Worrell’s win part of national wave
Victory in Orlando another for progressive prosecutors in the US
Voters chose in favor of criminal justice reform when they overwhelmingly picked Monique Worrell for Orange-Osceola state attorney over a candidate who advocated for increased incarceration and a return to “tough on crime” prosecution.
“Therewas no splitting of hair,” said Worrell, a Democrat who beat non-party-affiliated rival Jose Torroella with nearly 66% of the vote, after having emerged from a crowded field of more moderate Democrats in August’s primary. “It was clear what he stood for and what I stood for. The voters overwhelmingly chose reform over those failed policies.”
Worrell, 45, will replace her current boss and supporter Aramis Ayala as the region’s top prosecutor in January.
The victory made Worrell part of awave of progressive prosecutors elected across the nation in states like California, Texas and Colorado, experts said. All pledged to focus lesson locking people up and more on providing treatment for those with mental illness and substance abuse disorders, said Alissa Marque Hey dari, deputy director for the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
“[Voters] chose Ms. Worrell, who has similar values as Ms. Ayala, when they were given the chance to change course,” Marque Heydari said. “… It speaks volumes to the strength of the movement that they chose someone more focused on less incarceration, on keeping young people out of the prison system and reducing the negative impacts on communities of color.”
In Florida, prosecutors with similar platforms to Worrell also beat their opponents in Broward and Hillsborough counties. But despite those wins and statewide protests against institutional rac-
“I’m excited. I think that it really shows where our electorate is. Criminal justice reform is not just a national issue, but it’s also a local issue for our constituents.”
ism and police brutality this summer, Florida still for the most part prefers the “law and order” approach, said Robert Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University.
Jarvis noted President Donald Trump’s win in Florida last week, which followed months of “law and order” messaging, and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposed “anti-mob” legislation, which critics told the Miami Herald would allow civilians to shoot and kill suspected looters.
“I think we’re going to see Florida trailing the rest of the country,” he said. “We’re maybe not as ruby red as Montana or the Dakotas, but I don’t see us as being at the forefront of this movement. … We have not yet made it into the 21st century.”
Others who favor change remain optimistic, including Harold Fernandez Pryor, a reformer who won the race for Broward state attorney.
He points to Jacksonville-State Attorney Melissa Nelson, a Republican who has pushed for “fairer, smarter prosecutions.”
“If you’re a reasonable person and you look at these numbers and howthe criminal justice system disproportionately affects people of color and poor people, you’ll see there’s something not right here,” he said. “It’s not exclusive to progressives and Democrats. You’re noticing there are some Republicans and conservatives looking at it and saying, ‘We need to change the system.’”
Some criminal justice stakeholders in Orlando see promise in a Worrell administration.
Worrell has a “mandate” from voters to implement her blueprint of reform policies, more so than Ayala did when she won in 2016, said Orlando criminal defense attorney Richard Hornsby, who has known Worrell since law school. He added that conservative communities could start adopting these policies once they see them in action.
“I have a very strong belief she will make the community not only proud, but I think she’ll make them feel secure,” Hornsby said. “… Her core is her desire for social justice in our community.”
Facing a field of experienced prosecutors in August’s primary, including former Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr., Worrell won with almost 43% of the vote. Her platform: reducing incarceration for non-violent offenders; holding accountable police officers who engage in serious misconduct; reforming cash bail to eliminate penalties on the poor; and keeping children out of the juvenile justice system or adult court when possible.
“I’m excited,” Worrell told the Orlando Sentinel. “I think that it really shows where our electorate is. Criminal justice reform is not just a national issue, but it’s also a local issue for our constituents.”
Worrell said her first-day priority for the office is tackling the backlog of criminal cases caused by the months-long shutdown of jury trials due to the coronavirus pandemic.
She’s still reviewing the reform policies enacted by her predecessor but said she plans to keep at least two: the Brady list, which is used to identify local cops considered untrustworthy to testify, and a panel that reviews potential death penalty cases.
Critics of Ayala’s administration have said she didn’t build relationships with local criminal justice partners. To combat this perception, Worrell said she’s reached out to Orlando police Chief Orlando Rolón, Orange County Sheriff John Mina and other law enforcement heads to “dispel any myths.”
“I said to them, ‘I understand that I alone cannot fix the problems that we have in our system, and it is going to take team effort to do that,’” she said. “I cannot start off in an adversarial position to my partners in this system.”
Mina, whose staff said he wasn’t available foran interview, said in a statement that he looked forward to building a relationship with Worrell and called the relationship between police agencies and the state attorney “integral to the safety of our community.”
“We need to work hard together to ensure that dangerous, violent criminals are removed from our streets,” Mina said. “That means law enforcement must make strong cases and the State Attorney’s Office must follow through with prosecuting those cases.”
Orange-Osceola Chief Judge Donald Myers Jr. said he looked forward to working with Worrell to deal with the significant backlog of cases. Since juries returned to the courthouse in October, about a dozen felony cases have gone to trial.
Hornsby doesn’t expect public backlash to Worrell’s policies but said he could see conservative judges appointed by DeSantis undermining her reforms.
“She may say incarceration is a last resort in a case, but a judge won’t accept a plea without a more severe sentence of some sort,” he said. “That’s the only way I can see real blowback in judges unwilling to approve the type of sentences her prosecutors are implementing.”
Myers said the job of a judge is to apply the laws passed by the state Legislature. Those statutes currently require mandatory minimum sentences and allow for cash bail to be imposed, even if the state attorney advocates against it for certain offenses or defendants.
“We each have our own lane we have to drive in,” he said. “… Their lane is to advocate, the court’s lane is to decide and the Legislature’s lane is to decide for all of us whether it’s an option or not.”
Rachel Mattie, secretary for the Central Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said local defense lawyers are excited that the reforms Worrell has promised will help prevent people accused of minor crimes from languishing behind bars.
“If you’re not an attorney and just a member of the community, you think only criminals go to jail,” she said. “It’s not until you actually start to work in the criminal justice system that you realize some of these offenses are very minor and jail is not a place for some of these offenders. I think there’s this stigma with anyone who has been placed in handcuffs where society is afraid of those people.”
— MoniqueWorrell