Swafford bound over for trial
asks for change in bond terms
By Bobbi Mlynar
Originally published 07:24 a.m., August 13, 2008
Updated 03:05 p.m., August 13, 2008
A 55-year-old Emporian accused of attempted second-degree murder has been bound over for trial after a preliminary hearing before Judge Lee Fowler in Lyon County District Court.
Dwight L. Swafford has been accused of shooting his companion’s 29-year-old son, William M. Calvert, during an altercation at the home of Swafford and the victim’s mother, Denise Calvert, at 2507 Lincoln St.
Swafford waived reading of the charges at the arraignment held immediately after the preliminary hearing. Fowler set a pre-trial hearing for 2 p.m. Sept. 12.
One of Swafford’s two defense attorneys, Frederick L. Meier II, asked that bond conditions be modified for his client. He asked that Swafford be released from wearing a GPS monitor and instead be allowed to report daily to court officials.
Meier said that Swafford had waited calmly for police to arrive and made no effort to flee.
“He’s certainly not a flight risk and has every intention of vigorously defending these charges,” Meier said.
He also presented a letter from Denise Calvert in which she asked that the no-contact provision be removed from the bond conditions.
Meier said that the couple had a long-term relationship and that Swafford helped Ms. Calvert, who has a chronic health problem.
“She is asking that he be allowed to come home,” Meier said.
Assistant County Attorney Amy Aranda said that Swafford would need to be switched to another type of daily reporting if the GPS was removed, but said she was concerned about contact between the couple because Ms. Calvert had not yet testified under oath.
Fowler said that he would allow the bond modifications, with an additional condition to accommodate Aranda’s concerns.
“The court’s going 10 days from today,” Fowler said, regarding his approval of Swafford’s moving back with Calvert. “That’ll give the state 10 days to conduct an inquisition and get sworn testimony. ...”
The preliminary hearing ran about two hours Monday afternoon, with testimony from police officers, as well as from the victim.
Emporia Police Det. Dennis Delmott testified about what he observed and the statements he obtained while interviewing witnesses in the case.
He said that he had been called to the house about 9:15 p.m. to assist patrol officers in the investigation. He saw a large pool of what appeared to be blood just inside the front door and saw a white-haired man sitting at a table with two officers nearby in the dining room area. He said he did not get a good look at the man, later identified as Swafford, and that he had not interviewed him.
Delmott did interview Denise Calvert soon after the incident and, later, interviewed her son.
He testified that he saw a hole in a linen closet door in the hallway of the home, with pieces of wood from the door lying on the linen inside the closet. The hole was about shoulder height on Delmott, or perhaps a bit lower, he said.
Later, he said, EPD Det. Mark Senn discovered a bullet on the floor, in the corner of the door on the interior, and another bullet hole through a comforter and a mattress in the bedroom where the incident took place.
Aranda asked Delmott to describe what Denise Calvert had told him in the interview.
“Briefly, that her son had shown up at the house, was kicking the door, pounding on the door, demanding entry, stating that if he wasn’t permitted entry he was going to break down the door,” Delmott testified.
He said she showed him three areas in the dining room and living room where the confrontation had occurred, and told him that Swafford had gone to the bedroom, with her son following behind.
“She stated they were slappin’ each other,” Delmott said. “She told me she got in-between them” and was knocked to the floor. In the process, books also were knocked from a shelf.
Delmott stated that she had not witnessed the shooting.
“She heard a shot and a second shot, and Mr. Swafford saying, ‘I shot Will. Call 911’ or ‘Call an ambulance,’” Delmott said.
Subsequent testimony revealed that dissension among the three had begun earlier that day, when Will Calvert went to the Swafford-Calvert home around 2:30 p.m. After knocking, Calvert used his own key to enter.
Delmott said that he gathered that information from Will Calvert about July 16 at Via Christi Medical Center in Wichita, where the victim had been airflighted the night of the shooting.
Calvert told him he had confronted Swafford about how their relationship had deteriorated over the past several years, then left the residence. Calvert also gave a statement about his second visit to the home later in the evening.
“He stated that when he arrived, the front doors were open, so he walked in,” Delmott said. “He found his mother and Mr. Swafford in Mr. Swafford’s bedroom ... and that I believe he said that Mr. Swafford had the pistol in his hand at that time. There was a confrontation between them. He struck Mr. Swafford several times in the face.”
Will Calvert’s testimony in court on Tuesday elaborated on the earlier statements recounted by Delmott. His account differed in some respects from the one Delmott said was given by Denise Calvert.
Calvert described his memories of the day’s events, beginning with the visit to 2507 Lincoln St. that ended in the shooting.
“I remember entering the residence with the intention of starting a fight,” Calvert said.
He said his first recollection of seeing Swafford that evening was in the bedroom, with Swafford holding a revolver in his right hand, with his elbow bent and the gun pointing toward the ceiling.
“It’s very foggy,” Calvert said. “I was very, a lot of adrenaline. I remember my mother being in-between us. I was trying to get at him. At that point, it was verbal. I was trying to pick a fight basically. I told him, ‘You’re not going to shoot me.’ I didn’t believe he really had the guts to shoot me. I was hoping that it might turn into a fistfight. That’s what I was there for.”
