Sexual assault detailed in murder trial

Family members of Lourdes Maria “Lou Lou” Medrano were advised to leave the courtroom Friday to avoid seeing the bloody photographs.
   The pictures, each more graphic and closer in on Medrano’s genital area than the next, indicated a sexual assault had occurred on the night of Dec. 29, 2006, said Christin Timmons, a sexual assault investigator at Medical Center Hospital.
   That is the night Brian Swearengin, 25, is accused of killing Medrano in the 1300 block of Boatwright Street. His trial started this week and is scheduled to resume Monday.
   Timmons, who examined Medrano hours after her death, said trauma and bruising were signs of penetration.
   Also Friday, jurors got to see the weapon Swearengin is accused of using to kill Medrano, 45. OPD Sgt. Eddie Vallejo said he found a silver hammer with a blue handle on top of a cardboard box about 100 feet from the scene of the crime. He had been told the hammer was missing.
   Vallejo said the hammer had a “red substance with a long stringy substance.”
   “What did it appear to be?” Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland asked.
   “It appeared to be a hair,” Vallejo said.
   Evidence tying Swearengin to the crime scene was also introduced Friday. Odessa Police Cpl. Terry Mercer described the clothes he took from Swearengin after he was transported to MCH on the night of Medrano’s death, including a Nike Shock tennis shoe and Polo Sport boot he said the defendant was wearing.
   On Thursday, Texas Rangers Sgt. Jess Malone said he found two different sets of shoeprints tracked through blood leaving the crime scene at Medrano’s home.
   Mercer was one of several witnesses to testify Friday to Swearengin’s attitude while he received treatment for head lacerations at MCH.
   Dr. Gregory Shipkey, an emergency room physician at MCH, said Swearengin was cursing nurses and acting agitated.
   “He was rolling all over the bed, all over the place, trying to get up, trying to leave the place,” Shipkey said. “Not cooperating at all.”
   To try to calm him, Shipkey said he administered the anxiety drugs Haldol and two doses of Ativan, which he described as a “souped up Valium.”
   “I don’t recall that I’ve ever had to give anybody two doses of Ativan,” he said.
   But defense attorney Bill Bowden questioned Shipkey as to the side effects of the drugs, which he said include agitation, hallucination and hostility.
   Shipkey said the drugs are used to calm patients and wasn’t aware of them causing further agitation.
   Bowden also questioned whether Swearengin, who was admitted to the hospital before 1 a.m., could have been mentally prepared to leave the hospital when he was released at 9:43 a.m. Swearengin was recorded with a blood alcohol content more than three times the legal limit on his arrival.
   It was shortly after his release that Swearengin gave an interview to police investigators in which he changed stories several times.
   “He could absolutely be awake and alert at that time,” Shipkey said.
   Like he had the previous two days, Bowden objected numerous times during testimony. His primary concerns were based on his claim that Bland was introducing evidence that hadn’t been shown to defense attorneys and the district attorney making statements instead of asking witnesses questions.
   Before testimony began for the day, Bowden objected to items Bland said he doubted he would even introduce. The issues included whether certain derogatory statements attributed to Swearengin would be allowed in court and whether photographs of a tattoo of the word “pain” on the defendant’s penis could be shown.
   By midday, Judge John Smith had an earful.
   “You’re in luck Mr. Bowden,” Smith told the defense attorney. “I have a new battery for my hearing aid. I wouldn’t want to miss a word you have to say.”