Story Archive

Ali-Bye-Bye

Damon Dunn, 29, was facing a murder trial in Ohio. But two women could testify that he’d been on the other side of Cleveland at the time of the killing. Then, said prosecutor Aaron Brockler, one of the women told him, “This is bogus. I’m not going to lie for him.” “They both wanted the truth to be known,” Brockler said. The previous day, both women had chatted on Facebook with someone who claimed to be the mother of Dunn’s child — but who was actually Aaron Brockler, a fact he didn’t reveal to the women when they changed their stories. “Unless I could break this guy’s alibi a murderer might be walking on the street,” he said. Brockler included the Facebook chats in his case file; he said he regarded the ruse as routine and made no effort to hide it from his colleagues. But County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty said Brockler, “by creating false evidence [and] lying to witnesses,” had damaged the case and disgraced the office. McGinty fired him and transferred the case to the state attorney general’s office. (AC/Cleveland Plain Dealer) ...Where did Brockler get the idea this was routine — and if he worked in your county, would he have been right?