Baesler pleads not guilty

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler has pleaded not guilty to simple assault in a domestic violence incident.
 
     Baesler’s attorney entered the plea Tuesday morning in Bismarck municipal court. Baesler did not appear in court.
 
     Baesler was arrested early Sunday. Court documents allege she struck fiance Todd Tschosik “with an object, causing injury to his face.”
 
     Baesler maintains she was concerned about her safety. Tschosik says he’s disappointed about “an attempt to discredit me personally.”
 
     A judge set a March 23 trial for Baesler and ordered her to have no contact with Tschosik.
 
     Baesler spokesman Dale Wetzel said she returned to work Tuesday. She was not at work Monday, and a meeting of a State Board of Higher Education nominating committee she leads was rescheduled to Wednesday.

Previously…

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A man whom authorities say was assaulted by North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler was accused of assaulting her in a Florida hotel room last summer.

Court documents indicate Baesler didn’t cooperate with authorities in the Florida case against Todd Tschosik, and prosecutors dropped the case.

Baesler was arrested Sunday on a preliminary assault charge after an incident at Tschosik’s Bismarck home. She said in a statement that an argument with her fiance escalated to the point where she was concerned about her safety, and it wasn’t the first time she had felt at risk.

A spokesman for Baesler said she wouldn’t comment on the Florida incident.

Court documents indicate he told Florida police he was set up by Baesler.

Tschosik said Monday that others witnessed what happened and it’s “disappointing that there has been an attempt to discredit me personally.”

Tschosik also denied assaulting Baesler, his fiancée, last summer in Orange County, Fla., where a misdemeanor battery charge against him was eventually dropped.