Andrew Warren for Hillsborough State’s Attorney

The State Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit is responsible for prosecuting all criminal violations of state law that occur in Hillsborough County. The office has nearly 300 employees, including attorneys, victim advocates, investigators and support staff. The state’s attorney is elected to a four-year term and is paid $218,939 a year.

State Attorney, 13th Judicial Circuit: Andrew H. Warren

Some voters may be tempted to treat this race as a dispute between a twice-elected Democratic state attorney and the Republican governor who removed him from office in 2022. But attention should focus on the significant differences in how Democrat Andrew Warren and the Governor The appointee to the position, Republican Suzy López, would lead the Hillsborough County State’s Attorney’s Office for the next four years. We see Warren as the best choice for voters in the November 5 election. His perspective on fighting crime and combating prejudice and unrest in the justice system is more in tune with a growing county and modern times.

Warren, 47, is a former federal prosecutor and private-sector attorney who was first elected as Hillsborough’s top prosecutor in 2016. A graduate of Brandeis University and Columbia University Law School, Warren took the position with a dual goal: targeting violent, professional criminals while giving lower-level offenders the opportunity to reform.

Warren’s data-driven strategy helped make the community safer and law enforcement more productive. Under his watch, Hillsborough’s overall crime rate fell, continuing a downward trend. At the same time, juvenile offenders got more mental health services, substance abuse counseling, and other support services they needed to avoid criminal prosecution.

Warren adopted a policy that allows people whose driver’s licenses were suspended due to outstanding debts to avoid prosecution by paying their obligations, sparing thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens from becoming entangled in court. He confronted racial discrimination in the justice system and instructed prosecutors to use greater discretion in deciding whether to take some nonviolent misdemeanor cases, such as panhandling, to court. These arrests disproportionately affect the poor and people of color.

Warren created a unit within her office to review the credibility of past prosecutions, resulting in the 2020 release of Robert DuBoise, a Tampa man who served 37 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Warren also spoke early and movingly in favor of restoring the right to vote to felons who have served their sentences. By combining reasonable judgment with humane acts, Warren made a positive difference for families and local government, showing the reach prosecutors have in stabilizing lives and communities.

DeSantis suspended Warren in August 2022, alleging that her policies and statements on misdemeanors and other matters constituted misconduct. Warren sued, and two federal courts dismissed DeSantis’ allegations as false. The courts determined instead that Warren’s removal was due to “political differences” with the governor, noting that “the dominant motivations for the suspension were the interest in unseating a reformist prosecutor.” A federal appeals court upheld a federal district judge’s finding that the expulsion violated the Florida and U.S. constitutions and ordered the trial court to consider relief. That case is still pending.

As this Editorial Board has written repeatedly over the past two years, DeSantis’s removal of Warren was an egregious abuse of authority that had the extraordinary effect of overturning an election. But this election for State’s Attorney is about looking forward, not back, and deciding who is best suited to serve the next four-year term.

Lopez, 47, is a former Hillsborough County judge whom DeSantis appointed to the bench in 2021. Before becoming a judge, Lopez was a career prosecutor and worked as an assistant state attorney in Hillsborough since 2005. She served as a trial attorney principal from 2008 to 2013. before being promoted to deputy chief of the narcotics division, overseeing all drug trafficking proceedings. Lopez also worked as an attorney on the Second District Court of Appeals, which hears appeals from lower court decisions in 5 of Florida’s 20 judicial circuits, including Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties.

Lopez, a graduate of Middlebury College and Suffolk University Law School, is running as a pro-police prosecutor and vows to seek “tough justice” and more assistance to crime victims. Lopez said he has rebuilt relationships with local law enforcement agencies that frayed under the Warren administration. While he promised not to be a “rubber stamp,” he told the Times that he would “support blue” and “would not experiment with the law or question its application.”

López is an affable and capable prosecutor who seems committed to raising the morale of the office. He also knows the Hillsborough court system and has contacts in Tallahassee, which are valuable to the circuit.

We see no difference between Warren and Lopez’s commitments to reducing serious crime and making Hillsborough a safer place. While elected prosecutors always brag about having flattering crime statistics, in reality, it is the police officers and sheriff’s deputies on the ground who have the greatest impact on fighting crime.

Warren, however, expressed a much better understanding of the role prosecutors can play in the criminal justice system. His strategy of doing more to keep nonviolent criminals out of the system and directing more firepower against career criminals is a smart approach to improving security. Although both police and prosecutors represent the State, they have different responsibilities in the criminal field. Prosecutors are supposed to use their discretion to act as a check on police actions. The fact that tensions sometimes arose between Warren’s office and local authorities does not show a failure in the system, but rather that the system worked.

Warren established strong connections with area leaders and civic groups, as evidenced by her campaign’s widespread support. He was accessible and firm on public records and open government, a sign of responsibility. Warren’s fight over her suspension also demonstrated that she is a fighter who will not be intimidated and, more relevant to this work, who recognizes the limit of the government’s authority to override fundamental rights.

The Tampa Bay Times editorial board recommends Andrew H. Warren as State Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit.