The prosecutor who gained nationwide consideration as a key participant within the unsuccessful homicide prosecution of Casey Anthony stated Sunday that he dedicated no crime and by no means adopted via with an affair on the dishonest web site, Ashley Madison.
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“I hope the public will judge me on my 35 years of service and not a bad mistake”, he said at an afternoon press conference Sunday.
Ashton said his actions had caused “stress and heartache” to his wife and children, but he did not actually meet anyone through the website, and it had no bearing on his work. Ashton claims he typically logged in using a personal laptop and through public Wi-Fi networks.
The politician made the announcement during a press conference after hackers released the names of thousands alleged clients of the site last month.
Ashton said despite having an account on the site, he never actually met anyone using it.
“I did something incredibly stupid and I should have been called out about it. They did the right thing”, Ashton said, before later explaining more.
Carl Court/Getty Images The Ashley Madison leak uploaded this week included 9.7 gigabytes of data including Florida state attorney Jeffrey Ashton’s home address and credit card information.
“I regret that I have given ammunition to those who seek to discredit the work our office does”, he said.
Ashton revealed no plan to resign from his elected position as an Orange and Osceloa County state attorney where he is prosecuting a murder trial. “I was taught that when you do something wrong, you stand up and you say you did”.
The veteran prosecutor was on the middle of the case towards Anthony, who was acquitted in 2011 of the homicide of her 2-year-old daughter three years earlier.
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This is a developing story and will be updated.
