FAYETTEVILLE — 5:34 p.m. update Heather Swain was found guilty about 5:20 p.m. Wednesday of being an accomplice to capital murder and kidnapping Ronnie Lee Bradley.
A Washington County Circuit Court jury found Swain not guilty of tampering with evidence.
Bradley was beaten and strangled to death in December 2012.
3:40 p.m. update: The jury has retired to deliberate. Swain did not testify. The defense called one witness, Anthony Swinford.
10:18 a.m. update: The state has rested in the trial of Heather Swain on charges of accomplice to capital murder and kidnapping in the beating death of Ronnie Lee Bradley.
Heather Carlene Swain spent two hours telling police a very different version of what she was doing the night two men beat and strangled Ronnie Lee Bradley to death in her car.
Swain, 36, is charged with being an accomplice to capital murder and kidnapping of Bradley in December 2012.
The interview came the same day Bradley’s badly beaten body, naked from the waist up, was found dumped in a driveway on Four Corners Road, near Prairie Grove. The temperature that morning had been 19 degrees.
Legal Lingo
Medical Examiner
A public official charged with investigating all sudden, suspicious, unexplained, or unnatural deaths within the area of his or her appointed jurisdiction. Medical examiners determine such things as the positive identification of a corpse, the time of death, whether death occurred at the location where the corpse was found, and the manner and cause of death. They conduct autopsies and other medical tests to determine any or all of the details of death.
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“I didn’t touch that man at all,” Swain said repeatedly. “I didn’t know they beat him that bad, to be honest,” Swain said during another part of the interview.
Swain claimed Bradley, who she said she didn’t know, got in a fight with Anthony Swinford, also known as Alan, and Timothy Swinford as they drove around and she was unaware of the reason.
“Alan just started going off on him,” Swain said.
The men dragged Bradley from the car and beat and kicked Bradley before putting him back in and driving around some more, Swain said. She said she thought the Swinfords were going back to get Bradley from the location where he was dumped and take him home or to a hospital for help.
Swain also claimed the Swinfords wouldn't let her out of the vehicle or let her take Bradley back home when he begged to go.
Swain said she also didn't know Bradley was being choked with a seat belt in her back seat.
Dr. Charles Kokes, chief medical examiner at the Arkansas State Crime Lab, testified Bradley died from internal head injuries, due to blunt force trauma, and strangulation.
Bradley had at least 100 bruises, scrapes and cuts to his face, neck, torso, back, arms and legs. He had broken ribs on both sides, damage to his larynx and bleeding around the brain. Kokes estimated the injuries came from at least 50 blows. He said the head injuries or strangulation would either have been fatal. Bradley lived about an hour after receiving what proved to be the fatal injuries, Kokes estimated.
Kokes said Bradley hadn't been drinking but did have a small amount of prescription pain medication in his system when he died, even though he didn't have a prescription. Bradley also had heart trouble but that didn't contribute to his death, Kokes said.
Naomi Vaughn said the group came to her rural home just after dark on Dec. 27, 2012. Swain, the Swinfords and James Patton, Swain’s boyfriend, came in and talked for a while. When they were leaving, Vaughn said she saw a man lying behind their vehicle in her driveway with jeans, tennis shoes and no shirt, but thought he had passed out from drinking.
“I told them to take him, don’t run over him and don’t leave him here,” Vaughn said.
The man groaned when Timothy Swinford put him in the back in the SUV. Police later found blood at the location.
Investigators used cellphone data, supplemented with video from the stores where they stopped to buy more beer and witness statements, to track the route the group took the evening Bradley was killed and establish a timeline. They estimate Bradley was in Swain’s vehicle for about eight hours.
Swain, 36, faces life in prison if convicted on the murder charge and 10 to 40 years or life on the kidnapping charge. Swain faces an additional charge of tampering with evidence, for allegedly cleaning up blood in the car.
Anthony Swinford, 35, pleaded guilty in November to his role in Bradley’s killing and was sentenced to two consecutive 40-year terms at the Arkansas Department of Correction. Timothy William Swinford, 37, pleaded guilty last month to accomplice to first-degree murder and kidnapping. Storey sentenced Swinford to 80 years at the Arkansas Department of Correction with 30 years suspended. He will have to serve 35 years before becoming eligible for parole. He was given credit for 360 days jail time served.
Patton, 35, is also charged with accomplice to capital murder and kidnapping. Prosecutors have waived the death penalty in Patton’s case as well.
Anthony Swinford identified Swain, Patton and Timothy Swinford as accomplices.