I'm surprised this made the news. This is just typical prosecutor witness intimidation that happens everywhere. It's probably gone on forever, but it has gotten worse in recent decades as the war on drugs is turning us into a country of informants, with paid witnesses and witnesses in serious trouble who will do or say anything to save themselves. Prosecutors have gotten used to having threats hanging over the heads of their witnesses because they have this advantage in so many of their cases these days. They'll look for a way to do that in any case because it helps ensure a favorable outcome for them. I don't think it would be fair to say that they always or even most of the time demand witnesses lie for them, but they will demand the "truth" and the witnesses facing big trouble figure out that if they want to save their own rear ends the "truth" is whatever police and prosecutors want it to be.
---I'm surprised this made the news. This is just typical prosecutor witness intimidation that happens everywhere.---
Yes, but what's interesting is that in this case it takes place in the glare of the national spotlight.
I agree with you, nothing new, just the Internet is showing how wide spread the practice is.