Dead wife helps convict killer husband

A husband who poisoned his wife was jailed for life today after her evidence from beyond the grave helped to convict him.

Julie Jensen left a note with a neighbour suggesting that if she died, her husband Mark would be to blame.

Nearly a decade after her death, a jury decided he was.

Jensen, 48, was found guilty murder and faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. A judge will decide if he is eligible for parole.

“It’s not just the verdict, it’s the simple truth that we’ve known for a long time,” said Mrs Jensen’s brother, Paul Griffin.

“And it all goes back to Julie’s letter. She asked us to follow up on her death if she died. That’s what her letter was all about.”

Mrs Jensen, 40, was found dead in her home in Elkhorn, Wisconsin in December 1998, after being sick for a few days. Prosecutors said she was poisoned with antifreeze and then suffocated.

She had suspected for some time her husband of 14 years was plotting against her, so she left the note with a neighbour and said to give it to police only if she died.

“I pray that I am wrong and nothing happens, but I am suspicious of Mark’s suspicious behaviours and fear for my early demise,” she wrote.

At the time, Mark Jensen was having an affair with a woman he has since married.

Until recently using evidence such as the letter in court was virtually unheard of because of constitutional guarantees giving criminal defendants the right to confront their accusers.

But the Wisconsin Supreme Court created new evidence rules, guided by a Supreme Court decision that laid the groundwork for the use of Julie Jensen’s letter and statements to police.

A judge decided last year that the letter and statements should be allowed at trial.

Defence lawyer Craig Albee said he may appeal.