[Editor’s note: I have no idea whether the alibi witnesses were telling the truth or not, but notice the rationale offered by the fired prosecutor–“I had to break the alibis, otherwise a guilty man could be walking the streets.” This is his thought before he even spoke to the alibi witnesses on Facebook. No thought by him whatsoever to the fact that the alibi witnesses might be telling the truth (even if a 1% chance), and he might want to approach them in a fair and neutral way to get an honest reaction from them. Instead, he made up a lie that made them “go crazy” before he started trying to get them to give up their alibi testimony.]
From Cleveland.com: A Cuyahoga County prosecutor was fired this week after he admitted posing as a woman in a Facebook chat with an accused killer’s alibi witnesses in an attempt to persuade them to change their testimony.
Former Assistant County Prosecutor Aaron Brockler insisted in an interview at his Lakewood home Thursday that he had done nothing wrong and shouldn’t have been fired.
“Law enforcement, including prosecutors, have long engaged in the practice of using a ruse to obtain the truth,” said Brockler, 35, a county prosecutor since 2006. “I think the public is better off for what I did.”
County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty said he fired Brockler for good cause.
“This office does not condone and will not tolerate such unethical behavior,” McGinty said. “He disgraced this office and everyone who works here.”
McGinty continued: “By creating false evidence, lying to witnesses as well as another prosecutor, Aaron Brockler has damaged the prosecution’s chances in a murder case where a totally innocent man was killed at his work.”
Brockler was the lead prosecutor in the aggravated murder case of Damon Dunn, 29, of Cleveland, who was scheduled to stand trial for the shooting death of Kenneth “Blue” Adams on May 18, 2012, at an East Side car wash.
When the opposing attorneys exchanged witness lists in April in preparation for trial, Dunn provided the names of two women whom he said could testify that at the time of the shooting, Dunn actually was on the other side of the city at Edgewater Park.
Brockler said he considered the alibi witnesses the keys to the case, and talked with the lead homicide detective about strategies.
“I didn’t share my technique with him, but we talked about the importance of breaking the alibis,” Brockler said. “Unless I could break this guy’s alibi a murderer might be walking on the street. There was such a small window of opportunity, I had to act fast.”
Brockler said he engaged in Internet chats via Facebook with the alibi witnesses. He said he posed as a fictitious former girlfriend of Dunn’s who had given birth to Dunn’s child, which Brockler said caused the women “to go crazy”.
Brockler spoke with both of the women the following day, but did not divulge that he had been their Facebook chat partner.
He claims one woman told him, “This is bogus, I’m not going to lie for him.”
He also claims the other woman also changed her story, according to Brockler. “She said she wasn’t at the beach with him and she wasn’t going to lie for him. They both wanted the truth to be known,” Brockler said. The women couldn’t be reached for comment. Both are still listed as alibi witnesses by Dunn’s lawyers.
Brockler said he told Dunn’s defense lawyer, Myron Watson, that his client’s alibi had fallen apart.
He printed transcripts of the Facebook chats and put them in his file, with no intention of keeping them secret, he said.
Then, several days later he left the office for a two-month medical leave to have eye surgery.
While Brockler was away, he received a call from Assistant County Prosecutor Kevin Filiatraut, who had replaced Brockler on the Dunn case during his absence and questioned him about the Facebook chat transcripts that he found in the file.
“I told him that was me,” said Brockler.
Filiatraut informed his supervisors. McGinty said he acted immediately.
“As soon as we learned of Aaron Brockler’s actions we removed this office from Continue reading →
Fusi Mofokeng (left) and Tshokolo Mokoena were in prison for 19 years for crimes they didnt commit. Picture: Paballo Thekiso
Wrongful Convictions Blog 