A man who strangled a 73-year-old Driscoll woman left clothes and a bloody fingerprint in her home, providing plenty of evidence to convict him of rape and murder, a prosecutor told the state Supreme Court.

Waylon Charette's trousers, boots, underwear and socks were found in Marian Swenning's home when her body was discovered, along with Charette's fingerprint in Swenning's blood, Burleigh County prosecutor Cynthia Feland said.

In the meantime, Charette turned up at his home the morning after the killing wearing only a coat, Feland told the justices Thursday during arguments in the case.

"There was only one pair of pants that was found (in Swenning's home), one pair of shoes, one pair of socks, one pair of boxer shorts," she said. "Mr. Charette, ironically enough, came home without any of those items."

Charette's lawyer, Steven Mottinger, of Fargo, said evidence of his client's presence in Swenning's home did not mean he committed any crimes. Mottinger asserted there was evidence of another person in the home, and that there was no physical evidence Charette had raped Swenning.

"Just because he may have been inside the residence … does nothing more than suggest that he might have been involved in these other acts," Mottinger said.

The Supreme Court will consider Charette's appeal and rule later. He is asking the court to reverse his conviction and order a new trial.

Mottinger faced some pointed questions from the justices, who wondered if his arguments made any difference in the result of the case.

"Another individual participating in the crime, how does that give the benefit of the doubt to your client, if the evidence also supports that (Charette) was one of the two people?" Justice Carol Ronning Kapsner asked Mottinger.

Witnesses also described Charette as wearing dark trousers, when the trousers retrieved from Swenning's home were tan, Mottinger said. Charette asserted at his September 2003 trial that the clothing and boots found in Swenning's home were not his, and the trial judge, Thomas Schneider, denied a request to allow Charette to put the trousers on.

Mottinger said Schneider should have allowed Charette to don the trousers, while Feland said it would have been misleading and potentially dangerous. Charette had gained weight since his arrest, and the pants were bloody, prompting Feland to call them a "biohazard."

Charette is serving a life prison sentence, without possibility of parole, for the September 2003 murder of Swenning. He was also convicted of rape and two counts of burglary for stealing items from the Swenning home and the nearby home of another woman, Diane Bate.

Charette testified at his own trial, telling a rambling story in which he claimed he got drunk the day of the killing, then was beaten up by two unidentified men and dumped near his home.

Aside from finding Charette's clothes and a bloody fingerprint in Swenning's home, they also found some of Swenning's mail and other possessions in and around Charette's home afterward.

He was taken to a Bismarck hospital after he was arrested, for treatment of a knee injury. While there, he handed a coin purse to a security officer, saying he found it in the hospital's waiting area. Swenning's granddaughter later testified the purse was Swenning's.

"There was so much evidence," Feland said, "and there were so many different types of evidence."