Alixandra Buckelew

Alixandra Buckelew is an Assistant State Attorney with the Broward County State Attorney’s Office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She is currently assigned to the Homicide Trial Unit. In addition to prosecuting homicides, ASA Buckelew handles cybercrime cases and is attached to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, prosecuting Child Exploitation, Child Pornography, Extortion and Sex Crimes cases.  

 

After graduating from the University of Miami with a degree in Business and a focus on legal studies, she went on to earn her law degree from Nova Southeastern University. ASA Buckelew is a member of the Florida Bar, New York Bar and New Jersey Bar.  ASA Buckelew began her career with the Broward County State Attorney’s Office in 2013 as a line prosecutor before being promoted to the Sexual Battery Unit, where she prosecuted sexually motivated offenses, including capital cases.  ASA Buckelew was promoted again where she became the youngest prosecutor ever to be assigned to the prestigious Homicide Trial Unit, where she remains prosecuting cases today.  ASA Buckelew has prosecuted numerous homicide cases, including capital punishment (death penalty) cases.  ASA Buckelew specializes in child-related homicides, gang-related homicides, and cases heavily focused on digital forensics.  This includes all technology and equipment commonly referred to as smart devices, including Apple Health Data.  ASA Buckelew has also successfully introduced rap lyrics as key evidence in several of her homicide prosecutions.  ASA Buckelew has prosecuted numerous  high-profile homicide cases that have been shown live on Court TV, to include the case where she successfully prosecuted the defendants responsible for the murder of well-known rapper XXX Tentacion.  ASA Buckelew is also the lead prosecutor for the upcoming retrial of the high-profile case wherein another well-known rapper, YNW Melly, is facing the death penalty after being charged with two counts of first-degree murder and witness tampering.  

 

The Homicide Trial Unit is responsible for the prosecution of all homicides committed in Broward County (excluding traffic related homicides), reviewing all officer-involved shooting homicides, reviewing all in-custody deaths, and prosecuting homicide cases that were committed outside of Broward County when specially appointed by the governor.  ASA Buckelew has prosecuted numerous cases in Miami-Dade County appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis.  In addition to ASA Buckelew’s prosecuting duties, she developed the Warrant Training Program for Broward County.  The Warrant Training Program was created to train both prosecutors and law enforcement officers on all types of warrants, with a strong focus on digital forensics, social media, and smart devices.  From the cloud to social media to cellphones and smart homes, the nature of criminal prosecutions has changed dramatically in just the past decade.  Since technology plays such a prominent role in today’s investigations and prosecutions, she helps bring this critical change into focus for her colleagues, law enforcement officers and the people of Florida.  ASA Buckelew is also responsible for creating all search warrant and arrest warrant templates used by law enforcement in Broward County. 

 

ASA Buckelew regularly lectures around the State of Florida for prosecutors and law enforcement agencies regarding all things warrants, digital forensics, cybercrime, social media and technology in criminal investigations.  Her warrants course is a fan-favorite at the ICAC conference in Orlando every year and at the Injury & Death Investigations Course, which is a 40-hour Salary Incentive Class on advanced death investigations.  This particular course has been reviewed, approved and certified by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission (CJSTC).  She also presents a version of this course for the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association (FPAA) on a regular basis.  Additionally, ASA Buckelew focuses on the benefits of open-source intelligence and how it can assist law enforcement in building their cases.  ASA Buckelew’s open-source techniques have led to identifying unknown homicide suspects in recent cases.  ASA Buckelew is passionate about her career as a prosecutor and teaching law enforcement how to better their investigations in this modern and ever-evolving technological world.  ASA Buckelew is persevering, determined, and tenacious in a courtroom.  Her attention to detail is unmatched and she is the proven go-to resource when you think you’ve reached a dead-end on an investigation.