Mark Jensen Murder Trial - Donchais commentary

January 24, 2008

Just My Musings... by donchais

This mini-series drama has taken some bizarre twists and turns and we have seen far into the depths of people’s souls, perhaps too far!

The defense theory being offered is that Julie Jensen was depressed, a bit crazy and decided to “frame” her husband for murder by committing suicide.

The “original” prosecution theory is that Mark Jensen murdered Julie by ethylene glycol poisoning. However, it is now supposed that Mark actually suffocated Julie because she didn’t die fast enough from the poisoning.

As week three of the trial winds down, I find I am bothered by some of the things we’ve seen and heard.

I do not believe for one moment that Julie or anyone for that matter would choose ethylene glycol as a suicide means. Guns, pills, carbon monoxide ok, but ethylene glycol?

Am I the only one who thinks that the harassing phone calls and the pornographic pictures left at the Jensen home were strange?

Only Mark found the pictures. The phone had a tracer placed on it four times. Each time there was a tracer, the calls mysteriously stopped. Only three people knew of the tracer; Julie, the police and Mark. Also, when Mark switched jobs, the harassment came to a screeching halt.

Why didn’t Julie leave? We have to remember that this was a woman who had no source of income and had two boys that by all accounts, she adored. Where could she go? She obviously had suspicions about Mark’s behavior, but in her heart of hearts, did she really think he would do the unthinkable? How many cases do we know of where the abused spouse just can’t find the courage or the means to escape?

Was Julie truly depressed? Did she go to the doctor because Mark forced her to? She did seem to have a history of following “his” orders.

The entries in Mark’s day-timer bother me. Were they written as part of Mark’s grand scheme for making Julie appear crazy, ultimately leading to her committing suicide?

The food on the nightstand is odd. We know there were a plate of wheat crackers and a bowl of macaroni and cheese. 1. If Julie were in stage 3 of ethylene glycol poisoning she would be incapable of eating anything. 2. How many of you crave mac ‘n cheese when you are quite ill? On the day that Julie died, Mark was home until noon. Was he staging the death scene?

Mark doth protest to loudly. He couldn’t keep his damned mouth shut!

Too many folks have corroborated each other’s testimony. Yes, some are jail house snitches, but not all of the witnesses are.

Anyone else want to take that quantum leap toward he’s guilty as hell?