The Left tried to make the Pine Hills triple murder into a political cause celebre — right up until police arrested the alleged perpetrator. As Tom Jackson wrote in his VIP column last week, the White House and gun grabbers got very quiet indeed when the suspect turned out to be a known gang member with an extensive record of violent crime. “Gun safety” had backfired into a discussion of laissez-faire progressive prosecutors and “decarceration” policies — and Ron DeSantis pushed back hard at that time.

He’s pushing back even harder now. Today, his office released a demand letter DeSantis sent to State Attorney Monique Worrell for documents related to her decisions not to prosecute Keith Melvin Moses when she could have taken him off the streets. At the time of his November 2021 arrest for possession of distribution-level cannabis, Moses already had firearms charges and was on probation for previous violent offenses. Nevertheless, Worrell’s office declined to prosecute or hold Moses, and DeSantis wants to know why:

Most recently, on November 12, 2021, Mr. Moses was arrested in Orange County for “possession of cannabis < 20 grams.” The arrest affidavit states “[i]t should be noted that all three subjects have multiple firearm possession charges, to include Attempted First-Degree Murder and Armed Robbery with a Firearm and all had ski mask style masks on them or in the vehicle.” Further, our records indicate that Mr. Moses was on Juvenile Felony Probation at the time of this arrest, having previously been arrested for offenses such as Battery, Burglary, Larceny, Robbery with a Firearm, Possession of a Firearm, Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon Without Intent to Kill, and multiple instances of resisting an officer, among other serious arrests. Tragically, despite the clear threat that Mr. Moses posed to our community, you apparently made the decision to not pursue charges against him.

The failure of your office to hold this individual accountable for his actions – despite his extensive criminal history and gang affiliation – may have permitted this dangerous individual to remain on the street. Clearly, Mr. Moses should never have been in a position to commit those senseless crimes of last week. As we seek to learn valuable lessons from this heartbreaking event, we must determine if Mr. Moses was enabled by gaps in our sentencing laws that must be corrected, or, to be frank, your office’s failure to properly administer justice.

This demand letter fires a warning shot across Worrell’s bow, especially since DeSantis has already proven he doesn’t bluff about prosecutorial manipulation. DeSantis booted Andrew Warren out of his State Attorney post for pledging publicly to ignore state laws limiting abortion. Worrell’s gone much further than that, refusing to apply state laws in a case where a dangerous felon was allowed to go free and commit murders as a result. That is a more clear-cut case of insubordination and dereliction of duty, and DeSantis clearly wants to draw a line in the sand over it.

Ever since the story turned last week, Worrell has been trying to defend herself and her office for their failures to prosecute the firearms laws that are already on Florida’s books. DeSantis had already publicly criticized the way Worrell handled Moses, which prompted Worrell to characterize DeSantis’ criticism as “shameful” and “politicized.” That’s rather rich, considering the 24-hour stampede by Democrats from Joe Biden on down to blame the Pine Hills murders on a lack of laws controlling firearms.

That strategy may have backfired on Worrell. If she was bluffing, Worrell miscalculated badly. Now she will either have to produce all of the documentation on how her office handled Moses — DeSantis has the authority to order production, clearly — or defy DeSantis and get replaced with someone who follows the law. She may join Andrew Warren as former prosecutors in Florida, and this time with a body count. DeSantis isn’t playing around, and he’s not going to get played by the Left and the media this time, either.