{"id":273280,"date":"2026-05-16T09:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T09:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/273280\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T09:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T09:02:13","slug":"central-florida-family-calls-for-manslaughter-case-to-be-moved-out-of-orange-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/273280\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Florida family calls for manslaughter case to be moved out of Orange County"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Brief<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The family of Carlos Perez, 32, who was shot and killed in Winter Garden, is calling for the case to be moved to a different county.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The family is accusing the State Attorney Monique Worrell of letting the alleged killer off easy with a 20-year-plea deal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Following backlash from the family and Florida&#8217;s Attorney General, the plea deal was officially thrown out of court on Friday, May 15.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. &#8211; After an accused murderer was offered a 20-year plea deal by Orange County prosecutors, the family of the man who died wants the case moved to a different county.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This decision comes after Savion Lambert was given a plea deal \u2013 in which he&#8217;ll spend 20 years behind bars \u2013 for the murder of Carlos Perez, 32.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">After Perez&#8217;s family argued against the plea, Lambert withdrew his guilty plea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">But, Perez&#8217;s family wants the case out of Orange\/Osceola County State Attorney Monique Worrell&#8217;s hands.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/673d7f49982e165be0677a33b60c24c7.jpeg\"\/>Who is Carlos Perez?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Carlos Perez was just 32 years old when he was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox35orlando.com\/news\/man-found-shot-dead-in-winter-garden-police-say-suspect-arrested\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"elm:link;elmt:article_link;slk:shot and killed in Winter Garden in 2024;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;shot and killed in Winter Garden in 2024&quot;}\" class=\"link \">shot and killed in Winter Garden in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Investigators said Savion Lambert pulled the trigger and tried to cover up the shooting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;If he was a friend and it was an accident, why didn&#8217;t he (Lambert) stay? Why didn&#8217;t he call for help? Why didn&#8217;t he take him to the hospital himself?&#8221; Daliana Perez, Carlos\u2019 sister, questioned.<\/p>\n<p>The plea deal<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lambert&#8217;s charges were reduced from second-degree murder to manslaughter, and he was offered a plea deal that would require him to serve 20 years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">State Attorney Monique Worrell \u2013 Osceola and Orange counties \u2013 said in a statement that the 20-plea decision was not offered through her office, but &#8220;through a plea to the bench.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1998fc1fcdc70b593daa442df1b84b80.jpeg\"\/>State Attorney Monique Worrell defends deal<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">What they&#8217;re saying<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Perez family said they were never consulted about that deal and it quickly reached the state level.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier weighed in publicly via a video that was posted on X:<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;A deal the victim&#8217;s family opposes that will result in Lambert spending 20 years in prison. That\u2019s not enough. There must be legitimate accountability.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">State Attorney Monique Worrell defended the agreement, maintaining that the 20-year sentence held Lambert accountable &#8220;beyond what the sentencing scoresheet required because the facts of the case and the interests of public safety demanded.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Lambert seeks new representation<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Inside the courtroom on Friday, May 15, the plea deal was completely thrown out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Lambert himself spoke out, telling the judge he wanted a new defense attorney.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When the plea was first presented to me, I turned it down several times but was pressured and repeatedly told this was the best option for me,&#8221; Lambert stated. &#8220;My concern is that I do not feel I was given enough time, information, or confidence to make such a serious decision.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The fight to move the case<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While the plea deal is a win for Carlos Perez\u2019s loved ones, they say they no longer want Monique Worrell&#8217;s office handling it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our lives are not the same anymore, and I want this case removed out of Orange County,&#8221; Daliana said. &#8220;To me, this is all a nightmare.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The family is actively pushing to have the entire case transferred to a different county.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">What&#8217;s next<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">There will be a hearing on June 1st at 10:00 a.m., where the judge will determine who will take over as Lambert&#8217;s new defense counsel and map out the next steps for the case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Source<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Information in this story was gathered from reporting by FOX 35&#8217;s Alexus Cleavenger and statements in Orange County courts on May 15, 2026. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief The family of Carlos Perez, 32, who was shot and killed in Winter Garden, is calling&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[116852,116853,28,30,29,6271,1335,23238,115344,6272],"class_list":["post-273280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-carlos-perez","tag-daliana-perez","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-monique-worrell","tag-orange-county","tag-plea-deal","tag-savion-lambert","tag-state-attorney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}