Julie Jensen Murder Case
Julie Jensen Trial
4th Jan, 2008 - 1:55pm
Julie Jensen was poisoned to death in 1998, but prior to that she suspected her husband's behavior and told a neighbor that she thought her husband was going to try to kill her and if she dies, he should be the prime suspect. She also handed a letter to the same neighbor. Her husband is now on trial accused of killing her.
MILWAUKEE (Jan. 2) - Julie Jensen will essentially testify from the grave when her husband's murder trial begins this week. Shortly before her death in 1998, Jensen told police, a neighbor and her son's teacher that she suspected her spouse was trying to kill her, court documents show. She gave a letter to the neighbor that said that if she died, Mark Jensen should be the first suspect. "I pray I'm wrong + nothing happens ... But I am suspicious of Mark's suspicious behaviors + fear for my demise," she wrote. Until recent years, using such evidence in court was virtually unheard of because of constitutional guarantees that give criminal defendants the right to confront their accusers. But the Wisconsin Supreme Court created new rules, prompted by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that laid the groundwork for her accusatory letter and statements to police to be used as evidence in the trial. At a hearing this summer, it was determined the letter and statements to police should be allowed at trial. Jury selection begins Thursday; opening statements were scheduled for Monday. The hearing gave a glimpse of what both sides would argue. The prosecution alleges that Mark Jensen, now 48, poisoned his wife with at least two doses of ethylene glycol, commonly used as antifreeze, so he could be with his girlfriend, now his wife. They argue he got the information on poisoning from doing Web searches. The defense counters that a depressed and disturbed 40-year-old Julie Jensen did the Internet searches and poisoned herself - to frame her cheating husband.
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