In it's decision the court stated, "Mark D. Jensen appeals from a judgment of conviction for the first-degree intentional homicide of his wife Julie Jensen contrary to Wis. Stat. Jensen presents many arguments on appeal, none of which persuade. We affirm."
I included a link to the court's decision above for those anxious to read the decision for themselves. I do intend to write more about the ruling, after pondering it a few more times. It is lengthy. I just wanted to let you know that Mark Jensen's conviction and life sentence stands!
This case's status is now listed as PR, Pending Remittitur, due by January 28,2011.
(PR is case status indicating that a decision has been issued and the case is waiting for the case record, where one was filed, to be returned to the circuit court, or the file to be closed, if there is no case record.)
Given that the loss of Julie's life so outweighs any victory this ruling provides to Special Prosecutor Robert Jambois and his co-counsel Angelina Gabriele or Julie's loved ones, I don't know if congratulations are appropriate, but I hope that they all will have a long earned respite from the stress of this quest for justice that's been battled for over a decade. You have all done Julie's memory justice!
I will never forget the statement given by the prosecution after Jensen's conviction in 2008 and want to share it with you:
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The Associated Press reports that Mark Jensen's attorney, Christopher Rose, says he'll ask the state Supreme Court to take the case.....not a big surprise. Sphere: Related Content
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Thank you, Katfish! I followed that case so closely. Unfortunately, another case came to the forefront and I am so glad you followed through with this.
ReplyDeleteI read the decision and it is magnificent. Jensen did not prevail on one item!
Ritanita
My favorite part of the decision is at the very end and summarizes my feeling:
"While this case is “exceptional,” it is
so only because of the staggering weight of the untainted evidence and cumulatively sound evidence presented by the State to a jury of Mark Jensen’s peers leading it to convict Jensen beyond a reasonable doubt of murder in the first
degree."
Bob Jambois did a stellar job.
Ritanita,
ReplyDeleteI was so happy that the points I personally felt proved Jensen's guilt were those that the court chose to acknowledge in their decision. The computer use and double delete on the morning of Julie's death alone proved beyond a reasonable doubt for me that Mark killed Julie.
I notice Julie's brothers quoted the same excerpt from the court's decision on their timeline at their memorial website as you mentioned, it definately says it all:
http://www.oursisterjulie.com/Julie/Home.html
Thank you for the update......do you happen to know where his children are living? I have a vague memory of him remarrying before the trial.
ReplyDeleteAnon 1/1/2011 at 9:31 am-
ReplyDeleteMark Jensen married Kelly LaBonte shortly after Julies death and together they had a son and raised him with Mark and Julie's boys. The court of appeal's decision eluded to Kelly being a plausible motive for Mark to kill Julie.
After Mark was sent to jail, I'm pretty sure Kelly was awarded custody of Mark and Julie's youngest boy. I believe David was already 18 at the time of conviction, but Douglas was still a minor. Kelly and Mark divorced after his conviction....I heard she has remarried, but I don't know that for sure nor if she retained custody of Douglas after the divorce, he should be getting close to 18.I have links to court papers on older posts here that can be accessed by clicking on Mark or Julie Jensen in the Labels section at the lower right of this page.
I have faith that the boys will reconnect with Julie's brothers and their families, if they haven't already. God bless them all!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
ReplyDeleteSAME TO YOU VAL!
ReplyDeleteThank you for reporting this Katfish. I am relieved to know that Mark Jensen will never breath a free breath again. I sat on that jury for 7 weeks and it was one of the hardest times of my life. This should assure that it is over and done with. There are no winners here and these kinds of victories are bitter. At least it is done.
ReplyDeleteJuror-Alternate-Number_1
Juror-Alternate-Number_1
ReplyDeleteI want to say thank you (to everyone on this jury) for your service and I appreciate your taking the time to comment here. I'm not surprised that those 7 weeks were one of the hardest times in your life. I just watched the trial gavel to gavel online and CTV from the comfort of my home and was very affected by it. You all made me proud of how our legal process works (or is supposed to work)and I hope you're proud of yourselves for fulfilling this difficult but necessary task (In the dead of Winter I might add).
I hope this is the end for this case but I won't be surprised if it is heard by a higher court because of the case law issues.
This panel of judges made it clear they felt the jury handed down the correct decision. They didn't address all of issues argued because they felt it wasn't necessary saying even "if" the letter was admitted in error it was harmless error because the same information would have came in properly through other testimony. I had planned to write more about their decision but haven't had the chance.
Have you heard of any statements being made by Bob Jambois or Angelina Gabriele since the appellate court ruled? I would be interested to hear what they have to say.