ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is praising a judge after the judge rejected a proposed plea agreement for a man accused of fatally shooting his wife in 2023 in Orange County.
The state attorney’s office, however, said the victim’s family requested the plea deal to avoid a lengthy trial.
The case involves 48-year-old Hassan Adeyemo, who is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, 43-year-old Nanchin Adeyemo.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a home on Taxiway Circle on Aug. 26, 2023. Investigators said Hassan Adeyemo shot his wife, remained at the home and waited for deputies to arrive before he was arrested.
The case was delayed in 2024 after Adeyemo was found incompetent to stand trial. Following additional evaluations, doctors determined he was competent to proceed, and a judge agreed. Adeyemo later pleaded not guilty as the case moved toward trial.
A plea hearing was scheduled for Thursday, but Ninth Circuit Judge Eric Netcher rejected the proposed agreement.
Following the ruling, Uthmeier posted on social media, calling the proposed agreement a “sweetheart deal.”
“Today Judge Netcher in the Ninth Judicial Circuit rejected State Attorney Monique Worrell’s attempt to give a sweetheart deal,” Uthmeier wrote. He added that judges in the Ninth Judicial Circuit “need to keep pushing back on her reckless conduct.”
In a statement to News 6, Monique Worrell defended the proposed plea agreement, saying it would have required Adeyemo to serve 30 years in prison.
Worrell said the agreement was not a “sweetheart deal” and was requested by the victim’s family, who did not want to relive the events of the shooting during a lengthy trial.
“It was a resolution the victim’s family requested — a request rooted in the fact they did not want to sit through a trial that would force them to relive one of the worst days of their lives in open court, in front of strangers, for days or weeks on end,” Worrell said.
She also said the victim’s family deserves “better than watching their tragedy repurposed for political gain.”
News 6 contacted Judge Netcher for comment on the ruling but had not received a response. Adeyemo’s attorney told News 6 she did not have her client’s permission to discuss the case publicly.
Court records show Adeyemo’s jury trial is currently scheduled to begin in October.