ORLANDO, Fla. — The State Attorney in Orange and Osceola counties said one term was enough for her.  Aramis Ayala is giving up her state attorney title in the Ninth Judicial Circuit.

What You Need To Know

Tuesday's Democratic primary election will determine which of the four Democratic candidates will face off against Orlando attorney and independent candidate Jose Torroella in November.

It's a position that carries a lot of weight in the community. As state attorney, the person elected oversees thousands of cases in Orange and Osceola counties — everything from capital cases, to misdemeanors and felonies. They decide who gets prosecuted after an arrest and have the ability to shape public policies.

Four Democrats are hoping to get your vote for state attorney on Tuesday: Deborah Barra, Belvin Perry Jr., Ryan Williams, and Monique Worrell.

In the days leading up to the election, Barra has spent hours on the campaign trail, holding signs and talking to voters. As the chief assistant state attorney, Barra spent 17 years under three different administrations and worked to increase diversity in the State Attorney’s Office.

“Today, I can go to that office and run it, and I think that separates me from all of the other candidates because nobody else can do it. If elected, they’re going to have to take six months, a year to figure out how it all works, figure out how the budget works — even how to keep the lights on. I know how to do that already so my first day, I can get to work on the policies that need to change,” Barra said.

Current State Attorney Ayala came under fire for her refusal to pursue the death penalty in felony murder cases.  If elected, Barra said she would sit on a panel that would decide if the death penalty should be considered.

“We will all vote and it will have to be unanimous, which means we’ll all have to agree. Because I believe if you can’t convince a room full of prosecutors to seek the death penalty then you have no business going before a jury to try and seek the death penalty,” Barra said.

At first, Ayala endorsed her second-in-command, Barra.  But recently, Ayala changed her support to candidate Monique Worrell.

Racking up big name endorsements from John Legend to Kamala Harris, Worrell spent most of her career as a criminal justice reform advocate and in that time worked also a public defender and trained future attorneys at the University of Florida College of Law.

“If we truly want to keep our communities safe, that means we have to keep our communities safe from wrongful convictions and mass incarceration. I believe I’m the most qualified candidate to do that, not only because I’m the only one who has experience as a criminal justice reform advocate, but I’m the only one that hasn’t contributed to what we’re now recognizing as a national problem and that is mass incarceration,” Worrell said.

While Worrell saiid she is the only one of the Democratic candidates running who is opposed to the death penalty, she said she would uphold it if elected but stressed that any use of it would need to be carefully thought out.

“Death is a permanent sentence that cannot be reversed, so we’ve got to get it right. The other thing is that, along with the rest of the criminal legal system, the racial disparities within the death penalty are present, and we have to recognize that and handle the death penalty with the gravity that it deserves,” Worrell said.

Now a personal injury attorney at Morgan & Morgan, Belvin Perry Jr. is no stranger to the duties and service in the ninth circuit.  Perry spent 12 years as an assistant state attorney and then 25 serving as a judge — including 18 years spent as the chief judge of the ninth circuit.

“If you examine my record, I’ve always delivered on behalf of the citizens of the ninth circuit. I’ve been an innovator. I’ve started diversionary programs, I’ve been a part of this community, worked in this community. Ask yourself, what have these other individuals done in the community?” Perry said.

Perry said he would expand those diversionary programs if elected.

Leading the court system through the economic downturn in 2008 prepared him to manage the state attorney office during this uncertain time now, he said.  And like the other candidates, Perry said he would seek the death penalty in serious cases that arise.

“If the aggravators outweigh the mitigators, in my opinion, based upon staff recommendation and consulting with staff. But the final decision on whether the death penalty would be sought would be left up to me, the elected official,” Perry said.

Serving as assistant state attorney and head of the Orange County capitol unit in the fifth judicial circuit, Ryan Williams is no stranger to cases that could involve the death penalty but said those decisions must be carefully weighed.

“I will seek it in those rare circumstances where it’s justified under law and by the facts, but I do think we should reserve that penalty for very certain and specific instances. And I will also say that I’m very aware that it’s been overused and it’s been discriminatory. And we have done it, gotten it wrong in Florida more than any other state,” said Ryan Wililiams, Democratic candidate for the ninth judicial circuit state attorney.

As prosecutor on well-known cases including Markeith Loyd, Bessman Okafor and now the Montalvo case, Williams has spent his career in the courtroom, prosecuting 167 jury trials in 13 years. He believes that experience can help him to lead. ​

“I am a person who has prosecuted police officers for use of force, and I’ve prosecuted people who’ve killed police officers. I’m very hard stances on violent crime but I’m the son of a convicted felon. So I think that this role, more than any other needs balance. You need to recognize that every situation is different and that our law has to be fair in all of them,” Williams said.

The primary will be held August 18.