State Attorney Monique Worrell sent a letter to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier asking him to stop his “campaign” to remove her, and Florida lawmakers prepare for the potential end of health care subsidies.
Worrell sends letter to Uthmeier asking for him to end ‘campaign of misinformation’
State Attorney Monique Worrell sent a letter to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Wednesday, urging them to stop, what she calls, a “campaign of misinformation and intimidation.”
In recent weeks, Uthmeier has highlighted several cases in which he claims Worrell insufficiently prosecuted criminal defendants.
It was a similar concern that prompted DeSantis to suspend Worrell from office in August 2023.
Worrell sued to be re-installed and was unsuccessful, but ultimately won the job back in the form of re-election by the voters in November 2024.
In her letter, Worrell said that Uthmeier’s recent comments “erode public trust, intentionally mislead Floridians, and endanger the very rule of law you are sworn to uphold.”
She also rebuts some of Uthmeier’s past claims in her five-page letter, directly addressing his allegations in reference to State v. Tina Allgeo, State v. Kevin W. Chapman, and State v. Thomas L. Dolgos.
In the Allgeo case, Uthmeier called on Worrell to reconsider her decision to prosecute the defendant. Allgeo faces charges of second-degree murder resulting from a deadly road-rage incident.
Uthmeier’s letter asserted that Allgeo had a right to stand her ground in the state, saying that Mihail Tzvetkov struck Allgeo’s car in December 2024. Tzvetkov is then alleged to have driven away from the initial accident. Prosecutors say Allgeo followed him, ultimately hitting his car from behind.
Then, Tzvetkov is alleged to have left his car, opened the door to Allgeo’s car, and punched her.
Uthmeier asserts that action gave Allgeo the right to defend herself with a legally acquired firearm.
Worrell made the decision to prosecute Allgeo earlier this year.
“She intentionally struck his vehicle after he left the initial encounter,” Worrell said in March. “That is a forcible felony, which prohibits her from self-defense.”
In the Chapman case, Worrell argues that she was unable to prosecute the individual in question because the statute involved required proof that a child witnessed the lewd or lascivious act.
“Under §800.04(7)(a), Florida Statutes, and State v. Werner, 609 So. 2d 585 (Fla. 1992), a conviction for lewd or lascivious exhibition requires proof that a child actually saw or sensed the act in question,” she wrote in her letter Wednesday. “In this case, the child was interviewed by trained forensic specialists and did not recall witnessing the alleged act. Without that element, the statute cannot be satisfied, and, in fact, it would be illegal for my office to proceed with charging the defendant with a crime.”
Worrell then went on to argue in favor of her past decisions in several other cases before calling Uthmeier’s repeated comments on her record as “defamatory and dangerous.”
“They mislead the public about ongoing prosecutions and compromise the safety of my staff and witnesses,” she wrote. “They are also extremely harmful to my professional reputation and undermine my ability to execute my absolute authority as State Attorney.”
She ended her letter by calling on Uthmeier to bring his concerns to her directly, and to work together to protect Floridians.
“You and I may hold different views about justice, but our oaths are the same, to uphold the Constitution and protect the people of Florida,” she concluded.
Neither DeSantis nor Uthmeier immediately returned a request for comment on the story.
Florida lawmakers prepare for the potential end for health care subsidies
As the federal government shutdown continues, lawmakers in Tallahassee are grappling with some of the potential impacts in Florida.
One such effect is the potential cost increases for health insurance as a result of the end of federal subsidies created under the Affordable Care Act.
Democrats in Washington say they will not approve any funding deal that doesn’t extend the subsidies, while Republicans say an extension should be part of separate negotiations after the government is reopened.
State lawmakers received a presentation yesterday from Florida’s Department of Financial Services, which indicated potential rate increases of up to 34% for Floridians who keep coverage but lose the subsidies.
“What are we going to do, because this crisis is going to happen, and we’re all going to get blamed? And your office, two and a half weeks, open enrollment begins, and letters haven’t gone out. Nor have you given them any warning, because if they don’t open that letter and just assume they’re getting their coverage, their 51% increase is going to renew without their knowledge, and they’re not going to be able to change that,” Deputy Commissioner of Life and Health Insurance for Florida’s Department of Financial Services Alexis Bakofsky said.
Chief Actuary for Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation Kyle Collins explained to lawmakers why insurance companies requested, and got approval, for those rate increases:
“It’s, what we would call market morbidity of the average health of the population. And so what’s changing is with the subsidies expiring, members going from zero-dollar premium to a non-zero-dollar premium, what you typically see is people who need the coverage, they’re going to find that extra 20, 30 bucks. People who don’t need the coverage, they’re going to drop. And so then the average health of the remaining population is significantly worse, needing a much larger rate increase.”
The subsidies in question are currently set to expire at the end of the calendar year.