1Mark Jensen may get new trial in wife’s poisoning
2 July 2008
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Wednesday could improve the chances of a new trial for Mark Jensen, the former Pleasant Prairie man convicted this year of poisoning his wife in 1998.
One legal observer said a new trial is all but certain.
“I don’t see any possibility that (Jensen) will not get a new trial,” said Milwaukee attorney David Ziemer, news editor of the Wisconsin Law Journal.
At issue is whether a letter written by Julie Jensen implicating her husband in her death should have been used at Mark Jensen’s trial.
Several jurors said the letter, in which Julie Jensen told police to investigate Mark Jensen if something happened to her, was crucial in their decision to convict.
Before the trial, held in January and February, lawyers were watching the Dwayne Giles murder case in California, which had been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. They agreed that if the high court ruled in favor of Giles, Jensen’s chances for a new trial would improve.
Wednesday’s 6-3 high court ruling did go in Giles’ favor, as the justices reaffirmed defendants’ Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses who testify against them.
Before Jensen’s six-week trial, the Wisconsin Supreme Court had adopted a new doctrine in the state, ruling that Jensen would forfeit his right to confrontation if it was likely that he was the reason Julie Jensen was not available to testify.
In turn, Jensen’s trial judge, Bruce Schroeder of Kenosha County Circuit Court, determined after a special hearing that Jensen was probably guilty. Schroeder allowed Julie Jensen’s letter, written about 10 days before her death, to be used in the trial.
Jensen’s lawyer, Craig Albee of Milwaukee, said he believes Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling will result in Jensen’s conviction being overturned.
“It’s hard to imagine it doesn’t mean a new trial,” Albee said.
With the high court ruling, it seems clear that Julie Jensen’s letter should not have been used at the trial because Mark Jensen’s defense had no way of questioning her about it, Albee said.
Albee had argued that Mark Jensen did not poison Julie Jensen by having her drink antifreeze, but rather that she committed suicide.
Jensen’s prosecutor, Robert Jambois, had agreed with other attorneys that a ruling in Giles’ favor would likely improve Jensen’s chances for a new trial. But he said the details of Wednesday’s decision, which he called complicated, led him to believe there was “high likelihood” that an appeals court would conclude the letter was properly used and Jensen’s conviction would be upheld.
If Jensen’s conviction is thrown out, prosecutors will re-try Jensen, even without the letter, Jambois said.
No appeal has been filed for Jensen, 48, who was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
In the California case, a murder victim had told a police officer that Giles had threatened to kill her.
Two weeks later, in September 2002, Giles shot her dead, claiming self-defense.
Giles’ attorneys argued that the police officer’s statement should not have been allowed at Giles’ trial, which ended with Giles being sentenced to 50 years in prison.
The California Supreme Court rejected Giles’ appeals, ruling that “no person should benefit from his own wrongful acts.”
The decision was similar to the one articulated by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the Jensen case.
From the June 26, 2008 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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2Appeals Court reinstates suit in Camp Randall death case
30 June 2008
A state appeals court Thursday restored the wrongful death lawsuit against a state employee brought after an ABC cameraman died from a fall at Camp Randall stadium while preparing for a Nov. 22, 2003 telecast of a Badger-Iowa football game.
The District 4 Court of Appeals opinion reverses a ruling by Dane County Circuit Judge John Albert, who dismissed the suit brought by the estate of Richard Umansky against Barry Fox, director of facilities at the stadium.
Albert had concluded that state employee immunity prevented Fox from being sued, but the Appeals Court found that Fox could be negligent because Umansky fell from a platform from which a railing had been removed. As a result, the suit can now be heard in Dane County Circuit Court.
State employees enjoy broad immunity from lawsuits when they use reasonable discretion in performing their jobs, but that immunity doesn’t shield them from liability when they fail to perform their ministerial duties as proscribed by rule or regulation, said Jason Knutson, one of the attorneys representing Umanksy’s parents, Harold and Thelma Umansky.
“This platform was built for camera operators, but the state took down a railing on the platform in 1999 and OSHA requires railings on these types of platforms including the missing one,” Knutson said.
The 38-page opinion written by Judge Margaret Vergeront states that Fox was responsible for complying with state and federal safety regulations and with at least one side of the platform open, Fox had a ministerial duty to follow applicable safety standards.
“Fox’s own testimony establishes that he had ‘the day-to-day single responsibility’ for the safety of the Camp Randall facility and that ‘ultimately’ it was his decision whether the platform met the OSHA requirements. Fox’s supervisory role no doubt gave him the authority to delegate tasks, but he remained responsible for compliance with” safety standards, Vergeront wrote.
Bill Koch, a spokesman for Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, had no comment on the decision.
Knutson said the immunity state employees have makes it “nearly impossible” to successfully sue the state. He cited a failed suit that several students brought in the mid-1990s after dozens were injured when fans rushed the field after a game against Michigan.
On the evening before the November 2003 game, Umansky, 48, fell about eight feet from the camera platform onto a concrete walkway while setting up equipment. He was found at about 11 p.m. and taken to a local hospital where he died two days later from head and back injuries, Knutson said.
