Mark Jensen has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife, Julie Jensen, in 1998. After a lengthy legal battle, including two trials and one overturned conviction, Jensen was found guilty of poisoning his wife using antifreeze. Prosecutors presented evidence including a letter written by Julie predicting her own death and computer searches on ethylene glycol poisoning.
Nearly 25 years ago, Julie Jensen was found dead in her Wisconsin bedroom, her body poisoned by ethylene glycol, the primary ingredient in antifreeze. Her husband, Mark Jensen, was eventually convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison, but the legal battle to bring him to justice was long and complex.
The investigation into Julie’s death began when Mark called 911 to report finding her body. While the initial belief was that she had died of natural causes, the suspicious circumstances caught the attention of the Kenosha County district attorney. Julie had been targeted by an anonymous stalker for years, and she had even written a letter addressed to the local police department predicting her own death. She suspected her husband of foul play and feared for her life.
The letter became a key piece of evidence in the case, but its admissibility was challenged due to the defendant’s right to confront his accusers. However, a judge ultimately allowed it in court, giving jurors the opportunity to hear Julie’s voice from beyond the grave.
In 2002, Mark was charged with first-degree intentional homicide, but the road to conviction was not straightforward. Due to the small amount of ethylene glycol in Julie’s system and her recent prescription for antidepressants, suicide was initially considered a possibility. It took months for investigators to even discover the presence of the poison. However, the medical examiner ultimately ruled Julie’s death a homicide, citing both ethylene glycol poisoning and asphyxiation.
In 2007, Mark was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison, but his conviction was later overturned by a federal judge. The judge deemed the admission of Julie’s letter as a violation of Mark’s constitutional rights. Prosecutors were undeterred and aimed for another conviction.
After years of delays, Mark’s second trial began in early 2023. This time, Julie’s letter was not offered as evidence, but prosecutors presented new evidence that Mark had been harassing Julie for years. They found a fake email on an external computer drive, sent by Mark to himself but made to appear as if it had been sent by someone else.
On February 1, 2023, Mark was convicted once again. The legal saga that lasted for over two decades finally came to an end, bringing a sense of justice to Julie’s family and closure to a long and painful chapter in their lives..