Drama continues as Florida AG accuses state attorney’s office of leniency for ‘murderers and pedophiles’

ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has issued another scathing letter to Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell, this time accusing her office of “leniency toward murderers and pedophiles.”

The letter appears to stem from last year, when a man convicted of murder was sentenced to just four years in prison.

According to court records, that man — identified as Marcus Anderson — was arrested in December 2024 after a teen was shot and killed in Orange County. At the time, he was only 18 years old.

Originally, Anderson was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm, which Uthmeier claimed should have made him eligible for the death penalty.

However, Anderson was ultimately found guilty of second-degree murder, and the robbery charge was dropped. He was sentenced earlier this year to only four years in prison as part of a “youthful offender sentence,” court records reveal.

Last month, Uthmeier called out Worrell, blaming her for the outcome and claiming that she handed out “sweetheart plea deals to violent criminals.”

Worrell later responded to Uthmeier’s comments, saying that the court determined Anderson’s sentencing — not her or her office.

That said, Worrell also pointed out that “Stand Your Ground” was a potential defense in the Anderson case.

“Prosecutors do not operate in a vacuum...” Worrell said. “A Stand Your Ground claim materially affects the calculus of what a jury may or may not do at trial.”

[RELATED: Florida AG calls out Monique Worrell over 4-year sentence for murderer]

Regardless, Uthmeier took to X again on Wednesday afternoon, accusing Worrell of taking “zero responsibility” and claiming that she indeed has the ability to oppose “lenient dispositions for the undeserving.”

“On one hand, you emphasize that courts impose youthful offender sentences,” Uthmeier wrote. “On the other, you characterize prosecutorial discretion as insulating your office from any meaningful accountability for those sentences.”

Worrell again responded to the claims against her, providing News 6 with the following statement:

“The appointed Attorney General wants to talk about my record instead of answering for his own. He can’t explain why he’s more interested in scoring political points than doing the work of keeping people safe — so instead, he attacks the prosecutors in my office who show up every single day to do exactly that.

Let’s talk facts, since he won’t. Violent crime is down. Our prosecutors are in court securing convictions and holding offenders accountable, every day, without the theater.

I wasn’t overwhelming re-elected to play politics, and I’m not going to start now. My focus — our focus — has always been the people of the 9th Judicial Circuit. That means integrity. That means fairness. That means public safety, not manufactured press releases.”

State Attorney Monique Worrell

It’s not the first time that Uthmeier has put Worrell in his sights, though.

Just last year, he criticized Worrell when he claimed she had given a man a “free walk in the park” after the man was allegedly caught masturbating near children at a public splash pad in Apopka.

“It is an open-shut case. Why would you not bring charges?” Uthmeier stated at the time. “You’ve got video evidence, witness testimony; you’ve got this dad that saw this feet away, made sure all the other kids were going to be safe, handled it correctly. Justice needs to be served.”

[RELATED: Florida AG, Orange-Osceola state attorney take jabs at one another]

Worrell later responded to the Florida attorney general, claiming that she had no personal knowledge of the situation at the time. However, she added that the attorney who did handle it eventually determined charges couldn’t be brought after interviewing the victim’s father.

“(The father) confirmed that the child did not see anything and wasn’t aware of what was happening,” she said. “(The attorney) explained that based on the language of the statute, he could not charge the charge of exhibition — which would have been the felony in the case — and he also explained that because no other adult saw the defendant’s penis, that he could not charge any of the misdemeanor crimes of exposure."

[RELATED: Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell responds to AG’s criticisms]