Julie Jensen case

The Julie Jensen case involves the trial of Mark Jensen on charges that he murdered his wife, Julie Jensen. The case is notable for the eventual admission into evidence of a letter written by the deceased prior to her death, expressing suspicion of her husband's intentions.

The trial was moved from Kenosha County, Wisconsin to Walworth County, Wisconsin in response to pre-trial publicity. Special Prosecutor Robert Jambois contended that Mark Jensen poisoned his wife, then 40, with ethylene glycol (antifreeze) and then suffocated her on December 3, 1998, but defense counsel Craig Albee argued that Julie Jensen was a depressed woman who killed herself and framed her husband. Moreover, the deceased had seen a therapist at least three times for depression and was aware of her husband's extramarital affair with a co-worker, [http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/13524457.html] Kelly LaBonte Grieman (whom Mark Jensen later married, and who would retain custody of the Jensens' two sons after Mark's eventual imprisonment). Evidence was introduced indicating that Mark Jensen had discussed poisoning his wife with co-workers and a jailhouse associate, as well as searching on the internet for information relating to spousal murder and poisoning techniques. The prosecution contended further that Jensen remained angry over his wife's brief affair in 1991 with co-worker Perry Tarica. [http://insession.blogs.cnn.com/2008/01/25/at-jensen-trial-the-other-man-takes-the-stand/]

Julie Jensen investigated her husband, checking his planner, photographing a note and documenting her suspicions. [http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/22/jensen.jurors/#cnnSTCOther1] Julie Jensen gave the letter to a neighbor with instructions to hand it to police if anything should happen to her. She wrote that she would never commit suicide and that if she died, police should consider her husband a suspect. "I pray that I am wrong and nothing happens, but I am suspicious of Mark's suspicious behaviors and fear for my early demise." [http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-01-07-1500659240_x.htm]

The letter's use by the prosecutors was controversial, because such evidence has been blocked from court for years by strict hearsay rules based on criminal defendants' right, under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution to confront their accusers. But the Wisconsin Supreme Court, guided by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Crawford v Washington 541 U.S. 36 (2004)), created a hearsay exception that permitted the use of Julie Jensen's letter and statements as a dying declaration -- that is, evidence of her state of mind at the time of her death. The letter was the critical factor in the trial that ended in Wisconsin on February 22 2008. The jury found Jensen, 48, guilty of his wife's murder after more than 30 hours of deliberations. He was sentenced February 27 2008 to life in prison with no chance of parole. [http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/27/jensen.sentence/index.html Husband gets life without parole in 'letter from the grave' case - CNN.com ] ] [http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/22/jensen.jurors/index.html Jury: Letter from grave was 'road map' to murderer - CNN.com ] ]

According to an ABC broadcast on July 3, 2008, a further Supreme Court ruling (Giles v. California makes an appeal likely. Mark Jensen's supporters maintain a website offering his side of the case. [http://www.markjensenlegaldefense.com/the_letter.shtml]

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