Husband convicted to poisoning wife with antifreeze

In December 1998, police in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, were called to the Lake Shore Drive home of Mark and Julie Jensen. Inside, Mark had found his wife's body lying in her bed. Initially, investigators thought suicide was a strong possibility. But a letter written by mum of two Julie before her death soon pointed police in a different direction. In the letter, Julie who had a history of depression and an alcoholic mother, blamed Mark for anything that might happen to her. The investigation soon revealed that Julie had died from anti-freeze poisoning. MarkÕs family claimed Julie was trying to frame him and had ingested the anti-freeze herself but mistakenly overdosed when she just meant to get sick. But investigators and prosecutors believed Mark had murdered Julie Ð especially after she included a Ôshopping listÕ of poisons she found that Mark had written and after they tested MarkÕs computer and found emails to a secret girlfriend. A former pal then came forward and claimed Mark had confessed to him on a drunken company night out. Mark was charged with murder. His lawyers argued the letter should be thrown out of court and a judge agreed but prosecutors fought back and after a length five year battle an appeals court ruled the letter could be included in evidence. After a trial in 2008 it took a jury three days to find Mark guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. But he soon began his appeal. It took seven years but in 2015 court finally ruled that the letter should not have been allowed into evidence and overturned his conviction. The State Attorney General immediately announced prosecutors would retry Mark for the murder. A new judge reset his bail at a whopping $1.2 million Ð an amount Mark couldnÕt pay so he will remain behind bars until his new trial, which could be as far away as 2017. Ref: F NICLA 140316 A Focus News Agency Los Angeles: + 1 310 962 4153 npittam@focusnewsagency.com *** Local Caption *** BSMID14333351