Summary: Despite being convicted in 2008 of murdering his wife to look like a suicide, Mark Jensen has been granted a retrial after crucial evidence has been thrown out.
The case of Julie Jensen’s death in 1998 has been going on for years, with her husband being sentenced to life for her murder in 2008. Mark Jensen won appeals for a retrial. His bond has been set at $1.2 million.
Jensen was found guilty of poisoning his wife with antifreeze and then suffocating her to make her death look like a suicide. He had not yet posted bail with his public defender claiming he did not have the resources to pay that amount and was asking for a substantially lower amount.
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However, Judge Chad Kerkman was not willing to lower the amount since the accusation against Jensen had not changed from the first time he was tried so there was no reason to. Special prosecutor Bob Jambois wanted the high bond because his crime was “so enormous, so monstrous, so unspeakably cruel” and violent.
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His conviction was overturned by a federal judge last year with an appeals court upholding the decision. A note from his wife implicating him as her murderer was used in the original trial but was ruled as an improper use of evidence because he couldn’t properly face his accuser.
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His defense team has claimed that she was depressed and wanted to kill herself, trying to frame her husband in the process. The prosecution team argued that Jensen wanted to rid himself of Julie to make room for his mistress.
There are still ample amounts of evidence that the prosecution can use to argue Jensen’s guilt even with the defense team pointing out the importance that the letter played in the original conviction.
Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/article53259920.html
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