Tri-Cities judge on trial for assault testifies his wife slapped, threatened and screamed at him

KENNEWICK – Judge Sam Swanberg believed his now ex-wife was capable and willing to hurt him or destroy his property in February 2021.

The Tri-Cities Superior Court judge testified Wednesday that Stephanie Barnard lashed out at him, his car and a mirror in a series of confrontations between December 2020 and February 2021. He said he didn’t feel like he had any other option but to react the way he did.

Swanberg provided the bulk of the testimony in his defense Wednesday as he faces two counts of fourth-degree assault with a domestic violence allegation in Franklin County District Court.

The misdemeanor charges stem from incidents when he allegedly pushed Barnard down hard enough to leave a bruise and then, a day later, when he dragged her out of a bedroom by her feet as she filmed him with her camera.

Benton-Franklin Superior Court judge presented a different version of events from his former wife of 33 years, who testified the day before.

He said he never threw her or pushed her to the floor. And he said she slapped him.

The six-person jury of four men and two women started deliberating Wednesday after two days of testimony and closing arguments.

Swanberg’s attorney Scott Johnson argued Barnard was a volatile woman prone to emotional meltdowns that turned destructive.

He said the prosecution’s case was “like a script from a bad Lifetime movie.”

“Domestic violence is wrong … but what is even more troubling is when the government, the prosecutor, the sheriff’s office starts picking the winners and losers, because that is what happened in this case.”

Washington state Assistant Attorney General Laura Twitchell responded by arguing that there was no evidence showing why Swanberg would be afraid that Barnard was going to destroy his items or hurt him.

Barnard is a strategic projects director for the Tri-Cities Regional Chamber of Commerce and is running for the state Legislature.

Twitchell told jurors they are only deciding what Swanberg did on Feb. 7 and 8, 2021, and not Barnard’s actions.

“Pushing someone so hard that they go down and a little bit across the room … and end up with a bruise that is deep, dark and visible days later, that’s an assault,” she told them. “Dragging someone from one room to another by the ankles … is an assault.”

Tattoo argument

The couple, who have six children between them, were trying to work through problems they were having in late 2020. But those efforts fell apart on Dec. 13, 2020.

Problems started after they came home from church. Swanberg said Barnard got upset because things around the house weren’t getting done that needed to be done.

He testified that since she was in a bad mood, he decided to escape to a detached garage for a workout, a therapeutic activity for him.

He said Barnard was mad when she found him less than an hour later. She began to demand that he take his sweatshirt off because she had seen that he had a tattoo.

While it’s not considered a sin, their church highly discourages tattoos, he said. After several demands to take off his shirt, he did.

“At that point in time, she screamed, blood curdling, just like I can’t explain it,” he testified. “It wasn’t even a wail or anything. It was just she yelled as loud as she could at me, in particular.”

As she continued screaming, he told her, “Why don’t you just hit me?” But he wasn’t expecting the slap that followed.

“I didn’t even get it out of my mouth before, snap. I had her solid hand,” he said.

She then grabbed a workout weight and threw it twice into a mirror, breaking the mirror and weight.

She then took a chin-up bar and threatened him. When he didn’t react, she threatened to break the windshield of his 2015 Mustang GT.

That’s when Swanberg stepped between her and the car. He said he blocked one of her swings with his elbow. It hit his head and arm, leaving marks on both.

After that, he grabbed the extra keys that were in the garage and moved the car outside.

Twitchell asked Swanberg whether he returned the car to the garage or tried to leave the house.

Swanberg agreed he moved it back into the garage, and he didn’t choose to leave the house.

Filing for divorce

After the confrontation, Swanberg went downstairs.

As he went through the house he heard a crash that he would later learn was a folding screen that slid down the staircase. Barnard said it toppled, but Johnson has suggested it was pushed.

Also, Barnard kicked a door hard enough to crack the door around the handle, Swanberg said.

“I was pretty upset when she kicked that door in because she didn’t know who or what was on the other side of that door. … I just thought at that point in time that the level of recklessness was getting to the point where it could cause harm to our children.”

Swanberg said he never took any action to try and stop her.

After that, they decided to file for divorce.

Home confrontation

The couple had filled out paperwork to get divorced, but it wasn’t finalized when things again turned ugly.

On the weekend leading up to Feb. 7, 2021, Swanberg said he was preparing for the divorce by moving items from the house to a storage unit that he had rented. That included some family photographs that he planned to get digitized and return to Barnard.

Swanberg said he took the photos while Barnard and her daughter were on a trip to Idaho.

He told the jury that he was asleep when his daughter texted him that they needed a ride from their bishop’s house. He went to picked them up and brought them home.

When they returned, he went back down to a bedroom he was living in, shut off the lights, closed the door and went back to sleep.

The next thing he remembered was Barnard yelling at him that he couldn’t just take anything he wanted.

“I didn’t do anything. I just sat there and was awestruck to begin with,” he said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”

As she was screaming, she poked him in the nose with her finger. At the time, he said he was lying on his back, and he grabbed her by the shoulders to move her away from him.

“I got my hands on where her shoulders are and I push up, in a way that I thought would not cause her any harm,” he said.

However, Barnard had testified, however, that he threw her onto the floor, bruising her.

Storage unit fight

Swanberg said he tried to offer an olive branch the next day when he invited her to come with him to his storage unit.

When they arrived at the unit, he said Barnard got angry and started screaming that he didn’t have any right to some of the items in the unit.

She began grabbing items and throwing them into her car, including his golf clubs.

“At that point in time, I thought, ‘This is just ridiculous,’” he said. “It’s over the top. How could she have a problem with me taking my golf clubs.”

While Barnard said she thought the clubs could have been her son’s, Swanberg said he is the only one who plays golf.

Swanberg took out his phone and started recording her. When she noticed, she became angry and tried to knock the phone from his hand.

While Barnard testified that she hit the phone, Swanberg said she hit his arm and his head.

After the confrontation, they returned to the house and Swanberg began getting ready for work.

He said he was in his bedroom and could hear her going through the bathroom across the hall making belittling comments about his toiletries. He testified that he didn’t try to force her out of the bathroom after she refused to leave him alone.

He then stood in the doorway to prevent her from going into his bedroom to search.

He told the jury that she managed to force her way in a couple of steps before he grabbed her arm. Then he said she went down to the ground.

Barnard testified that she was already in the room and Swanberg caused her to fall down when he tried to force her out.

He said he didn’t think it was safe to leave her in the room with his stuff so he dragged her out and shut the door.

A short time later, he said Barnard texted him to talk. He went upstairs to met her in the kitchen.

They began arguing and she dumped protein powder over his head.

No contact order

Allegations of abuse came out in January when Barnard filed a declaration as part of Swanberg’s ex-girlfriend’s request for a no-contact order against him for harassment.

Sila Salas dated Swanberg for about five months while she was working at the Franklin County Clerk’s Office. She said he refused to accept the relationship had ended in November, and kept trying to contact her.

Barnard’s declaration said she decided to come forward when she saw what she believed to be a pattern of abuse continuing with Salas.

After the allegations came to light, an investigation was opened by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and a citation was issued. The charges are misdemeanors punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and up to 364 days in jail.

In the affidavit, the detective said no evidence was found that would support Swanberg’s position that he acted in self defense.