Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s demand that murder charges be dropped in an alleged Orlando road rage shooting, a case of political intervention in the justice system so unusual it was criticized by both prosecutors and defense attorneys, led to a plea deal Thursday on a lesser charge and a shorter sentence.
What was scheduled to be a hearing to decide whether Tina Allgeo defended herself under Florida’s stand your ground law when she killed 42-year-old Mihail Tsvetkov in December instead resulted in Allgeo pleading no contest to aggravated battery with a vehicle. Tsvetkov had assaulted Allgeo after she ran into his car.
In exchange for her plea, Allgeo, 48, will serve a maximum 18 months in state prison, followed by a 10-year probation period that can be shortened to five years.
The deal between Allgeo’s lawyer Mark O’Mara and Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell came together over two days.
Speaking to reporters in the courtyard of the Orange County Courthouse, Worrell pointed to Uthmeier’s Sept. 8 ultimatum that the case be dropped entirely or she would face “further intervention” as the reason her office decided to quickly resolve the charges. Additionally, she said Uthmeier had not been in touch with her office to discuss the Allgeo matter, which would have “given him a more informed process by which to comment on the case.”
“This is not the accountability that I would have liked to see in this case; however, based on the interference of the attorney general, this is the justice that this case has come to,” said Worrell, who said prosecutors typically “should not speak on a case in a manner that can influence the outcome.”
O’Mara, who in the past has defended high-profile suspects like George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin, said he would have likely succeeded in arguing his motion to dismiss the case, though he admitted the aggravated battery charge was more appropriate than second-degree murder, the more serious offense of which Allgeo was accused.
Uthmeier stepping in, however, “was horrific — beneficial to my client, maybe, in some weird sense — but I don’t think it’s appropriate for any politician to get involved in the system,” said O’Mara, who had previously denied seeking the attorney general’s involvement in the matter.
Allgeo’s case was among several mentioned in letters to Uthmeier and Gov. Ron DeSantis sent by Worrell’s office earlier this month, following a barrage of attacks against the state attorney’s handling of certain cases in the months since Worrell was reelected. The letters accused Uthmeier of trying to “manufacture a pretext” to remove Worrell from office, as DeSantis did in 2023.
In a statement posted to X, Uthmeier reacted to the case’s resolution: “We’re glad to see that Orlando State Attorney Worrell took our advice and dropped the unjust murder charge against Tina Allgeo this morning. Ms. Allgeo clearly acted in self-defense. In Florida, we will protect the right to stand your ground against violent aggressors.”
Though Allgeo shot Tsvetkov as he attacked her in her car, prosecutors said that was the result of her own actions as she tried preventing him from leaving the scene of an accident involving their vehicles, and then followed him. The brief pursuit ended after Orlando police investigators said she side-swiped Tsvetkov’s car, prompting him to leave the vehicle and open her door to beat her.
“I truly believe that we would and should have won this hearing this morning because it is a burden of the state to provide clear and convincing evidence that Ms. Allgeo did not have the protection of the (stand your ground) statute,” O’Mara said. “And there are no facts that would support anybody ripping open the car door and beating somebody in their own car for any reason whatsoever.”
But Worrell insisted her office would have succeeded had the motion to dismiss been argued as scheduled, saying video of the moments leading up to the shooting would have proven this was not a self-defense case.
“This is a case of road rage where two people made some pretty bad decisions in their driving,” she said. “Those decisions escalated act after act after act, leading up to Ms. Allgeo in this case intentionally ramming her vehicle into Mr. Tsvetkov’s … and provoking a reaction from him.”
Still, O’Mara said Allgeo has no plans to appeal: “Though it’s troubling and difficult, she has come to terms to accept what she’s done.”
After Thursday’s hearing, Allgeo was released and was ordered to surrender herself at the Orange County Jail on Dec. 27, which O’Mara said will allow her to spend Christmas with her family before she begins her stint behind bars. Her loved ones sat in the gallery during the proceeding and joined her as she left the courthouse, walking together in tears ahead as they departed.
But before she was sentenced, Tsvetkov’s sister, Daniela Cvetkova, spoke before the court. In her written statement read from the witness stand, she described her brother as a car lover who sought to enter the automobile industry in Germany — until Cvetkova needed help.
“He came to support me during one of the hardest times in my life when I was pursuing my medical degree with a small child in my hands,” Cvetkova said. “He left behind his dreams and his familiar life to help build mine. That kind of loyalty and quiet courage was simply part of his character and was who he really was.”
To Allgeo, she added, “I have nothing to say to you.”
