“It Was a Blanket”: The Statement Released After Testimony

By Mrs. Eileen Hunter — about the author.

After Vaccara Comanche testified, the trial court reviewed an eight-page statement he had given Detective Harris on July 20, 2001 and ordered it released to the defense “due to several inconsistencies between it and his testimony at trial.” R. 1961. (Application for Post-Conviction Relief, March 26, 2026, Statement of Facts.) (Full transcription.)

On the stand, asked whether Mr. Hunter knew he was sitting beside Glen Dale Nelson during the conversation he described, Comanche had answered: “Quite naturally. I’m sitting right beside him.” R. 1971. In the July 2001 statement he had told Harris that Hunter did not know he was present: “It was a blanket like, ah, in front of the bed and so it was blocking me out because see, I was down there listening to the radio at first. Then when I heard them telling tell Glen Dale to come here, I pulled the plugs to my ear and turned the radio off so nobody would know that I was down there. Then they just started discussing it.” R. 1972.

Confronted with the difference, Comanche testified that it “wasn’t actually one conversation, but multiple conversations”: “sometimes he knew I was right there beside him and sometimes he didn’t know I was there.” R. 1972. Earlier he had testified that the conversation lasted ten minutes. R. 1952. (The Comanche file · the Pod 10 window.)

The other half: the jury heard all of it — the statement was released during the trial and cross-examination followed. The jury convicted, and the Second Circuit held the informant accounts were direct evidence and affirmed. The 2026 filings cite this passage in support of a different claim, undisclosed benefits, on which no court has ruled. (The three informants compared.)