Jury In Agreement, Juror Says

FARMINGTON — The Heather Swain capital murder trial was a very difficult trial for everyone on the panel, according to one juror, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity.

Swain was charged with being an accomplice to capital murder and kidnapping and a third count of tampering with evidence in the beating death of Ronnie Lee Bradley of Prairie Grove.

The jury found her guilty of being an accomplice to capital murder and kidnapping and returned a not guilty verdict on tampering with evidence.

Prosecutors said that Swain drove her vehicle around the county for seven to eight hours while Bradley was beaten up in the vehicle and places outside the vehicle and then left in a rural area of Washington County. His body was discovered the morning of Dec. 27, 2012.

The defense argued that Swain believed she was forced to participate, was scared and believed that she had no choice.

The juror said the panel had to find Swain guilty first of the kidnapping charge before considering capital murder and said “everyone was in agreement” on the kidnapping count.

When considering the second count, the jury was given the choice of accomplice to capital murder or a lesser charge of accomplice to first degree murder. The juror said one or two members of the panel wanted to make sure on the second count.

One of the issues in the trial was whether Swain was under duress, the juror said.

“She was not under duress, any of us thought,” the juror said. “Videos of the day and the amount of all the traveling they did in one day and all the phone calls she did. There were just a lot of things.”

The juror said the testimony given by Anthony Allen Swinford weighed in on the jury’s decisions. Swinford admitted on the stand that he did most of the beating. He has already pleaded guilty to accomplice to first degree murder and kidnapping in Bradley’s death and been sentenced to two 40- year consecutive terms at the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

Under cross examination from John Threet, prose- cuting attorney, Swinford testified that Swain yelled at Bradley, slapped him and was “lugging” him on. By “lugging,” Swinford said he meant that Swain was saying things to make him angrier. Photos of Swain’s hands entered into evidence in the trial showed some bruising on one of the hands.