Police interview detailed in second day of murder trial

Aug. 10—"I'm pretty sure you guys are wrong."

Those were the words that Kokomo resident Jesse McCartney told police during an interview earlier this year, just minutes after being arrested in the February 2013 shooting death of 21-year-old Destiny Pittman.

That police interview was one of several pieces of evidence the prosecution brought forth Thursday during the second full day of testimony in McCartney's jury trial.

McCartney, 36, is facing two counts of felony murder, robbery resulting in bodily injury, burglary resulting in bodily injury and conspiracy to commit burglary, all Class A felonies, as well as a Class B felony count of burglary, per online court records.

His co-defendant and brother, 32-year-old Joey McCartney, is facing the same charges and expected to go to trial next week.

On Thursday, Kokomo Police Department Det. Erik Fogg took to the witness stand and reiterated what he said Wednesday, that law enforcement was provided a tip last December by an individual who stated they were with Jesse the night Pittman was killed, though they were "scared" to come forward in the past due to an "alleged history" with Jesse.

That alleged history, Fogg noted, was the witnesses' romantic relationship with Jesse in 2013, in which they lived together on South Webster Street.

But it was her tip, along with Jesse's police interview and other documentation like Facebook records, that prompted investigators to issue an arrest warrant for the McCartney brothers back in March, Fogg testified Thursday.

Jesse was later taken into custody at his residence in Kokomo, Fogg noted, while Joey was apprehended in Kentucky.

It was around that point in Fogg's testimony Thursday that Howard County Deputy Prosecutor Thomas White Jr. introduced to the jury the Axion body camera footage of Jesse's arrest and subsequent police interview.

In that video, which lasted around an hour, Jesse is seen sitting inside an interview room at KPD as investigators ask him questions about the night Pittman was killed.

"This is crazy man," Jesse is heard saying on the video. "... I don't know this girl (Pittman). ... I didn't do it. It doesn't make any sense to me."

During the interview, Jesse also told investigators that he bought and sold several firearms over the years, including in 2013.

He also stated he owned at least one firearm that was reportedly the same caliber as the shell casing found at Pittman's residence the night she was killed, though Fogg said testing conducted on that firearm ultimately eliminated it from the case.

Jesse also told investigators, per the video, that he couldn't remember ever going to Pittman's residence at 815 James Drive.

However, once shown a picture of James Franklin — Pittman's then-boyfriend who also lived at the residence — he said he believed he had been at the residence once or twice in the past for a drug deal.

But that was always with another Kokomo man named Jeff, Jesse told police, who Jesse said was also a drug dealer.

"Jeff ... is the one that took me to that house," Jesse told police. "I remember him taking me to meet that dude (Franklin). Jeff contacted him."

On Wednesday, Franklin had told the court that the man named Jeff had been one of his primary suppliers of marijuana, but he reportedly "cut him out" in the months prior to Pittman's death.

Franklin also estimated that this detachment from Jeff was likely costing the man about $1,000 per week.

But while Jesse told police he was at Pittman's house on a prior occasion, he insisted in his police interview that he was not anywhere near the residence Feb. 7, 2013.

"I didn't do s---," Jesse told investigators. "... I don't care what you say. I'm telling the truth. I know for a fact I didn't do it. ... I told you everything I know."

And on cross examination, Defense Attorney Jeffrey Elftman asked Fogg to explain certain details of the video, specifically the police tactics used to try to obtain a confession from Jesse.

In parts of the police interview, Fogg told Jesse that he had cell phone records that placed him at the scene of Pittman's death, as well as an eyewitness account of seeing his vehicle parked outside the residence.

According to Fogg, those were police tactics legally used in order to elicit further facts, or confessions, from potential suspects.

"Your tactics weren't successful," Elftman told Fogg as he argued the defense's case. "You tried to elicit the truth, but it didn't work. ... In fact, he even gave you DNA, did he not?"

Fogg then nodded in agreement.

"That's correct," he said.