Mark Jensen, the man previously convicted of murdering his wife Julie Jensen, stands trial once again in the case. Several courts since his 2008 sentencing overturned his conviction, paving the way for jurors to once again consider whether he really did carry out the heinous act. The cause of death was determined to be antifreeze and smothering. You can watch in the player above.
This time, prosecutors can’t use a striking piece of evidence. Julie, who died in 1998, left behind voicemail and a letter, saying that if she died, police should treat her husband as a suspect. “I pray I’m wrong, and nothing happens,” she wrote. The state Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that prosecutors could not rely on the letter or the voicemail for conviction because Mark could not have Julie questioned under the U.S. Constitution.
From the 2021 ruling:
She wrote a letter and gave it to her neighbor with instructions to give the letter to the police should anything happen to her. She also left two voicemails with Pleasant Prairie Police Officer Ron Kosman two weeks before she died stating that if she were found dead, Jensen should be Kosman’s “first suspect.”
A juror voiced shock at a federal judge in 2013 overturning Mark Jensen’s 2008 murder conviction, according to WISN. She reportedly maintained, however, that the most important piece of evidence was not Julie’s letter, but Mark’s searches about poisoning deaths as well as his statements to officers.
Defendant Jensen has been locked up since his sentence in 2008 to life in prison without parole.