Judge vacates poisoning death conviction, man heads back to trial
Mark Jensen
KENOSHA, Wis. - A judge has vacated the conviction of a man who is heading back to trial in Kenosha County on charges of killing his wife with antifreeze.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled last month that Mark Jensen deserves a new trial in the 1998 death of his wife, Julie Jensen.
The high court ruled a letter Jensen's wife wrote incriminating him in the event something should happen to her cannot be used by the prosecution.
Jensen has maintained his innocence with his attorneys arguing that Julie Jensen was depressed and killed herself after framing her husband.
Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Chad Kerkman vacated Jensen’s conviction Thursday and reinstated his bond.
Jensen was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in 2008 after a jury convicted him. A series of appeals followed and in 2013 a federal court overturned his conviction and ordered that he be retried or released from prison.
When a second prosecution began in 2017, Judge Kerkman ruled the letter should be admitted and reinstated Jensen's conviction without a trial.
The state Supreme Court ruled in March that Jensen must receive a new trial and that the letter and incriminating statements his wife made cannot be used by prosecutors.
Jensen is scheduled to return to court on May 7 for a bond hearing. He was being held on $1.2 million bond.
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