'The cavalry is here': Florida AG offers to help State Attorney Monique Worrell clear backlog

ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier offered Monday to provide additional prosecutors to Central Florida to help clear a backlog of cases, the latest development in an ongoing feud between the Gov. Ron DeSantis ally and Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell.

“The cavalry is here,” he said at a news conference in Orlando as he stood alongside Orange County Sheriff John Mina. “We’ve got a tiger team of prosecutors that we’re going to be sending to help out.”

Uthmeier said he’ll dispatch four prosecutors and a “handful more,” though not the 13 Worrell said she needed to clear a backlog of 13,000 “nonarrest” cases, most of which she added may not be suitable for prosecution.

The attorney general’s actions come after he criticized Worrell, a Democrat, for enacting a policy limiting the review of cases in which an alleged suspect has not been arrested — her approach to trimming the backlog.

The cases that will be reviewed under any circumstance, according to her office’s three-page memo detailing the policy, are homicides, child abuse cases, economic crimes and trafficking offenses, among others. The rest, including misdemeanor cases and violent felonies, require at least an arrest warrant before they are to be taken on by prosecutors.

Worrell said last week she would be willing to rescind the policy if Uthmeier gave her the resources to handle the cases. Her office did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment but will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m.

“I have a feeling our team is going to pack a heavy punch, and if there’s truly an additional need for resources, if that’s truly an accurate statement, then we’ll look at helping her out further,” Uthmeier said.

The backlog of nonarrest cases dates back to former State Attorney Aramis Ayala’s administration and has grown since then, Uthmeier said. Worrell, when announcing her policy to reporters, said a case backlog has been a problem for even longer — pointing to a 2013 news report from when Jeff Ashton was top prosecutor outlining his concerns.

Records show her policy was influenced by one put in place by neighboring Fifth Circuit State Attorney William Gladson, whose district covers five counties including Lake. That policy, implemented in 2021 to address a swelling backlog amid the COVID-19 pandemic, specifies several offenses prosecutors will review without an arrest, but requires an arrest for other offenses. Both policies encourage law enforcement to reach out to prosecutors with concerns about individual cases.

Uthmeier disputed that Gladson, a Republican, has a similar nonarrest policy. He said Gladson’s policy doesn’t list offenses that are not going to be prosecuted and with a smaller backlog of about 500 cases, his office has not turned any away nor has it requested assistance.

But Statewide Prosecutor Nick Cox called the backlog of 13,000 cases in Orange and Osceola counties a “remarkable” number that needs to be dealt with.

“If we don’t get this done, it’s dangerous,” he said. “It’s a public safety issue and so we’re glad to do anything we can to help.”

Mina, the only local law enforcement leader to publicly speak against Worrell’s policy, thanked the state attorney for reaching out to Uthmeier’s office for help.

“I know that’s not an easy thing to do, but this is the right thing for Orange County, Osceola County and the Ninth Circuit here,” he said. “We need to start working together to accept these cases, some very serious, and this is all about protecting the victims.”

Concerned with how these cases are being handled, he pointed to an example of a nonarrest case from March 21, involving a lurker in east Orlando. In that incident, according to a report shared with the Orlando Sentinel, a man who had been asked to leave a martial arts studio earlier that day returned and was observing children’s classes. That man was then escorted out of the business and deputies were called, and an employee said he wished to press charges.

Despite the report saying there was probable cause to arrest the man for trespassing — a misdemeanor — he was not. The case was then forwarded to Worrell’s office but was later rejected, Mina said. While the office’s nonarrest policy says misdemeanors “where no felony is alleged” are not eligible for review without an arrest, it further notes issuing a notice to appear in court for such crimes would then qualify it as an arrest case.

But even if deputies had sought a warrant, judges won’t sign one for certain misdemeanors if officers didn’t witness the offense, Mina added. Chief Judge Lisa Munyon told the Sentinel Florida law establishes the conditions to sign warrants in crimes where only a misdemeanor is alleged — and unless an arrest is made or the state attorney decides to the pursue the case, a warrant can only be signed when a summons is issued and returned unserved.

In other words, she said: “It’s not that we won’t sign misdemeanor arrest warrants, it’s that we can’t.”

“Law enforcement is stuck in the middle,” Mina told reporters. If Worrell is “not going to accept the cases and the judges won’t review certain cases, then our victims are the ones suffering,” he added.

Worrell’s policy sparked a back-and-forth between her and Uthmeier, renewing concerns from her allies that DeSantis is looking to again remove the state attorney from office. In 2023, she was suspended and replaced with Andrew Bain after she was accused of incompetence and neglect of duty, a move upheld by the Florida Supreme Court.

But then, Worrell handily beat Bain in last November’s election. Weeks before taking office, she appeared to be the subject of a grand jury investigation but no charges have been brought and no update has been announced. When asked about that investigation on Monday, Uthmeier said he is not allowed to talk about it while DeSantis, who had a press event that same day, said he has no involvement with the proceedings.

But Uthmeier, who has called Worrell a “Soros prosecutor,” denied his office is playing politics by going after her. DeSantis, meanwhile, said Worrell does not “have the ability to pick and choose which laws you’re going to enforce.”

“We’re not running around the state looking for people to remove from office,” Uthmeier said. “We’re looking for people that aren’t doing their job, and as a prosecutor, your job is simple: Put bad people away and keep Floridians safe. It’s that simple. If you’re willing to do that, I got no beef with you.”

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