The prosecutor who gained national attention as a key player in the unsuccessful murder prosecution of Casey Anthony said Sunday that he committed no crime and never followed through with an affair on the cheating website Ashley Madison.
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As for State Attorney Jeff Ashton, said of his activity on the Ashley Madison site, “While I indulged my curiosity about the site, it never went beyond that”.
The announcement for the press conference came after Channel 9’s request for an interview regarding the initial published reports on the website East Orlando Post. I want to publicly apologize to each of them for this embarrassment and my blatant disregard for their feelings. Ashton emphasized that he has no intention of resigning from his elected position despite admitting to use his government computer at the Orlando County courthouse to use the website.
“These were incredibly stupid choices”, Ashton said, adding that the choices “had absolutely no impact on the performance of my official duties”.
A spokeswoman for the state attorney said he did not intend to answer further questions about his involvement, saying he was now involved in a murder trial.
“The only person I have to answer to is at home with my two kids”, Ashton said.
Last week two Canadian law firms filed a lawsuit for $578 million against companies which run Ashley Madison after a hacker group breached the security and exposed millions of memberships in the adult website. Ashton, who was a former prosecutor on the buzzed about Casey Anthony case, announced on Sunday that he had created an account on the popular cheating site.
He has three children with his current wife, Rita.
“I regret that I have given ammunition to those who seek to discredit the work our office does”, he said.
“At the moment, I am not very pleased with myself”, Ashton stated.
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Dunlap says the Ashley Madison site has been tied to prostitution in other parts of the country. He did choke up several times during the press conference, particularly as he mentioned his family and the embarassment it has caused them, Orlando Sentinel reported.
