ORLANDO, Fla. — Ninth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Monique Worrell held a press conference and announced changes Thursday that would impact the way her office treats what they are calling “non-arrest cases.”

It would allow the processing of only certain non-arrest cases in order to help reduce a major backlog.

Worrell says that her office currently has about 13,500 non-arrest cases, which are cases where an arrest has not been made, mainly due to a lack of probable cause. 

She claims that excess non-arrest cases have been a problem for years, so much so that Worrell says she hired people to specifically sift through those cases during her first administration before her removal by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“And during that time, the individuals that I hired for that purpose were either let go or reassigned to other duties,” Worrell explained. “And the gains that we had made in reducing those non-arrest numbers during that time allowed those numbers to climb back up again.”

In 2023, DeSantis removed Worrell for what he called “neglect of duty and incompetence.” It came after a suspect with a significant arrest record shot and injured two Orlando officers. However, earlier this year, Worrell took her position again after winning an election.

Now that she is back in charge, Worrell said only specific non-arrest crimes are being accepted by her office.

Those include homicide, sex crime, drug and human trafficking, child abuse, animal cruelty, economic crimes, Florida Wildlife Commission cases and civil citations.

Non-arrest crimes that will no longer be accepted by her office includes misdemeanors where no felonies are alleged, gun cases, violent felony cases, mutual combatant cases, defendants residing out of county or state, and multiple pre-trial release/injunction violation/stalking.

No probable cause cases, “un-arrest” cases, delayed reports (from six to 12 months), cases where a judge denied an arrest warrant due to lack of probable cause, and offenders with open/pending criminal cases will also no longer be accepted moving forward. 

Worrell notes that those cases without an arrest or probable cause determination make it hard for her office to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

“I’ve never wanted to just be tough on crime, we also have to be smart on crime and I consider this another smart justice initiative where we can acknowledge the inefficiencies in our system and we take steps forward to ensure that we address those inefficiencies,” Worrell shared.

Criminal defense attorney Jose Rivas says he understands the thought but feels the move would call on law enforcement to try to become something they’re not — lawyers.

“And not all cases are black and white, there’s a lot of gray material where attorneys need to look at it, the State Attorney’s Office,” Rivas said. “And now you’re telling law enforcement you’re going to play lawyer and you’re going to have to determine whether we can prove this case without a reasonable doubt before you send it to us.”

Rivas says it may initially relieve some of their workload but feels more victims may go without seeing justice.

Worrell says it will still be a group effort with law enforcement to ensure that prosecutors can focus on getting to cases quicker so victims can get justice, and the state attorney and law enforcement doesn’t lose sight of dangerous offenders.

“So, I’m really looking forward to collaborating with law enforcement and their legal advisors to make sure that every case that comes through this office has probable cause so that we can go forward with doing everything we can to keep the community safe,” said Worrell.

Worrell calls this move a proactive approach to get dangerous people off the street, while Rivas thinks this may backfire, as it could call for law enforcement training and resources that don’t currently exist.