Mark Jensen Kenosha murder trial: Defense rests, Jensen will not testify

Mark Jensen trial headed to closing arguments

Closing arguments will be held Tuesday, Jan. 31 in the retrial of Mark Jensen. On Monday, Jensen's own son spoke in Jensen's defense.

KENOSHA, Wis. - The defense rested its case on Monday, Jan. 30 in the retrial of a man previously convicted of killing his wife more than two decades ago.

Mark Jensen, now 63, was convicted in 2008 of killing his wife Julie Jensen in their Pleasant Prairie home in 1998. Prosecutors say Jensen poisoned his wife with antifreeze, drugged her and smothered her. Jensen maintains his wife killed herself. He was having an affair with a woman in the months prior to her death and she moved to Kenosha in the months afterward.

"Had you ever seen him that way before?" asked the defense attorney.

"That was the first time I’d seen him cry," said David Jensen, Mark Jensen's oldest son.

David Jensen testified that he and his dad made a homemade fishing pole as a Christmas gift for his mom.

"It was my dad, my brother, Douglas, and I," David Jensen said.

David Jensen

The afternoon the three came home, Julie Jensen died…

"He came out crying not terribly long after," David Jensen testified.

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The then-8-year-old boy remembers his mom was not getting out of bed and ill – as far as he knew. He asked his dad, Mark, about her.

Mark Jensen

"We were going to come straight home from school and check on her," David Jensen said.

11:52:20 "You were so worried about her, you wanted her to go to the doctor, right?" the defense attorney asked.

"Yes," David replied.

David Jensen

Prosecutors say Mark Jensen poisoned his wife with antifreeze, drugged her, and smothered her. Mark Jensen was having an affair in the months prior to Julie's death – with a woman who moved to Kenosha soon after.

Jensen maintains his wife killed herself.

"I would offer to you that she did experience suicidal ideation," said Dr. Sara West, forensic psychiatrist.

Dr. Sara West, forensic psychiatrist

Dr. West said it was clear Julie Jensen was depressed before her death – even if she told people she was not suicidal.

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"People are not always forthright about their thoughts to harm themselves," testified Dr. West.

Mark Jensen Kenosha murder trial: Jensen declines to testify in his own defense

Mark Jensen was given an opportunity to testify in his own defense on Monday, Jan. 30, and declined that opportunity.

The case is expected to go to the jury some time this week.