ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — State attorney Monique Worrell is asking the Florida Attorney General for funds to bring in 13 more prosecutors.
This is after Worrell announced Thursday she’s limiting the amount of cases her prosecutors take on where law enforcement hasn’t made an arrest or received an arrest warrant.
Attorney General James Uthmeier called it “a blanket policy” that’s “contrary to the essential duties of a prosecutor”.
In a letter to Uthmeier, Worrell says the amount of backlogged non-arrest cases have reached what she believes to be an all-time high, more than 13,675 cases.
She told the attorney general she needs more prosecutors and additional staff to work through this backlog.
She’s defending her policy, saying the purpose of the policy is to encourage law enforcement to obtain an arrest warrant for a suspect instead of allowing an offender to remain on the street.
“My goal is not to increase work for law enforcement but to lean on our partnership for their support in building the strongest cases possible by conducting more thorough investigations and making appropriate probable cause determinations so that we may successfully prosecute the cases submitted to our office,” the letter reads.
Meanwhile, critics say her policy could lead to bad arrests or cases never being reviewed by a prosecutor at all.
WFTV reached out to state attorneys in Central Florida. The 18th Circuit, covering Brevard and Seminole counties, and the 7th Circuit, covering Volusia and Flagler counties, say they do accept nonarrest cases.
The 5th Circuit, covering Lake, Marion and Sumter counties, responded to Channel 9 after air Friday evening, saying they do accept nonarrest cases. However, this week, the office clarified it does have a policy limiting some general nonarrest cases. The office does accept homicide, sex crimes and child abuse, violent first- and second-degree felonies, and trafficking offenses. If law enforcement has a case that isn’t in the category, they can contact the division supervisor, the policy states.
“I’m on my fifth term consecutive term as state attorney for the seventh circuit, and we’ve accepted non-arrest as we call them the entire time,” said R.J.Larizza, state attorney of the 7th Judicial Circuit.
Larizza says taking on these cases are crucial.
“Because I’ll tell you my biggest fears, Ashlyn are one, to prosecute somebody we shouldn’t or not to prosecutes somebody that we should,” Larizza said. “I think nonarrest cases, I think if you don’t look at those, if you refuse to take them, one, they’re gonna arrest more folks maybe that shouldn’t be arrested. And secondly, you’re not gonna be able to prosecuted cases that should be. "
Critics of Worrell’s new policy say it severs the relationship law enforcement has with prosecutors to decide whether a case is prosecutable. Seth Hyman, who ran for Worrell’s seat, says prosecutors should review all cases.
“She’s effectively saying the state attorney’s office shouldn’t be handling these crimes, let the cops do it, let the deputies do it. And that’s not acceptable,” Hyman said.
“State attorney Worrell’s decision is brave and it’s what best protects the community,” said former prosecutor Ryan Vescio.
Vescio says Worrell along with other state attorneys are stretched thin on funding from the state, and Worrell is ensuring violent crimes are thoroughly reviewed.
“This definitely sends a wakeup call to the Legislature that if they want our communities fully protected, then they need to fund state attorneys appropriately,” Vescio said.
Larriza says these nonarrest cases are often resource and time intensive but managing the case load comes down to training prosecutors.
“To evaluate the ones that need the attention and the ones that don’t,” Larizza said.
WFTV reached out to Worrell’s office for an interview regarding this letter to the attorney general, but we have not heard back.
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