ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is urging the Orange-Osceola state attorney to withdraw the prosecution against a woman charged with murder after a deadly road rage incident, arguing that he believes she acted in self-defense.
“This morning our office is again putting State Attorney Monique Worrell on notice,” Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a video posted to X Monday.
A subsequent post on Uthmeier’s account showed the letter he sent to Worrell regarding his thoughts on the case against Tina Allgeo, 48, who is charged with second degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
[VIDEO: Woman now faces second-degree murder charge after deadly road rage shooting on Colonial Drive]
Mark O’Mara, Allgeo’s defense attorney, has contended that his client acted in self-defense when she shot and killed Mihail Tsvetkov.
“Most of the witnesses who we’ve talked to so far have said exactly what the video seems to support,” O’Mara reiterated in an interview with News 6 Monday. “My client was in her car when she was attacked by the guy who opened the door and started beating on her, and I think that’s an appropriate basis by which you can argue self-defense.”
[VIDEO: Woman accused in deadly Orlando road-rage shooting released on bond]
At a court hearing in March, surveillance video was played, appearing to show Tsvetkov opening the door of Allgeo’s car and reaching inside. O’Mara claimed Tsvetkov punched Allgeo while she was inside her car, before she picked up her lawfully owned gun and shot Tsvetkov.
Worrell, however, has argued that Allgeo instigated the road rage incident when her car hit Tsvetkov’s car. Allgeo claimed in a written statement that she accidentally struck Tsvetkov’s car while trying to call 9-1-1 and retrieve his license plate information, following an encounter in which Tsvetkov’s car had allegedly hit her car.
In his letter to Worrell, Uthmeier wrote that Allgeo’s actions “constitute justifiable self-defense.”
“State Attorney Worrell, who has historically not prosecuted a lot of cases she should have, did so here in a case against a woman who justifiably engaged in self-defense, justifiably stood her ground,” Uthmeier said in the video posted Monday.
His letter warned Worrell that her actions “likely constitute a breach of your ethical obligations.”
“And they may also constitute misfeasance, malfeasance, neglect of duty, and incompetence,” Uthmeier wrote.
In a statement responding to Uthmeier’s warning, Worrell released the following statement:
“Every day, the Attorney General’s inexperience with criminal prosecution becomes more abundantly clear; it risks the public safety and credibility of our criminal legal system for every Floridian. State Attorneys are constitutionally empowered to exercise discretion in determining when charges should be brought. That discretion requires prosecutors to evaluate whether sufficient evidence exists to establish probable cause, and whether the matter should properly be presented to a grand jury or court. In a homicide case, where one individual’s life has been taken, the gravity of the circumstances demands thorough evaluation. Florida’s self-defense laws, including the “Stand Your Ground” statute, provide certain immunities when the use of force is justified; however, whether that justification applies in any given case is a matter for judicial determination, not partisan politics. Prosecutors do not serve as extensions of the Governor or the Attorney General; we serve the people of our circuit in accordance with Florida law. The Attorney General’s attempts to intimidate or override independent prosecutorial judgment erode public trust in the impartial administration of justice.”
Orange-Osceola State attorney Monique Worrell
In an interview at his office Monday, O’Mara, who represented George Zimmerman in one of the most closely-watched criminal cases of the 21st century, said he was surprised by Uthmeier’s post.
“While I appreciate his opinion or perspective in this particular case, generally speaking, the attorney general and I are not on the same side of [cases],” O’Mara said. “We just look at the cases through a different lens.”
News 6’s Mike Valente asked O’Mara if he had any concerns that the attorney general weighing in on Allgeo’s case could backfire.
“I would much rather fly under the radar,” O’Mara said. “I don’t need to have the attorney general and the sitting state attorney tussling over me, my case, my client’s case, anything like that because I’d rather just do it the way it’s supposed to be done. I don’t want external source or pressures, be those political, social, whatever it might be. So I’m troubled by that.”
Last month, O’Mara filed a motion to dismiss the case against his client. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 30, when the issue of immunity from prosecution will be broached.
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