Florida State Attorney Monique Worrell defended releasing a man found not guilty by reason of insanity, saying he couldn’t afford outpatient treatment; critics point to past failures and call for renewed action.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier publicly blamed State Attorney Monique Worrell after a deadly shooting near Disney left three tourists dead. Authorities identified the suspect as 29-year-old Ahmad Jihad Bojeh, a man Worrell’s office acquitted in 2022 on insanity grounds for attempted first-degree murder with a firearm and aggravated battery.
Worrell’s record already drew sharp criticism when Governor Ron DeSantis suspended her in 2023 after she declined to prosecute Keith Moses, who later murdered three people including a nine-year-old. The Florida Supreme Court upheld that suspension, but Worrell ran again, won in 2024, and was reinstated the following January.
When asked about Bojeh, Worrell acknowledged that he was released on conditional terms and argued the failure of the arrangement was financial. She described a system where outpatient treatment costs rose and the defendant allegedly could not keep up with payments, which she says led to lapses in required care.
“Now, I have researched into this case since the latest event has taken place, and what I found is that that individual was sentenced to conditional release,” Worrell said. “That conditional release was that he would continue treatment with an outpatient community partner. My understanding is that that treatment was originally costing $7 a month, and that after a period of time, that $7 a molnth bill, went up to $150-plus a month, and that the individual was no longer in compliance with his treatment because of inability to pay for that treatment.”
Worrell added a cautionary note about broader mental health access problems while stressing the human cost. “And now, here we are, with individuals who need mental health treatment and don’t have access to that treatment. Bad things happen, and that’s what we’re dealing with,” she said. “I want to be very delicate in how I talk about this because we can never overlook the fact that three people are dead, three families are grieving and this is not an opportunity for political discussions.”
Those are powerful words, but they raise hard questions about accountability and the meaning of conditional release. If the release was contingent on continued treatment, readers are left wondering who enforced those conditions and what mechanisms were in place to ensure compliance.
This column isn’t a legal brief, but the phrase “conditional release” carries plain implications: conditions exist for a reason. If medication or therapy attendance was part of the deal, failing to meet those obligations ought to trigger prompt legal consequences, not a shrug and a public explanation about billing.
Worrell’s office chose not to hold Bojeh in 2022 and now points to his inability to pay for treatment as the proximate cause of subsequent violence. That argument shifts responsibility away from prosecutorial decision-making and onto systemic gaps in mental health funding and monitoring.
From a conservative perspective, this isn’t just about one tragic event; it’s about public safety and prosecutorial judgment. The state must be able to enforce conditions attached to release, or those conditions are meaningless. When enforcement fails, citizens pay the price.
Yes, it is. Ron DeSantis needs to suspend Worrell again.
There is a broader policy angle here that matters: conditional releases must come with realistic enforcement plans and funding paths for essential care. Leaving those details vague invites tragedy and hands critics a clear target.
We are left with three families grieving the deaths of brothers Robert and Douglas Kraft of Columbus, Ohio, and another unnamed man from Ohio. Those lives ended in an “event” most would call avoidable if earlier safeguards had been effective.
Worrell’s defense—grounded in treatment access and affordability—spotlights real problems in the mental health system, but it does not erase the need for accountability. Prosecutors who set the terms for conditional freedom must also ensure those terms are practical, funded, and enforceable.
