From the Salt Lake Tribune, Saturday, August 13, 1977, Page 19 (OCRed from archive; contains errors):
LDS Missionary On Probation In Beating Case HAKKISBURG, 111. (UP!) — A young Mormon missionary Friday was placed on five years probation and fined $3,500 in the beating death of a fellow missionary last Jan. 2. Douglas R. Bjelde, 20, Stoughton, Wis., was first tried on a murder charge, but was convicted June 30 on lesser charges of voluntary manslaughter and aggravated battery in the death of James E Christensen, 2-1, Moroni, Utah. Judge Michael O'Shea ordered the five-year probation terms on both the voluntary manslaughter and aggravated battery charges to run concurrently He ordered Bjelde to pay court costs. Opposed the Probation Saline County State's Attorney Waklun Morris opposed the probation, saying there was no evidence presented at the trial or presentence hearing to show "that the defendant is safe to return to; any community." Morris urged maximum sentences on both charges. As a condition -of Bjelde's probation. O'Shea ordered him to live, at home in Wisconsin, under the supervision of. the Wisconsin Department of Corrections' Division of Probation and Parole; report to a probation officer in his home town, and place himself in the hands of the Mental Health Department at Stoughten to determine the best treatment for him. O'Shea said one of the main considerations in his ' decision was Bjelde's age. "Sometimes sending a person to prison is the worst thing to do," O'Shea said. Testified During Trial Bjelde testified during his trial; at which he was described as a "borderline schizophrenic" and "a walking time bomb," that he had become frustrated because Christensen, \vlio had been injured in an accident about 10 years ago, could not keep pace with him in their missionary work. He admitted beating Christensen with his fists and a belt and placing him in a tub of scalding water, but said he could not remember why he did it. Bjcide took Christensen to Pcarce Hospital in Eldorado New Year's Eve and Christensen died there Jan. 2 from what was described as a brain hemorrhage.