Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is once again slamming Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell of the Ninth Judicial Circuit for her soft-on-crime policies after a man allegedly opened fire at his ex-girlfriend in an attempt to murder her.
According to Uthmeier, Worrell softened the charge of Alain Barrett from first-degree attempted murder to a second-degree offense without a firearm after shooting at his ex a dozen times as she sat in the car in the drive-through of a Crystal Burger. One of those bullets allegedly struck the car's headrest directly behind the victim's head.
"She waived the mandatory minimums of the case, overriding the will of our state legislature and their desire to see dangerous criminals behind bars for as long as possible," Uthmeier said on Worell. "Now, the people of Orlando will be fortunate to see this guy face 10 years behind bars."
But this isn't the first time Uthmeier has accused Worell of being soft on crime. Last month, the attorney general criticized the Central Florida state attorney for refusing to prosecute a pair of child predator cases.
In one of the cases, a man was accused of masturbating while facing children at a public splash pad. Uthmeier indicated that Worrell, despite video evidence and witness testimony of the act, decided not to press charges.
Uthmeier also slammed Worrell for not pressing charges on a man for allegedly possessing "tons" of child pornography videos, including videos of toddlers getting raped and abused.
"State attorneys should not be bending over backwards to defend criminals. They should be doing everything in their power to protect our citizens," Uthmeier commented this week. "So again, we call on State Attorney Worrell - do your job, prosecute cases, put violent offenders behind bars for as long as possible so that we can keep our families safe."
