Monday, January 7, 2008

Divorce Would Have Been A Safer Option For Julie Jensen and Mark Jensen

Julie Jensen wanted authorities to investigate her spouse if anything happened to her, according to a letter read to jurors Monday during opening statements. (Her husband is being tried for her murder.) Mark Jensen, 48, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife who was found dead of poisoning in 1998 in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.

"I pray that I am wrong and nothing happens, but I am suspicious of Mark's suspicious behaviors and fear for my early demise," Julie Jensen said in the letter read by Special Prosecutor Robert Jambois. (She had told a neighbor to share the letter if anything happened to her. Mark Jensen was charged with first-degree murder in 2002, but the trial has been delayed until now. The defense claims that the 40-year-old woman was depressed and and poisoned herself to frame her cheating husband.

Jambois claims Jensen failed to take his wife to a hospital, even though she was sick for three days before she died. Julie Jensen also told police, a neighbor and a teacher that she thought her husband was trying to kill her. Recent changes in Wisconsin's Evidentiary Rules have apparently made such evidence admissible.

Jensen allegedly poisoned his wife with ethylene glycol (antifreeze) so that he could be with a girlfriend. (She is now his new wife.) Judge Bruce E. Schroeder has not yet decided if taped jail phone conversations between Jensen and his current wife will come into evidence.

Divorce would have been so much cheaper...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting trial issues!

Ms Calabaza said...

The new wife oughta take a page from the Stacey Peterson case in Illinois. What makes her think she will be spared his wrath in the future?

Ms Calabaza

Ms Calabaza said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Maybe Legal Pub's proposal to reduce domestic violence would work here?