Candidates in the race for Orange/Osceola State Attorney will face off against each other today, in a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Orange County.
Veteran prosecutor Jeff Ashton, who resigned from the State Attorney’s Office after serving on the prosecution team in the Casey Anthony will debate his former boss and long time incumbent State Attorney Lawson Lamar. Today’s forum is one of only a handful of debates in which Lamar will participate.
Former prosecutor Ryan Williams who resigned from the State Attorney’s Office in August to run for office and longtime defense lawyer Joerg Jaeger of the Orlando law firm Jaeger & Blankner and also a former prosecutor, complete the slate of four candidates in the race.
A poll released earlier this week by the Maitland-based Kitchens Group, finds Ashton currently ahead of Lamar by 11 points. The survey also revealed that the Casey Anthony trial remains of interest to voters.
Today’s candidates forum will be moderated by Joseph W. Durocher, Barry University Law professor, former juvenile court judge and 9th Judicial Circuit public defender and takes place at the Sorosis Club, 5021 E. Livingston St., Downtown Orlando.