutors and law enforcement officers, Ayala said truth, integrity, the law and justice are standards in every case.’