By Mrs. Eileen Hunter — about the author.
The 2022 application states that on May 4, 2001 he “was arrested for unauthorized use of a moveable in connection with failing to return the red Ford F-150 pick-up truck he had rented from Enterprise on his credit card.” He was then held at the Ouachita Parish Correctional Center. (2022 application, Statement of Facts; case timeline.)
He was not behind the wheel. The application records: “When he was arrested, Lamont Smiley was driving the F-150 and Tony Hunter was riding in the passenger seat.” (R. 2173.) (Full transcription.)
The same paragraph describes a request made earlier that day: “Prior to Tony Hunter’s arrest, Detective David Harris contacted Enterprise Rental Car on May 4, 2001, and asked the manager… permission to seize the 2000 Ford F-150 pick-up rented by Hunter to process it for physical evidence in the triple homicide.”
Two days later, on May 6, 2001, Detective Harris interviewed Mr. Hunter at the Ouachita Correctional Center. (R. 182; the May 6 interview.) On May 10, investigators processed the truck. (R. 174; what the forensic record shows.)
The other half: the charge itself had a basis apart from the homicide investigation. As the application describes it, the arrest was “in connection with failing to return” a truck rented on Mr. Hunter’s own credit card, and the seizure was sought by asking the rental company’s manager for permission. The truck had been leased on March 7, 2001, “to get back and forth from work.” (R. 179; the red truck.)
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