Opinion ID: 2827791
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Ricky Bluiett’s December 11, 2009 Interview

Text: In December 2009, a year after Hart’s arrest and a week before Hart’s and Swavely’s trial was scheduled to start, Bluiett contacted the prosecutor’s office and expressed reservations about his earlier identifications of Hart and Swavely. He said he was “pretty sure but not completely sure” Hart and Swavely were involved in the home invasion. Defendant Detectives Jeff Breedlove and Kevin Kelly re-interviewed Bluiett on December 11, 2009. The detectives asked Bluiett about his earlier identifications. At one point, they asked him whether he signed the photo array with Swavely’s picture in it. Bluiett said yes, but he explained: “Like I was pretty sure, but like I said, I’m not completely sure. I can’t a hundred percent say that that’s the guy.” He added: “I wasn’t reluctant. I kind of signed, but I signed because I guess that’s what I was supposed to do, you know?” The detectives asked Bluiett to explain, and he said: “I mean, I thought signing it meant that I had made like an identification. I didn’t know that signing it meant yes, a hundred percent sure that that’s that person. That’s the man but, you know?” Breedlove and Kelly then asked Bluiett whether he had ever told Mannina he was not completely sure of the identification. Bluiett said yes, explaining that he had told Mannina he was unsure about his identifications sometime earlier in the investigation when Mannina came to his house to follow-up on something. Critically, this conversation with No. 14-1347 7 Mannina occurred after Hart and Swavely had already been arrested. This is how Bluiett described that conversation: Officer: Did you tell Detective [Mannina] that you weren’t [completely sure]? Bluiett: I did later. Yeah. I actually did. We— she came to my house—she called me and she came to my house and she asked—she asked—we—we talked about something and I told her that I wasn’t completely sure that these were the people. And we had a long conversation about it. And she was like, “This is—.” She was just trying to convince me. And I told her— Officer: Can you tell me—can you tell me how that conversation went? Bluiett: She basically was—I mean—trying to convince me that it was them. And I was saying, “Well, you know, it’s— it’s these people’s life that I have in my hands right now and I can’t say I’m a hundred percent sure when I’m not a hundred percent sure.” And she was just trying to convince me that it was them and it was just like— Officer: Well, how did she—how did she try to convince you? 8 No. 14-1347 Bluiett: She just kept [inaudible] like “These are the guys. These are the guys,” you know? “If they don’t go to jail, they’re just gonna have a chip on their shoulder and be out here and think they’re invincible.” Stuff like that. We talked for like two hours— two and a half hours. App. 349–50. Three days later, on December 14, 2009, the state court held a hearing in Swavely’s and Hart’s criminal case. Swavely’s attorney summarized Bluiett’s most recent statement to police. The prosecutor admitted that Bluiett had told prosecutor Robinson that he felt he “was being pressured to be a hundred percent” certain about his identifications when in fact he was only “pretty sure.” The court then heard testimony from Bluiett, who said that although he did not feel he was being “pressured,” Mannina had come by his house and told him he needed to “be a hundred percent sure” about his identifications. Bluiett clarified, however, that no one had ever suggested whom to pick out during the photo array presentations. After hearing Bluiett’s testimony, the court asked the prosecutor whether the State had any evidence against Swavely or Hart apart from Bluiett’s identifications. The prosecutor told the court that there was no other evidence against Swavely, but he assured the court that three other witnesses had separately identified Hart. The court dismissed the charges against Swavely but declined to dismiss the charges against Hart. No. 14-1347 9