ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier offered to send six state prosecutors to help State Attorney Monique Worrell’s office sift through a backlog of more than 13,000 non-arrest cases.
Worrell says she’s set to meet with Statewide Prosecutor Nick Cox on Tuesday on how the partnership will work.
“So, the cavalry is here. We’ve got a tiger team of prosecutors that we’re going to be sending to help out. We hope she will take that help,” Uthmeier said.
“When you have another prosecutor who’s struggling,” said statewide prosecutor Nick Cox. “Cases aren’t even being reviewed for prosecution. It’s time to worry, especially when there’s 13,000 of them.
The backlog is why Worrell implemented a policy limiting the cases her office reviews where law enforcement did not make an arrest. The Attorney General has repeatedly called it “soft on crime.”
Worrell says the State sending in prosecutors is just a “temporary fix”.
Worrell previously asked for 13 prosecutors on staff to sift through the backlog. She says without additional help, the backlog will build up again.
Another message Worrell wanted to send Monday—the backlog is “not a Monique Worrell problem.”
Worrell showed data, claiming this backlog dates to at least 2013 during Lawson Lamar’s administration to hers. Data shows every state attorney between that time and now has had about the same backlog:
• 2012 Lamar administration—13,459 non-arrest cases
• 2016 Ashton administration—13,110 non-arrest cases
• 2020 Ayala administration—12,660 non-arrest cases
• 2022 Worrell first administration -13,512 non-arrest cases
• 2024 Bain administration—13,459 non-arrest cases
“This problem has been allowed to grow and fester for decades,” Worrell said, stressing the need for a permanent solution.
She also addressed criticism that some cases, in particular domestic violence cases, will never be investigated under her policy.
She says of the 225 non-arrest cases her office received from Orange County Sheriff’s Office since the policy took effect, 85 were domestic violence cases.
Worrell says it’s up to law enforcement to determine probable cause and arrest the suspect to protect the victim before the violence escalates. She says it doesn’t help when law enforcement sends the case to her without an arrest to “sit on the shelf”. She says her office doesn’t have the resources to address the cases where officers haven’t made an arrest.
Sheriff John Mina says Worrell’s policy is “extremely dangerous” for the community.
“So our concern is that victims are being forgotten. You say your $700 bike gets stolen. And if we didn’t witness that, we cannot make a physical arrest. That’s why we file charges with the state attorneys office,” Mina said.
He says his deputies are stuck in a problem where the judge isn’t reviewing misdemeanor warrants, and now, the State Attorney isn’t reviewing non-arrest cases.
Mina said that’s why his agency asked Worrell to pause the policy so they can talk.
Worrell said Monday she’s not stalling this policy for now.
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