The description of a living room with blood splattered on the floor and the walls helped convince South Central District Judge Bruce Romanick that there was enough evidence to warrant a jury trial for a 22-year-old Driscoll man charged with the murder of a 73-year-old Driscoll woman.

Waylon Lee Charette said he was innocent of the felony charges in a bold, confident tone before Romanick could finish asking him how he wanted to plead. Charette was charged in December with murder, gross sexual imposition and two counts of burglary in connection with the death of Marian E. Swenning. Charette has been held in the Burleigh County jail on a $300,000 cash bond since Dec. 28 when a Driscoll resident found Swenning dead in her home, and the Burleigh County Sheriff's Department began investigating.

Burleigh County Sheriff's Deputy Gary Schaffer was the first law enforcement official to arrive at Swenning's house. In answer to the questions of Burleigh County Assistant State's Attorney Cynthia Feland, Schaffer described in gruesome detail at the Thursday preliminary hearing what he saw and what evidence the Sheriff's Department found to implicate Charette.

Here's how Schaffer described the scene:

The front doors to Swenning's home were open, and there were drops of blood and a blood-coated piece of paper on the snow-covered steps and landing. Through the open doorway a tipped garbage can and a cracked, oblong table were visible.

Inside, there was "blood everywhere, on the floors and up the walls." Swenning's mutilated body was sprawled out on the living room floor. She was naked except for a piece of clothing wrapped around her right arm, and her left arm was held up next to her face in a defensive position. There were bloody drag marks leading out of the kitchen.

Swenning's face was extremely swollen, discolored and covered with small cuts. There were signs that she had been struck with a blunt object and stabbed behind the ear and near her right eye. A bloody shoe print on her side and five cracked ribs made it evident that she had been stepped on or kicked, Schaffer said. There were also several signs of sexual molestation.

The state medical examiner later determined the cause of death was strangulation, which means she may have lived through much of the assault, Schaffer said.

Around the body, the room was in complete disarray. Chairs were tipped over, cabinet doors flung open and a still-lit Christmas tree was lying on its side. Some of the packages under the tree were open and wrapping paper was strewn about the room.

Schaffer said officers found plenty of evidence to tie Charette to the scene.

A day before the alleged murder, the Sheriff's Department responded to a burglary in Driscoll. A woman yelled when she heard a commotion within her house. She looked out the window in time to see a short man staggering side to side, at one point falling, while fleeing her house. The burglar stole items from her purse. After the murder, investigators found the woman's checkbook in Swenning's house, Schaffer said.

Investigators also found hiking boots, khaki pants and boxer shorts in Swenning's house. Schaffer said bar patrons, who said they'd played pool with Charette earlier that night, described Charette's clothing to investigators and the description matched what was found in Swenning's house. Three or four members of Charette's family told investigators that Charette came home that night wearing only a coat and shirt, with no shoes or clothing below the waist.

Footprints outside Swenning's house and the house that was burglarized matched the hiking boots, Schaffer said. The footprints also showed signs that whoever left them was dragging a foot or had a limp. Charette has a pronounced limp, which was apparent as he walked in and out of the courtroom Thursday.

At Charette's house, investigators found various items covered in blood, which matched Swenning's blood type, including a shirt, pillow cases, bedding, wrapping paper and a pair of white Avia women's tennis shoes. The wrapping paper was identical to paper found at Swenning's house, and the tennis shoes appeared to have come from a gift under the Christmas tree, Schaffer said. Mail addressed to Swenning and jelly jars, the same as jars at Swenning's house, were also found at the Charette residence.

The last piece of incriminating evidence brought up by the prosecution was a fingerprint found on Swenning's blood-covered wall. The print matched that of Waylon Charette, Schaffer said.

Charette's court-appointed attorney, Kent Morrow, pointed out a few discrepancies in Schaffer's story. Investigators never found an object used to strangle Swenning, and there were no prints or marks on her neck that made it appear that she had been strangled by someone's hands. The victim of the burglary a night before the alleged murder said the man who broke into her house was wearing a snowmobile suit and was heavy-set. A snowmobile suit was never found.

"Do you agree that Charette could hardly be described as heavy-set?" Morrow asked rhetorically of his short, slender client.

The preliminary hearing, which is often waived, was requested by Charette. Charette's mother, older brother and two younger sisters were there to offer him support.

Although he didn't say anything besides "not guilty" in the court room, his mother, LaVonne Leno, said afterward that she and her son believe that he was "set up." She said her son doesn't drag his leg, and she found a size 11 shoe in her house that wouldn't fit him.

"It's a big setup," she said.

She described her son as a very helpful kid. She said Charette was going through a bout of depression beforehand because he couldn't find a job. Leno said Charette has become more depressed recently, since breaking up with his girlfriend of five years. Leno said her son is the "loving father" of an infant daughter.

"He's not capable of doing anything like this," Leno said. "He's a mild kid."

Leno said after her son was charged with the crime she was forced to leave her home in Driscoll and move to Bowman because of obscene phone calls and harassment. Charette's brother, Don Charette, said he along with other family members have lost jobs because of all the media attention surrounding the case.

"That town is very prejudiced, and they always have been. I bought a little home there and thought we'd all be all right," Leno said of Driscoll.

More than 20 people - some Driscoll residents, some members of Swenning's family - were at the court hearing. Many of them refused comment.

A pretrial conference was scheduled for April 9, Charette's last opportunity to accept a plea agreement and the deadline for filing motions.

Charette is charged with murder, a class AA felony punishable by life in prison without parole, gross sexual imposition, a class A felony punishable by 20 years and a fine of $10,000 and two counts of burglary, each punishable by 10 years and $10,000.