Calvert said that Swafford did not yell at him.
“The only words I can tell you truthfully that I can really remember is him asking my mother for permission to shoot me,” Calvert said.
“What happened next?” Aranda asked.
“I think I grabbed the gun first and pinned it to the bed once I got my mother out of the way. She probably fell. She doesn’t stand very well,” he said.
The gun discharged into the bed and “it really sobered me up and I didn’t want to play any more,” Calvert said. “I walked out. ... I turned around and walked out.”
His next memory was being shot.
“I felt heat on my back and I felt a bullet go through me,” Calvert said. “I remember being very surprised.”
Meier’s cross examination covered what Calvert had been doing from noon until the time of the shooting, and touched on a confrontation between Calvert and his mother earlier in the evening.
Calvert said that he had started drinking at a local restaurant about noon that day, before going to the home on Lincoln Street, and that he had stopped at a bar and later at a tavern.
“My mother confronted me in the (tavern) and hit me and screamed at me and told me Dwight was leaving her and it was all my fault,” Calvert said.
Calvert said he earlier had taken his grandmother’s Python .357 pistol; his mother took it from him and drove him back to his grandmother’s apartment building, where she dropped him off in the parking lot.
Meier questioned Calvert about the circumstances involved in that confrontation, asking if he had had physical contact with his mother.
“I have a slight recollection. ... It’s a little fuzzy,” Calvert responded.
“Do you remember striking your mother?” Meier asked.
“Yes,” Calvert said.
“Do you remember saying you were going to go kick Dwight’s ass?” Meier asked.
“Yes,” Calvert said.
Meier asked what Swafford had done to provoke Calvert.
“What was it that caused you to leave your grandma’s and go to your mom’s to kick his ass?” Meier asked.
“I’d been building up resentments for Mr. Swafford for quite some time, ok? I don’t approve of the way he behaves towards me. I don’t approve of the way he behaves toward Mom, ok?” Calvert said.
He testified that doctors told him that the shooting resulted in a slightly chipped spine, cracked ribs and a hole in his lung; he also needed five units of blood.
After testimony ended, Aranda told the court the state had charged attempted second-degree murder, rather than aggravated battery, because of the heated arguments and confrontations that had occurred within a short space of time, and the circumstances of shooting itself.
“He shot him in the back,” Aranda said. “... If he’d only intended to injure him, he could have shot him in the foot, in the leg.”
Meier argued that evidence Calvert was shot in the back was inconsistent.
Fowler said the court is required at preliminary hearings to accept the testimony most favorable to the state.
madpoet (anonymous) says...
Does anyone else find it odd that a person is being charged with attempted murder for defending himself in his own home when attacked by an intruder? Is it because it's someone he knew vs. a stranger? I'm sure there's way more to the story especially since KBI was on the scene as was our new police chief almost immediately. Very strange. We'll probably never know what was really going on in that household.
August 13, 2008 at 9:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Bjnemp (anonymous) says...
I'm with you, Madpoet: I just don't get it. I keep firearms in my home to defend against this exact type of invasion and would have done just what Swafford did under the same circumstances. A man kicked in the door, physically attacked Mr. Swafford, and knocked his ailing female partner to the floor. For his violent aggression, Calvert got shot. End of story. Why is Mr. Swafford being charged with a crime? Shouldn't he be getting a nice cash reward from Crime Stoppers and a certificate of merit from the police chief instead? This one baffles me.
August 14, 2008 at 12:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
garfield (anonymous) says...
I am totally confused, also. It doesn't make sense. I've re-read the article 3 times. Mr. Calvert admits that he was drinking, went to the home with the intent to pick a fight and
harm Mr. Swafford. Mr. Swafford defends himself from attack
in his own home and he is the one arrested. There has
GOT to be more to this. We know Mr. Swafford should have
called 911 instead of grabbing a gun, but he was being attacked in his home!
August 14, 2008 at 3:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
horsequeen (anonymous) says...
There has got to be more to this story.. My husband and I both personally know Dwight.. He is not the type to just shoot some one for no reason..Good Luck to you Dwight.. You will need it with the justice system we have..
August 14, 2008 at 9:58 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jayhawker (anonymous) says...
The critical fact is that, if I read the story correctly, Mr. Swafford shot Calvert in the back. That is hard to justify, even though Calvert's behavior was provoking.
August 14, 2008 at 10:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jcknbox (anonymous) says...
the one thing i got to say is that the emporia police and their laws are really messed up!!!! i got caught in a very similar situation where someone had came to my house wanting to fight and they got one and because they didn't like the way i fight they went and called the law and because of this i got arrested and charged and was the only one charged and never got to tell my side of the story. the one thing that saved me was that none of their stories matched when we went to court. go figure. there are no rules to this if you go to someones house looking for trouble and get it then it is your fault. you can not blame a person for defending themselves in their home by any means neccessary. my sympathy is for dwight, he should just learn to aim better. the kid should just be thankful he's alive, chalk it up to a lesson learned and get over it and move on. i know next time it happens to me i'm going to shoot to kill and make it worth all the bull the judicial system puts you thru.
September 7, 2008 at 4:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )