Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 21

Friday February 151985 3B Jury award in Congdon case reversed Metro news Metro State news Bartender testifies suspect, victim were in same bar night before slaying four people In the main house and two male employees In separate living quarters, and a private security service that would come when called, the court said. In a majority opinion written by Justice Jeanne Coyne, the court said, "While there was evidence that it was possible to equip Glensheen with a security alarm system and to station bodyguards In the house and that either or both were economically feasible measures, there was no evidence that either measure or both would have prevented the murders." It noted that In recent years one U. S. president has been assassinated and another wounded despite troops of well-equipped bodyguards. The court also noted that the Congdon property had never been vandalized or burglarized, and that the only "evidence which suggested risk of harm" came from Hagen.

"To the extent that the evidence signaled danger, it was directed solely toward the person of Elisabeth Congdon, not to Glensheen," the court said. "And when harm did befall Miss Congdon and Mrs. Pietllla at the hands of a person or persons unknown, Glensheen was not damaged." Yetka's dissenting opinion noted that the Colorado Bureau of Investigation had reported that Hagen was looking for a "hit man" to murder Congdon, that Congdon once slept for two days after eating marmalade sandwiches prepared by Hagen (which Cong-don's friend and doctor suspected were drugged), that Hagen had influenced her mother to co-sign notes upon which Hagen defaulted, and that Hagen owed more than $1 million to various creditors. Pietlla, who was 66 when murdered, was one of several around-the-clock private nurses for the partially paralyzed Congdon. She had retired a month before the murders but returned to Glensheen that night as a substitute nurse.

She is survived by her husband, Loren, who Initiated the suit as a trustee for her estate. Congdon, who was 83, was the youngest child of lumber magnate Chester Congdon, who left a multimillion-dollar estate including the Glensheen property to his heirs. She was suffocated with a pillow In the bedroom at the mansion. Pietlla was bludgeoned to death with a candlestick on a staircase. For the purpose of this case, both sides agreed that the murders were committed by a "person or persons unknown, who gained unauthorized and illegal entry to the home." Roger Caldwell, Hagen's husband at the time, was convicted of the murders in 1978.

Hagen was acquitted of the murders the next year when a key piece of evidence against him was discredited. In July 1983, after the Supreme Court overturned his conviction pending a new trial, Roger Caldwell confessed to the murders and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He said he acted alone. He already had been In prison for five years, and under the agreement did not have to serve any more time. Last month Hagen began serving a 2-year prison term for arson and insurance fraud involving a house In Mound that she had owned.

Her sentence and conviction has been appealed to the Supreme Court She and her family have agreed to divide their $8 million share of the Congdon estate. She could not have collected an Inheritance had it been determined that she killed Congdon. The Duluth jury awarded Pietlla's family the $225,000 from the trustees of Chester Congdon's will, which owned the Glensheen property. It also said the estate of Elisabeth Congdon was negligent for not protecting the house better, but it did Court continued on page 4B Barbara Simons and Paul Stephanl, the man charged with murdering her, were in a Minneapolis bar the night before she was killed, a bartender testified Thursday in Hennepin County District Court Dennis Phllipps said that Simons was a regular at the Hexagon Bar, 2600 27th Av. and that he had seen Stephanl about 40 times In a year and a half.

He said he didn't know Stephanl's name but said he was a loner. Phllipps said he remembers what bis customers drink by picking out something about their appearance that distinguishes them. He said he remembered Stephanl's eyes Woman sought in Dakota County authorities are seeking the arrest and extradition of an Illinois woman who was charged Thursday with filing $19,639 in forged prescription claims with Blue CrossBlue Shield of Minnesota. Joan M. Wiltsle, 45, of DeKalb, 111., was charged In Dakota County District Court with four counts of aggravated forgery and four counts of theft by swindle.

A warrant for her arrest was Issued by Dakota County Student pleads not A University of Minnesota graduate student pleaded not guilty in Ramsey County District Court Thursday to first-degree murder charges In the beating death of a Shoreview man last June. William A. Couture, 25, was charged in January with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree burglary In the death of Kurt E. Johnson. jtiiaw liiii Mm Zoo to expand outreach program By Dan Oberderfer Staff Writer The family of the nurse who was killed with Elisabeth Congdon in the 1977 murders at the Congdon estate is not entitled to receive the $225,000 It was awarded by a jury, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled.

In a decision to be filed today, the court ruled that the Congdon family did not have "a duty to take measures to guard against the murders" at Glensheen, the family's 39-room mansion on Lake Superior in Duluth. The ruling was issued by seven of the justices, with Justices Lawrence Yetka and Rosalie Wahl dissenting. The family of nurse Velma K. Pietlla was awarded the money by a Duluth jury after a trial in which its attorneys had argued that normal prudence would have prevented the killings. Despite alleged threats from Cong-don's adopted daughter, Marjorie Caldwell Hagen, the family did not maintain an alarm system or hire guards to patrol the mansion even though It had the money to do so.

It relied Instead on standard door and window locks, the presence of Power-line foe wins $340,000 in legal fees By Cenrad deFiebre Southern Minnesota Correspondent A St Paul lawyer was awarded $340,450 Thursday for helping a group of farmers keep a power line off their land. Two power cooperative organizations were ordered to pay the fee to Ken Tllsen, who has championed many controversial causes In his 34 years as a lawyer. Tllsen said the fee would be his biggest ever, but added, "I might spend two more years litigating the right to get the money." The Cooperative Power Association of Eden Prairie and the United Power Association of Elk River have until May to appeal the ruling by Olmsted County Judge O. Russell Olson. John Drawz, an attorney for the power cooperatives, said yesterday that a decision would not be made on an appeal until early next month.

Tllsen began representing the 170-member Southern Landowners Association of Minnesota (SLAM) In condemnation proceedings for the 78-mile Wilmarth power line in 1979. Plans to build the line, which would have run from Delano to the outskirts of Mankato, were abandoned In October 1983, partly as a result of Tilsen's complex legal battle. "After 50 or 60 hearings, thousands and thousands of documents and four years of litigation, we won," Tllsen said. In filing to recover fees in January 1984, he figured that he spent 2,960 hours on the case, the equivalent of 74 40-hour weeks. Olson awarded him $125 an hour for his legal work and $50 an hour for travel, which was 56 hours of the total.

Over the four years, SLAM members had paid Tllsen $25,349, which he said was all they could afford. That amount, less than $10 an hour, was applied In the judgment to a full fee of $365,800. Tllsen, 57, Is a father of five who has lived in Mendota Heights for 30 years. He said he has spent at least half of his time over the past 15 years working for groups such as the Honeywell Project and the Wounded Knee legal defense committee. Currently his office Is representing Sal-vadoran refugee Rene Hurtado in his fight against deportation.

"A major portion of my practice has always been devoted to nonremuner-ative matters," he said. And if he ever collects the big fee? "My avocation is sailing," he said. "I guess I'll probably do a little more of that" 1 The Minnesota Zoo plans to expand its outreach program with the help of a second "zoomobUe" donated Thursday by National Car Rental System, Inc. The new vehicle, a van with cages to transport animals, will be used to expand the number of programs that zoo naturalists put on at metro-area schools, nursing homes, shopping centers and special events, zoo officials said. -V- wrYV 47W jVt "like Clint Eastwood's, cold and steely." He said he didn't see Simons or Stephanl after 7 p.m.

Aug. 5, 1982. The body of Simons, who had been stabbed 106 times, was found about 6:45 a.m. the next morning along W. River Rd.

near Lake St Also testifying yesterday was Minneapolis police Sgt Don Brown, who investigated the Simons slaying. He said two waitresses at the bar also identified Stephanl from photo lineups. The trial will continue Tuesday before District Judge Robert Bowen. insurance fraud District Judge George Hoey. Dale Brule, chief Investigator for the Ea-gan police, said Illinois police have been asked to arrest Wiltsle.

Wiltsie is accused of cheating Blue CrossBlue Shield by forging pharmacists' signatures on false prescription claims that she filed between 1980 and 1984. During that time Wiltsle lived in Bemldji, Grand Forks, and several Illinois cities, Brule said. guilty to murder Johnson was killed while sleeping in the basement of his mother's home in Shoreview. Couture is accused of killing him because the victim dated a graduate student Couture was interested in, police said. A trial date of April 22 has been set Couture is being held in the Ramsey County Jail in lieu of $100,000 ball.

A larger zoomobUe donated by National Car Rental in 1983 will be used for longer, overnight trips in the state, they said. The first zoomobUe was booked solid last year, and the zoo had to turn down some requests for visits. More than 350,000 people attended zoo outreach programs In 1984, zoo officials said. rezoning, wants will neither be stored nor tested," she said. The site is zoned for forest and recreation.

Honeywell, which is seeking to rezone the land general Industrial, has signed a purchase agreement with the landowner contingent on the conditional-use permit being approved, Kendall said. The Morrison County Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed rezoning 7 p.m. Feb. 25. games seized seized were two "Joker Poker" video machines and several kinds of pull-tab gambling cards.

Spitzer said charges would be filed against the proprietors and the bartenders who were on duty at the time of the raids. He said the investigation was continuing. "We are not quitting," he said. "Other bars have been named and we know they have machines. This is kind of warning." post-office boxes for students, fac ulty and staff members.

