HUGO, Colo.—A state investigator testified Tuesday he has obtained letters written by an inmate claiming that one of three men accused in a brutal prison slaying is innocent.
The letters have given new hope to attorneys for David Bueno, who are asking for a new trial after his first-degree murder conviction for the death of 40-year-old inmate Jeffrey Heird.
The testimony of Jay Kirby, a state Department of Corrections intelligence officer, came after he sent a memo to prosecutors telling them of the letters last week. However, the memo does not say which of the three men the inmate claims is innocent, and only references the name of Bueno’s supposed prison gang.
“Also, I know the Azteca involved in that case and he is innocent,” part of the letter reads, according to Kirby’s April 17 memo to Dan May, the Lincoln County chief deputy district attorney. “He is keeping his mouth shut because of his co-defendant.”
The revelation came a day after jurors spared Bueno from the death penalty. Bueno’s first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory life sentence.
The other two suspects in Heird’s death, Alejandro Perez, 30, and Michael Ramirez, 34, have not gone to trial.
All three were inmates at the Limon Correctional Facility when Heird was beaten and stabbed to death in 2004.
Kirby said the estimated 20 letters were written in March but testified he didn’t learn about them until April 16, a week after Bueno was convicted.
Kirby said prison officials obtained the inmate’s letters because they were reviewing his mail. He did not identify the inmate or say why he was being monitored. May agreed to give Bueno’s defense attorneys the two letters mentioned in the memo, as well as the name of the inmate who wrote them.
A three-day hearing on Bueno’s petition for a new trial is scheduled for July.
Bueno, 44, was convicted April 9 of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and acquitted of solicitation to commit murder.
Prosecutors said Bueno and Perez stabbed Heird 29 times and beat him severely because they suspected he didn’t warn other inmates that a drug bust was coming.
The new information hasn’t discouraged Heird’s mother, Mary Foote, who said she has “no doubts” the right man was convicted in her son’s death. She said she is satisfied with the guilty verdict, but wanted jurors to hand down the death penalty against Bueno to deter prison killings.
District Attorney Carol Chambers is also seeking the death penalty for Perez, who is charged with first-degree murder. Ramirez, accused of acting as a lookout during the slaying, is charged with murder but does not face the death penalty if convicted.
Lincoln County District Judge Stanley A. Brinkley earlier this month removed Chambers from the Perez case, saying he could not get a fair trial unless a special prosecutor is appointed.
Brinkley cited possible conflicts of interest for two attorneys with ties to the prosecution and questions about how Chambers was billing Department of Corrections for its costs in prosecuting the case.
Chambers is appealing the ruling.
