Ranger testifies on crime scene

Even after investigating around 500 homicides, including 150 in Odessa, something about the shoeprints stood out to Texas Ranger Sgt. Jess Malone.

“It appeared that there were two were two distinct sets of shoeprints,” Malone testified Thursday during the capital murder trial of Brian Swearengin, 25.

The pattern of one shoe leading away from the bloody body of Lourdes Maria “Lou Lou” Medrano was a tennis shoe, while the other was a Lugz type boot, Malone said.

Affidavits in the case have said the shoeprints found at Medrano’s home in the 1300 block of Boatwright Street closely match those of Swearengin.

Malone said Medrano, 45, appeared to have died of blunt force injury to the head, and that she might also have been sexually assaulted.

“I observed a Hispanic female, nude from the waist down, that appeared to be bludgeoned to death,” he said.

She also had perforation wounds to her belly button and pelvis area, Malone said.

Malone testified to repeated objections by defense attorney Bill Bowden, who said he wasn’t listed as an expert witness in pre-trial documents. Bowden said Malone was not able to testify to issues like blood patterns and possible sexual assault.

“He’s about to render an opinion that’s an expert opinion, and he’s not listed as an expert witness,” Bowden said.

But Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland said Malone’s experience as an investigator allowed him to testify on such matters.

“When we have somebody who knows what he’s doing like Ranger Malone does, he’s allowed to talk about it,” Bland said.

That discussion was one of several in which Judge John Smith sent the jury of six men and six women out of his courtroom. In the afternoon session alone Thursday, Smith sent the jury out for 15- and 20-minute breaks before finally sending jurors home for the day 45 minutes early in order to discuss the admissibility of Swearengin’s medical records.

Another stoppage came when bloody pictures of the crime scene briefly became visible to those in the audience.

Police officers testified that Swearengin was cooperative when they first responded to a call for a stabbing victim and found him with lacerations on his head. But once they found out about a beating victim in a house down the street, the defendant’s attitude changed.

“He was very belligerent, very violent,” said Odessa police Cpl. Randy Lewis, who followed an ambulance carrying Swearengin to Medical Center Hospital, where he was treated. “He was yelling, screaming cussing, everything.”

Discussions over Swearengin’s medical records are expected to resume at 8:15 a.m. today, with the jury returning at 9 a.m.