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DOJ asks appeals court to reconsider ruling in poison death

By: Associated Press//September 30, 2015//

DOJ asks appeals court to reconsider ruling in poison death

By: Associated Press//September 30, 2015//

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Justice Department has asked a federal appellate panel to reconsider overturning the conviction of a man found guilty of fatally poisoning his wife.

A 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled earlier this month that a handwritten note from Mark Jensen’s wife, Julie, saying he would be her first suspect if anything happened to her was improperly admitted into evidence. The panel found using the letter violated Jensen’s right to face his accuser.

DOJ attorneys asked the appellate court Wednesday for a rehearing, arguing no U.S. Supreme Court case holds that such a note violates confrontation rights.

Julie Jensen was found dead in her Pleasant Prairie home in 1998. Mark Jensen was found guilty of homicide in 2008 and sentenced to life.

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