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SAN ANTONIO fXPRFSS ~Wprlne«W Jtirw 4 1975Pngp 5 Auw,-*.ASooAit d wnssAUSTINRobert Kleasenmust go to the electric chair for murdering and butchering a Mormon missionary, a jury of seven women and five men decided in only 21 minutes Tuesday.Kleasen closed his eyes tight-Iv and bowed his head as the verdict was read.In closing arguments to the jury earlier, Dist. Attv. Bob Smith had asked the jury to sentence Kleasento the electric chair.“Everybody is down on him.” Smith said. “Everybody is against him. He has a hostility you can feel ten feet away. And I wonder what he thinks about your treatment of him yesterday by your verdict.”Smith said, “everybody believes in capital punishment in a proper case. I submit to you this is proper case. Do you believe in self-defense or not? He has been in hospitals and they did not keep him. He’s been in jails and they did not keep him. Society needs protection from him.”Defense Atty. Pat Canne asked the♦ :c /•* '* rlt;V • * \- U r 'jury, “ can you right that wrong by killing another person?”l^ss than two months before he allegedly killed two Mormon missionaries, he wrote to another missionary, “I want blood ... I want their heads.”Kleasen told the jury that in his letters to Blair Bell of San Antonio he did not literally mean what thewords said.He had troubles with the churchinvolving an incident in Denmark, he said. This apparently was in reference to a woman-beating incident in Denmark that the prosecution mentioned briefly Tuesday morning before the judgeprevented further questions on anindictment against Kleasen in that country.Asked by his own lawyer what he‘meant when he said in one of the letters, ”1 will not mess around any longer — I am going to kill,”he explained: “I’m going to a lawyer, I'm going all the way this time. I’m through writing letters. I’m through making telephone calls.”This involved the rifling of his trailer by a member of the church in Austin, Kleasen said.The prosecution introduced the letters after asking Kleasen if he had any hostility toward the Morman Church.“No, I never did have any animosity toward the Mormon Church. I’m a Mormon today.”When Kleasen first took the standTuesday morning, he said ”1 doubt verv much that you can cut a human head on that saw.Smith walked over to the taxidermist’s band saw, pulled hairs fromthe blade, walked to the witnessstand, held out the hairs and addressed Kleasen by his admittedaliases.“Who put that hair on the band saw, Mr. Raadt, Mr. Williamson, Mr. Kleasen—-w hoever you are?”1 don’t know, Kleasen said.Chief defense lawyer R. Ros-eoe Haley said Monday he would not call witnesses at the penalty phaseof the trial, nor would he callKleasen to the stand.But the state put on 18 witnesses who testified that Kleasen’s reputation as -‘‘a peaceful and law abiding citizen was bad.The prosecution also called apsychiatrist, Dr. Richard Coons,who said: “My opinion is that there is a probability that the defendant will commit continuing acts of violence which will be a threat tosociety.Haley held a conference In awhallway with fellow defense lawyer Pat Ganne after the state rested. Haley said he was opposed to putt in Kleasen on the stand even thoug Kleasen wanted to testify.“We’re at the point now, Ganne said, “where we have nothing to lose.”Kleasen told his bizarre story of being hounded by the CIA, whose service he said he quit in 1965 to join the peace movement. His eyesreddened as he neared the end of direct examination. “I know I’m goin^kfo die,” he said, and wiped aw avi^ars with a handkerchief.mKleasen said he bought the stolen trailer he was living in from a CIA agent who was en route to Southeast Asia and wanted to know if Kleasencould provide him with a contact in Thailand.Smith hammered at Kleasea for an hour and 20 minutes before thelunch recess, asking him about a felonious assault charge in New York State, about being kicked out of Denmark for beating up a woman.He was convicted of killing Mark Fischer, 19, of Milwaukee, Wis. He also is accused of killing Fischer’s missionary companion, Gary Dar-lev, 20. of Simi Valley, Calif.
Newspaper Details
San Antonio Express
San Antonio, Texas, US
Wed, Jun 04, 1975
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Jared T.
NA, NA 27 May 2023
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