TruTV’s Jamie Floyd interviewed forensic psychologist J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner today about the reasons that Julie Jensen didn’t leave her verbally abusive husband Mark. As a woman, a feminist (in the old sense, ie, pro women's rights, but like men), and a person who has known several abused women, I have to disagree strenuously with “Dr. Buzz.”

• Abused women do stay in abusive relationships for far too long—correct.
• Abused women do have very low self-esteem as a result of their relationship—correct.
• But I think Julie Jensen’s “letter from the grave” is bizarre behavior, not typical of battered and abused women.

And I do understand that the jury had no choice but to find Jensen guilty of murder, based on the evidence they were presented. Juries trust judges to present good evidence to them and to exclude irrelevant evidence. Juries believe the police try to arrest wrongdoers. But in this case, I feel the judge did not present good evidence, in particular, the “letter from the grave.” It was a clear violation of the defendant’s Constitutional rights—and if that letter and several other questionable, prejudicial bits of evidence were not brought into court, I believe the outcome of the trial would have been different. (At least one juror would have dissented.)

I’m not saying I feel certain Mark Jensen is innocent. I’m saying the prosecution presented no evidence he abused his wife in any way, including verbally.

• He checked her mileage because he suspected her of cheating on him. I know someone whose husband took her car keys away and gave them to a neighbor so she couldn't take their child and leave him. Watching mileage is nothing.
• He made a note in a private day-planner (assuming it wasn't a forged note). This isn't verbal abuse.
• The couple clearly hated each other and were stuck in the marriage only because both loved the kids. This isn't abuse on either's part. It is the screwy family court system's fault. But a mutually angry relationship isn't abuse.
• If he slowly poisoned his wife to death, that is abuse. But the trial coverage I saw didn't prove it to me. It seems equally possible that Julie Jensen slowly committed suicide. The State did not present any evidence of ethylene glycol in the house or any evidence of empty containers--no evidence that either Jensen obtained it in any form other than antifreeze, which is undrinkable.
• The episode of pornographic photos: Julie could have been responsible for this, too. She's the one who brought it to the cop's attention, and then she sabotaged their investigation.

Here are the facts of “the letter” as I understand them: one day Julie Jensen confronted a neighborhood couple and stuffed a folded note in the husband’s pocket. Later he read it and discovered it was an accusation that her husband was trying to kill her.

Did these neighbors take the note to the cops? If so, why didn’t the cops contact Julie Jensen about it, especially since they had worked with her during the odd, unexplained episode when pornography was dropped around the Jensen premises. If the cops did contact her about the letter, what did she say about it? Why didn’t the neighbors bring the note to the attention of anyone, a clergyman for example? Or why not give the letter back to Julie Jensen and say you don’t want to take any responsibility in the situation. I would never shoulder such a responsibility.

Why didn’t Julie give the letter to her brother who lives in Wisconsin instead of neighbors she barely knew?

I understand, as Dr. Buzz says, that many abused women put up with it for a very long time. Many abused women end up dead, as a result.

But statistics don’t prove anyone has committed murder. Our justice system upholds a higher burden of proof for the prosecution. The commentators and the press are assuming that Mark Jensen is a wife-abusing murderer, because his wife died of poison. That isn't logical. (Yes, I know the ME said she died of suffocation, but a person in a toxic stupor might roll over into her pillow or even try to suffocate herself as the coup de grace.)

After all, there's more than one way for an abused woman to leave her abuser -- and more than one way for an angry wife to get even with her despised husband.