Ex-police chief, wife, plead guilty, are fined

Havre City Judge Margaret Hencz listens as Blaine County attorney Don Ranstrom reads the plea agreement for Ashlie Nystrom this morning during an arraignment via teleconference for Ashlie Nystrom and her husband, former Havre Police Department Police Chief Jerry Nystrom.

More than 14 months after a scuffle at PJ's Restaurant Casino Lounge involving then recently resigned Havre Police Chief Jerry Nystrom and his wife Ashlie, the case ended this morning when both pleaded guilty.

City Judge Margaret Hencz, in her first-ever laptop-based arraignment, interviewed the two current Oklahoma residents over the videoconferencing program Skype in the city courtroom starting at 10 a. m.

Jerry Nystrom faced two charges, assault and disorderly conduct. He ended up with a six-month deferred imposition of sentence for each charge to be observed concurrently and fines of $250 for the assault and $100 for disorderly conduct, with $85 surcharges each, totalling $520.

According to his answers to Blaine County Attorney Don Ranstrom's interview questions, the assault charge stemmed from Jerry Nystrom pushing a man back down into his chair.

The disorderly conduct charge was the result of a "quarrel, " as Hencz put it, with Terry O'Leary.

"He challenged to fight me, and I walked away, " Jerry Mystrom said.

His wife may have been more eager.

Ashlie Nystrom faced only one assault charge, following an altercation with O'Leary. She ended up with the same six-months deferred and a $250 fine with $85 surcharge, totalling $335.

When Ranstrom, the special prosecutor named to the case after Hill County officials backed out of the case, asked, Ashlie admitted to being at PJ's that night with a lot of people, but denied that she had punched O'Leary or thrown a glass bottle at him.

"I'm going with what I saw on the videotape, " Ranstrom said.

She eventually admitted that her foot may have made some unwanted contact with him.

"There was a bunch of people around, " Ashlie said. "I don't know if I made any contact with him. "

With charges and pleas entered, and fine payments on the way, the Nystroms are now done with the Havre legal system as long as they stay out of trouble for six months.