“Bought and Paid For”: What a Judge Said at a Witness’s Sentencing

By Mrs. Eileen Hunter — about the author.

April 15, 2002. Vaccara Comanche — who nine months earlier had given investigators his statement about Tony Hunter — stands for sentencing on five burglary counts. The judge, reviewing his presentence report, says on the record: “He was kind of bought and paid for on this.” (Plea and sentencing transcript, No. 2000-F-1474; Bates Hunter 012239; the Comanche file.)

The same hearing produced another remarkable exchange: the court told Comanche, “You’re not a two-time felony offender. You are a four-time felony offender” — the prosecutor agreed the presentence classification was “a mistake” — and after walking the record, the court settled on three felonies. Two years later, Tony Hunter’s jury was told Comanche was a two-time felony offender: the very number the sentencing court had already corrected. (Same transcript; the informants page.)

The other half: these transcripts were obtained by counsel in March 2025; no court has yet ruled on what their non-disclosure means. The claim is the centerpiece of the writ now pending.