A Florida prosecutor who recently reversed a blanket policy against executions has missed the filing deadline to pursue the death penalty in a murder case.
The Orlando Sentinel reports Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala issued a statement Friday acknowledging the lapsed deadline. Her office filed to seek the death penalty against 33-year-old Emerita Mapp on Oct. 31, but the 45-day deadline between indictment and that filing had passed.
Mapp's attorneys filed a motion Wednesday to stop the state from seeking the death penalty.
After Ayala previously announced she'd stop seeking the death penalty, Gov. Rick Scott reassigned her death penalty eligible cases to another prosecutor. The Florida Supreme Court upheld him.
Authorities say Mapp fatally stabbed one man during a robbery and seriously wounded another at a hotel in April.
