ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell held a news conference marking her first year back in office, providing an overview of accomplishments and challenges faced by her office in 2025.
Worrell emphasized the significant reduction in the backlog of non-arrest cases, which dropped by 33% thanks to new policies and assistance from the state attorney general’s office. She reported that out of 2,610 cases processed last year, only 63 were deemed appropriate for prosecution.
A major focus of the conference was mental health and its intersection with the criminal justice system. Worrell spoke candidly about the system’s failure to adequately address mental illness.
“It’s really important to understand that studies have shown that our prisons and jails are the largest mental health providers in the country,” said Worrell. “That means people with legitimate mental illness are being processed in our criminal legal system.”
Worrell also discussed the case of Ahmad Bojeh, a suspect in a recent triple homicide in Osceola County. Court records show that the 29-year-old suspect was arrested in 2021 after allegedly shooting at a person and at random vehicles in a Kissimmee gas station parking lot, but was later acquitted by reason of insanity during Worrell’s first term.
Worrell explained that Bojeh was placed on conditional release requiring outpatient mental health treatment. However, she revealed that Bojeh eventually fell out of compliance with his treatment because the monthly cost rose from $7 to over $150, making it unaffordable.
“I would have liked to have seen him be involuntarily committed," said Worrell.
Worrell acknowledged ongoing challenges with mental health treatment funding and said she will advocate for legislative changes during the upcoming session in Tallahassee. She also highlighted efforts to reduce staff turnover and improve attorney training within her office.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier had already begun to criticize Worrell in Bojeh’s case, doing so Monday in a social media post, accusing her office of not aggressively challenging Bojeh’s insanity defense and allowing him to go free.
The news conference included a tense exchange regarding Worrell’s public disputes with Uthmeier. Worrell denied having an acrimonious relationship but confirmed there has been tension.
“I’ve reached out to the attorney general, as well as the governor’s office, on multiple occasions, asking for meetings. I will do that again before I go to Tallahassee,” said Worrell.
Worrell spent much of 2025 in a back-and-forth with Uthmeier. One of their earliest notable clashes in 2025 came that April, when Uthmeier criticized Worrell’s policy requiring law enforcement to make arrests in most cases before sending them to her office for possible prosecution and offered to lend prosecutors from his own office to help with a backlog.
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From there, leading up to the November election, Uthmeier would hold several more events to publicly criticize Worrell in different cases.
Worrell said that Uthmeier was doing this to build “another political witch hunt to overturn the will of the voters,” referencing when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis removed her from office in 2023 while accusing her of “refusing to faithfully enforce the laws of Florida.“ Worrell got the job back in the following November election after defeating Andrew Bain, whom DeSantis appointed to replace her.