It was worth It they said, because people were thanking them all day long. The message inside the heart was this: "On this special Thursday (whether you know It or nay), We just want to say, without any delay or a silly cliche, that in some unique way, you're a loveable, beautiful person. OK?" woman's death sheriff said. There was evidence that there had been a fire in the house which evidently had extinguished itself, Wolff said. It may have been electrical in origin, he said.

The cause of Nelson's death has not been determined. Press reports. Around Minnesota Honeywell seeks to test weapons near Camp Ripley Little Falls, Minn. Honeywell Inc. has asked Morrison County to rezone 1,000 acres west of Camp Ripley for testing advanced, conventional weapons.

If the permit is approved, Honeywell said it plans to test weapons systems similar to those tested by the National Guard at Camp Ripley, according to Morrison County Zoning Administrator Kathy Kendall. "Nuclear devices, radioactive materials and hazardous materials, other than conventional explosives, Taverns' gambling Winona, Minn. Acting on a tip from "a compulsive gambler who lost everything he had," Winona County deputies seized gambling equipment this week at three taverns, Sheriff Vera Spitzer said Thursday. The Minnei Inn, Minneiska, and the Palomino Bar and Barb and Roger's Cove, both In Minnesota City, were raided between 11:15 p.m. Tuesday and 3:30 a.m.

Wednesday, Spitzer said. Among the Items to at a Fourplex fire leaves 26 homeless At toast 26 people were toft homeless Thursday whan firs gutted a fourplex at 3320 4th Av. S. Tha Are, which arson Investigators rulad accidental, started In a first-floor living room closet. Minneapolis North Slda rasldant Hubert Lucas was in tha neighborhood at tha time of tha fire and recognized tha burning housa as tha home of his cousin, Martha Cook.

Ha ran In to help. Cook, who was carrying har 2-month-old son, DeCarlo Ellis, fall on a flight of steps as she was leaving tha housa. Sha was treated and released from Abbott Northwestern Hospital. Lucas, at right, later comforted tha baby, who was unhurt There ware no other Injuries In tha blaze. Tha four families toft homeless by tha Are ara staying with relatives and friends or ara in Red Cross shelters.

Staff Photos by Art Hager will be granted a new trial. Race, 35, of Hoyt Lakes, is serving a life sentence in Stillwater State Prison. He was convicted in November 1983 in Duluth of staging a boating accident on Lake Superior, causing his wife to die of exposure. The Minnesota Supreme Court ordered last month that the new arguments and testimony be heard in Duluth. Hibbing construction worker William Rupright a friend of the Races, is expected to testify that he had seen a raft full of holes stored inside Race's fishing boat the Jenny Lee, before May 11, 1982, the day Debbie Race, 33, and her husband went on the iw i i in i 1 St.

Olaf mailing was from heart Larry Race's attorney seeks new Northfleld, Minn. Four St Olaf College sophomores made sure that no one on campus was forgotten on Valentine's Day. Bill Cayley and Tom Owen, both of Eau Claire, Ken Waisanen, Verndale, and Jay Norton, Salem, chipped in $20 apiece to print 3,200 copies of a pink-and-black valentine they designed. They put them in all the college Fire suspected in Montlcello, Minn. An 84-year-old Montlcello woman found dead in her bedroom Monday may have died of smoke inhalation, according to Wright County Sheriff Darrell Wolff.

Gladys Isabelle Nelson was found dead by her brother, who had last spoken to her at 9 p.m. Sunday, the Compiled from staff and Associated trouble, donned his scuba gear, swam underneath it and slashed it "From the prosecution's theory, a knife cutting the bottom of the raft could well have cut (Debbie Race) or her clothes," but "Debbie Race's clothes were lost by the state and not produced as evidence," Vll-laume's petition said. One of the investigators in the case, Robert Ojard of the St Louis County sheriffs office, said Wednesday that Debbie Race's clothes never were In the department's possession. Before officials determined that she had been murdered, "her clothes went with the body through the various funeral directors," he said. Associated Press Duluth, Minn.

Authorities lost the clothes worn by Debbie Race the night she died in Lake Superior, and that cost her husband a chance to prove he was Innocent of murdering her, his attorney claims. Philip Vlllaume, attorney for Larry Race, made the allegation In a petition for a new trial filed Wednesday in St Louis County District Court That argument along with new testimony about a life raft used as evidence to convict Race of first-degree murder, are expected to be presented at a hearing before District Judge Jack Litman to determine if Race cruise that ended in her death. The couple, parents of three children, were spending the evening aboard their powerboat celebrating their wedding anniversary. The slashed raft was found by police aboard the boat during the murder investigation. Villaume said Rupright will testify that he told both Races that the raft was unsafe.

Debbie Race's body, clad in a life jacket polyester slacks and a ski parka, washed up on shore in Duluth the next day. A yellow and blue rubber raft was a key piece of evidence during Larry Race's trial. The prosecution argued that Race placed his wife in it after feigning boat.