Prosecutor uses Facebook to 'persuade' witnesses, now unemployed
Posted by: Jon on 06/07/2013 03:29 AM
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An Ohio prosecutor was fired from his position for posing as a woman in a Facebook chat, bad. Worse, it was with an accused killer’s alibi witnesses in an attempt to persuade them to change their testimony.
"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."
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.
"To me, this is all a massive overreaction," Brockler said. "I wasn’t some rogue prosecutor sitting behind a computer trying to wrongfully convict someone. I did what the Cleveland police detectives should have done before I got the file."
"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."
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.
"To me, this is all a massive overreaction," Brockler said. "I wasn’t some rogue prosecutor sitting behind a computer trying to wrongfully convict someone. I did what the Cleveland police detectives should have done before I got the file."
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