PINE HILLS, Fla. – In the days since 19-year-old Keith Moses was arrested following deadly shootings in Pine Hills, questions have followed — including why he was on the street.
News 6 spoke one-on-one with Aramis Ayala, the top prosecutor in Orange and Osceola counties when Moses was under 18.
“The ‘why’ is not ‘why didn’t’ now that it’s in the prosecutor’s hand,” Ayala said. “Just because she holds the hot potato at the end doesn’t mean she’s responsible for heating it up on the front end.”
Ayala was elected as state attorney for Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit in 2016. She has been called controversial in the past for her approach.
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Two months after she took office, she refused to pursue the death penalty. In response, then-Governor Rick Scott ordered the cases should be sent to other districts, and Ayala decided not to seek re-election.
Her successor, State Attorney Monique Worrell, is now the focus of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has criticized how the prosecution of Keith Moses’ previous cases were handled.
On Tuesday, his general counsel wrote a letter to Worrell’s office seeking to determine whether Moses was enabled by gaps in our sentencing laws or prosecutors’ “failure to properly administer justice.” DeSantis’ office has requested all reports, letters, summaries, statements and emails regarding Keith Moses and other records.
“Our goal should be focused on the lives lost, the safety issue, not the political drama,” Ayala said.
Prior to Moses’s murder charges, his record shows he has been arrested repeatedly. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said he has a lengthy criminal history that includes at least eight felony and 11 misdemeanor arrests. The charges include possession of a firearm by a minor and robbery with a deadly weapon.
Based on records from FDLE obtained by News 6, all but one of Moses’ prior cases happened before Worrell became state attorney.
When asked if Ayala believes her office could have done anything differently, she responded, “The reality is, and I’m going to say this over and over and over again, it is not the prosecution alone that serves this issue. When the state does not receive enough evidence, there’s nothing that we can do.”
Ayala points to Moses’ arrest as an adult for drug possession and paraphernalia in November 2021.
According to court records, deputies searched him and found 4.6 grams of marijuana. News 6 asked Ayala that if she were presented this case and saw the drug charges, along with Moses’ record of violent crimes, what she would have done.
“Well, let’s look at the bill that the governor signed in 2018 regarding what levels of THC can be tested. It was below that amount. So I would have followed the law, which is what prosecutors are supposed to do, which is what State Attorney Monique Worrell has done,” Ayala said.
News 6 also asked if there are exceptions where a prosecutor could ask FDLE to test the marijuana anyway.
“The reality is when the law is clear, we follow the law,” said Ayala.
In an arrest affidavit for the 2021 case, the reporting deputy also notes a stolen firearm being tossed out of the car Moses and two other suspects were in. He also mentions all three suspects had multiple prior firearm possession charges.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office told News 6 it does not appear DNA warrants were obtained, despite the deputy writing in the report that he was going to author DNA warrants for all three suspects to compare to the recovered weapon.
When News 6 followed up with the sheriff’s office to ask why that didn’t happen, a spokesperson said they are looking into it. They also shared the following statement:
The sheriff’s office said the firearm was test-fired by the ATF in August of 2022 so that they could determine whether it had been used in other crimes. They are also checking to see whether there are any results from that comparison.
When Ayala was asked how the DNA testing may have changed the case, she answered, “There may have been felony charges that didn’t require us not to have the THC tested. You know, these are all realities that set in. So when there is a failure, we all have to own that.”
Ayala said that failure is on the system as a whole, a system where there are difficulties holding juveniles accountable. Until officials can do that, she said officials can’t make a difference.
“Children are a product of their environment, of all the different things and ways they have been treated, and yes, ultimately they do make their own decisions. We have to understand we play a part in it,” she said.
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