ORLANDO, Fla. – The Florida Attorney General’s Office on Monday offered additional prosecutors to Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell’s office to help deal with thousands of backlogged non-arrest cases, according to Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.
Uthmeier, who was joined by Orange County Sheriff John Mina and statewide prosecutor Nick Cox at the news conference, made the announcement after Worrell implemented a new policy that limits the types of non-arrest cases her office would accept from law enforcement agencies.
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Worrell cited a backlog of more than 13,000 non-arrest cases that she said is siphoning resources from other criminal cases that are more viable for prosecution.
The Florida attorney general, however, said the policy “violates our constitution.”
“In this policy, she says that she doesn’t have the resources, and that’s why a lot of these non-prosecutions are going to take place,” Uthmeier said. “Well here this morning, we’re here to help ... we’re from the AG’s office and we’re here to give you help.”
Worrell announced the policy earlier this month when she said law enforcement agencies were sending thousands of “non-arrest” cases to her office that were not viable for prosecution due to an absence of independent witnesses, photos and videos of the crime, or identified victims.
Uthmeier said a team of at least four prosecutors will be available to help and that he hopes Worrell “will take that help.”
“We want to get rid of that backlog, those thousands of cases. And we want to make sure that dangerous people are put behind bars. We want to see bad guys go away,” Uthmeier said. “The people of Orlando, they don’t deserve to be in an unsafe situation. And unfortunately, in the past, that has happened.”
Mina thanked Worrell “for reaching out and asking for help” dealing with the backlog of cases.
“I know that’s not an easy thing to do. But this is the right thing, for Orange County, Osceola County and the Ninth Circuit here. We need to clear this backlog. We need to start working together to accept these cases -- some very serious -- and this is all about protecting the victims, right?” Mina said.
When asked why the Florida Attorney General’s Office is focusing efforts on the Ninth Circuit, which covers Orange and Osceola counties, Cox said, “There’s no problem anywhere else like there is here.”
“I mean, over 13,000 cases. That’s a remarkable number. That is an absolutely remarkable number. And I cannot imagine that was something that was just built up, you know, in the last month. I mean, that took a little bit of time. But that’s a remarkable number and it needs to be dealt with,” Cox said.
Non-arrest cases that will not be accepted by the state attorney’s office in the policy Worrell implemented include:
- Gun cases
- Violent felony offenses
- Defendants residing outside the county or state
- Mutual combatant cases with no injuries, witnesses or clear aggressor
- Violations of pretrial release, injunctions or stalking
- Misdemeanors not resulting in an arrest or a notice to appear in court
However, under the new policy, the state attorney will continue to accept other types of non-arrest cases such as:
- Homicides (including traffic homicides)
- Sex crimes
- Human trafficking
- Child abuse
- Drug trafficking offenses
- Animal cruelty
- Certain economic crimes
- Elderly exploitation, identity theft, insurance fraud, money laundering, bribery
- Civil citations
Before forwarding most cases to the state attorney’s office for prosecution, law enforcement officers typically gather enough evidence to make an arrest immediately or to request an arrest warrant from a judge. In certain cases, law enforcement can issue a defendant an order to appear in court in lieu of arrest.
But in circumstances where evidence of probable cause may be insufficient, law enforcement officers will occasionally forward the criminal cases to the state attorney’s office for “review.”