\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTen months into her second term as the Orange-Osceola state attorney, Monique Worrell is again defending her record amid concerns Gov. Ron DeSantis could suspend her a second time.The twice elected top prosecutor in the 9th Judicial Circuit is calling on Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier to stop making what she says are \u201cdangerous and defamatory\u201d statements about her. In the five-page letter obtained by WESH 2 that Worrell sent Uthmeier on Wednesday, she accuses him of \u201cintentional misrepresentation and interference\u201d in six specific cases being handled by her office.”You got it wrong in a recent case. You acted in error,” Uthmeier said in a September video posted on X.Uthmeier was criticizing Worrell\u2019s decision to charge Tina Allgeo with second-degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon during a road rage incident last December on Orlando\u2019s East Colonial Drive. “Under Florida law she justifiably stood her ground and acted in self-defense,” Uthmeier said in the video.Ahead of Allgeo\u2019s Stand Your Ground hearing scheduled for Oct. 30, Worrell writes in the letter to Uthmeier, \u201cTo claim that probable cause for second-degree murder “cannot exist” based solely on the facts cited in defendant’s motion is not only irresponsible, but a fundamental misunderstanding of prosecutorial ethics and Florida law.” A South Florida lawyer representing Worrell sent a separate letter to DeSantis. It said the attorney general\u2019s misleading statements compromise the safety of the state attorney and her staff, as well as their ability to prosecute those who commit crimes.”(Worrell) has decided not to press charges in some of the most gruesome and horrific child predator cases,” Uthmeier said during a news conference in September.Uthmeier called out Worrell for not prosecuting a 61-year-old man for performing a sexual act on a park bench near children at a public splash pad in Apopka. \u201cA conviction for lewd or lascivious exhibition requires proof that a child actually saw or sensed the act in question,” Worrell wrote in her letter. “In this case, the child was interviewed by trained forensic specialists and did not recall witnessing the alleged act.”The Attorney General\u2019s Deputy Chief of Staff Jeremy Redfern responded on X, saying in part, \u201cthe father of the minor victim confirms that there was never an interview with the child. That seems like a problem.\u201d\u201cI trust the word of the attorney who was assigned to this case,” Worrell said during a news conference last month on the decision not to prosecute. At the conclusion of her letter to Uthmeier, Worrell wrote, “Your campaign of misinformation and intimidation obviously seeks to manufacture a pretext for my removal.”DeSantis removed Worrell for \u201cneglect of duty\u201d in August 2023.She won reelection last November over Andrew Bain, who was appointed by the governor to serve as state attorney during her suspension.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Ten months into her second term as the Orange-Osceola state attorney, Monique Worrell is again defending her record amid concerns Gov. Ron DeSantis could suspend her a second time.<\/p>\n
The twice elected top prosecutor in the 9th Judicial Circuit is calling on Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier to stop making what she says are \u201cdangerous and defamatory\u201d statements about her. <\/p>\n
In the five-page letter obtained by WESH 2 that Worrell sent Uthmeier on Wednesday, she accuses him of \u201cintentional misrepresentation and interference\u201d in six specific cases being handled by her office.<\/p>\n
“You got it wrong in a recent case. You acted in error,” Uthmeier said in a September video posted on X.<\/p>\n
Uthmeier was criticizing Worrell\u2019s decision to charge Tina Allgeo with second-degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon during a road rage incident last December on Orlando\u2019s East Colonial Drive. <\/p>\n
“Under Florida law she justifiably stood her ground and acted in self-defense,” Uthmeier said in the video.<\/p>\n
Ahead of Allgeo\u2019s Stand Your Ground hearing scheduled for Oct. 30, Worrell writes in the letter to Uthmeier, \u201cTo claim that probable cause for second-degree murder “cannot exist” based solely on the facts cited in defendant’s motion is not only irresponsible, but a fundamental misunderstanding of prosecutorial ethics and Florida law.”<\/p>\n
A South Florida lawyer representing Worrell sent a separate letter to DeSantis. It said the attorney general\u2019s misleading statements compromise the safety of the state attorney and her staff, as well as their ability to prosecute those who commit crimes.<\/p>\n
“(Worrell) has decided not to press charges in some of the most gruesome and horrific child predator cases,” Uthmeier said during a news conference in September.<\/p>\n
Uthmeier called out Worrell for not prosecuting a 61-year-old man for performing a sexual act on a park bench near children at a public splash pad in Apopka. <\/p>\n
\u201cA conviction for lewd or lascivious exhibition requires proof that a child actually saw or sensed the act in question,” Worrell wrote in her letter. “In this case, the child was interviewed by trained forensic specialists and did not recall witnessing the alleged act.”<\/p>\n
The Attorney General\u2019s Deputy Chief of Staff Jeremy Redfern responded on X, saying in part, \u201cthe father of the minor victim confirms that there was never an interview with the child. That seems like a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI trust the word of the attorney who was assigned to this case,” Worrell said during a news conference last month on the decision not to prosecute. <\/p>\n
At the conclusion of her letter to Uthmeier, Worrell wrote, “Your campaign of misinformation and intimidation obviously seeks to manufacture a pretext for my removal.”<\/p>\n
DeSantis removed Worrell for \u201cneglect of duty\u201d in August 2023.<\/p>\n
She won reelection last November over Andrew Bain, who was appointed by the governor to serve as state attorney during her suspension.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ten months into her second term as the Orange-Osceola state attorney, Monique Worrell is again defending her record…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7886,2353,7920,2683,7911,28,7912,30,7918,29,7914,7916,7917,7915,7913,7919,7910,6280],"class_list":["post-7476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-campaign","tag-child","tag-decision","tag-desantis","tag-five-page-letter","tag-florida","tag-florida-attorney-general","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-law","tag-florida-news","tag-misinformation","tag-recent-case","tag-second-degree-murder","tag-sexual-act","tag-state-attorney-worrell","tag-tina-allgeo","tag-uthmeier","tag-worrell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7476","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=7476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}