ORLANDO, Fla. — Registered Democratic voters in Orange and Osceola counties will have a significant role in shaping law and order policies come August 18.

Like the Orange County Sheriff’s race, there are no Republicans running for the job of Ninth Judicial Circuit state attorney.

That leaves Democratic voters to choose between the crowded field of party candidates, who include:

• Deborah Barra, current assistant state attorney of the Ninth Circuit 
• Belvin Perry, former chief judge of the Ninth Circuit 
• Ryan Williams, assistant state attorney in the Ninth and Fifth Circuits
• Monique Worrell, criminal justice attorney 

The winner among the four in the August 18 primary will have to face Jose Torroella in the November election. Torroella is running with no party affiliation.

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The winning candidate will succeed State Attorney Aramis Ayala, who decided not to seek a second term.

What's the role of a state attorney?

A state attorney is an elected official who oversees prosecutions of cases on behalf of the state of Florida. The state attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit oversees thousands of cases within Orange and Osceola counties.

“They look at misdemeanors, which are crimes punishable by less than a year in jail; felonies which are more than a year in jail, and juvenile justice,” said David Haas, a state and federal criminal defense attorney who served as an assistant state attorney and federal prosecutor for more than a decade in Central Florida.

Independent from law enforcement, the state attorney can also shape public policies through programs and selective prosecutions.

“Not everyone who gets arrested gets fully prosecuted,” Haas said.

Sometimes the decision not to prosecute a case is for a lack of evidence or other issues, but Haas said a decision to not pursue a case can often also be a matter of how a state attorney decides to pursue policies.

“There’s a lot of discretion prosecutors are afforded,” Haas said.

While in office, outgoing State Attorney Aramis Ayala rolled out a series of projects. They include a diversion program for low-level drug crimes. Another program now reviews cases of potential past wrongful convictions.

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Ayala also introduced “Project No No” or “No Arrest, No Official Record,” which aims to prevent giving juvenile offenders a criminal record if charges are not filed.

It is the elected state attorney that ultimately decides which cases are prosecuted, which penalties they’ll pursue, and which youth will be tried as juveniles or as adults.

“All of that comes back to the local fabric of how this community functions and who you want in charge of pursuing that,” Haas said.

Perhaps the one policy that stands out during Ayala’s tenure is the refusal to pursue the death penalty in felony murder cases. It's a stance that led former Gov. Rick Scott to reassign some of her cases.

“There’s no coming back from that type of punishment, and if somebody has views or a belief system inconsistent with law or to the extent of how that law should be carried out, those need to be fully aired and vetted so the community can decide what kind of person they want to lead that office and follow through on that,” Haas said.