Umansky, of Davies, Fla. had worked sporting events thoroughout his 20-plus-year career in television, said Knutson, although he didn’t know if Umansky had previously worked at Camp Randall.
OSHA fined ABC, Inc. $7,000 in connection with the incident, which ABC resolved in a $4,200 settlement.
In the OSHA settlement, ABC agreed that standard railings would be in place the next time it used the platform or if they interfered with the cameras, their operator would wear a safety harness.
3Getting tased
21 June 2008
How Taser International expects to make millions from fear mongering, slick marketing and the Republican National Convention …
A Taser shock has been called the “longest five seconds of your life.” It incapacitates the nervous system. It causes a loss of bowel and bladder control. It produces a 50,000-volt shock from up to 10 yards away that pulsates through the body and causes every muscle fiber to recoil and stiffen. Yet Taser International and the Minneapolis Police Department stress that the Taser is an extremely safe non pain-compliance tool. “It saves lives,” they insist.
Despite these reassurances, in November a United Nations Committee ruled that Taser use constitutes a “form of torture” that can result in death. And just this week a federal jury in San Jose found the company responsible for the death of a 40-year-old man, awarding his family more than $6 million in punitive and compensatory damages. It was a landmark case, the first of at least 69 Minnesota wrongful-death lawsuits filed against Taser that the company has lost.
4Railroad Accident Attorneys Obtain $24 Million For Their Clients
21 June 2008
(EMAILWIRE.COM, June 18, 2008 ) Saint Louis, Missouri
A six-week personal injury trial over a railroad crash recently came to a close in Minnesota. The railroad accident trial dealt with four wrongful death claims filed against BNSF railroad. Apparently the jury awarded the families of the four individuals killed $24 million. The four were traveling in one vehicle and were hit by a BNSF train at a railroad crossing. The train was allegedly travelling at 60 mph. BNSF alleged the train accident victims were trying to beat the train when they were hit.
The jury in this train crash lawsuit disagreed, finding that the railroad accident occurred because the railroad crossing warning signals were faulty, and the victims were not adequately warned of the oncoming train.
Although the railroad was found at fault in this train accident, not all railroad lawsuits filed for faulty warning signals will result in such a verdict. Railroad accidents are thoroughly investigated and subsequent lawsuits rely heavily on the particular facts found. To find more about FELA claims visit http://www.railroadaccidentlawgroup.com/about-fela.html.
For instance, in a recent Missouri railroad accident, faulty railroad crossing signals did not make a railroad company liable for a wrongful death claim arising from a train accident. The facts of the case were different. The truck driver allegedly ignored the railroad warning signals because he had frequently driven past this particular crossing. He was aware the warning signals were faulty, often signaling a train when a train was not present or approaching. In this case, although the warning signals were defective and the truck driver had previously been inconvenienced by such signals, it did not warrant him driving past the signals without extreme caution.
5Murder victim’s family sues estate
20 June 2008
WOODSTOCK – The family of a woman found strangled in her Marengo home on Mother’s Day 2006 filed a lawsuit Friday seeking money from the estate of her alleged killer.
The family of Verna Corcoran, 83, filed the lawsuit against the suspect, Jose Manuel Aldaba-Grijaldo, 21.
Police fatally shot the man near Hampshire after he was spotted driving Corcoran’s car through Marengo the day of the murder and was chased for 15 miles.
Attorneys for Corcoran said it was unlikely that the man had assets to go after, since he came to Mexico six months before the slaying. But his family has filed a Wisconsin wrongful-death lawsuit in federal court against police in connection with the shooting.
“If there is any money recovered, whether it is a settlement or otherwise, we want to see that money go to her family,” said Philip Prossnitz, an attorney for Corcoran.
The Kane County State’s Attorney in October 2006 determined that the police shooting was justified.
“Money will never make anyone whole in this situation,” Prossnitz said. “But it’s the closest to any type of justice the family will ever see.”
6Getting tased, Part 2: Beware of the ‘excited’
19 June 2008
Tasers were originally created as a firearm alternative—a weapon that didn’t kill, supposedly. But Tasers have become a popular police tool to use on suspects suffering from what Taser International calls “excited delirium,” a term coined in the 1980s after cocaine use become more widespread. According to the Minneapolis Police Department, all officers on the Crisis Intervention Team, which mostly deals with unarmed persons who are on drugs or mentally ill, carry a Taser.
Note: This story is the second feature in a two-part in a series. For more information, check out
Getting tased: How Taser International expects to make millions from fear mongering, slick marketing and the Republican National Convention)
Experts say “excited delirium” is a mythical condition used to boast Taser sales, and that its increasing rationale in Taser use is leading to more deaths.
Since the firm Taser International went public in 2001, deaths from stun guns, or Tasers, have grown steadily. In fact, the increase has been so profound that the National Institute of Justice is conducting its own study on the weapons, to be released in 2009. There is no way to get accurate reporting before 2003 on deaths occurring during arrest, since, oddly enough, there was central documentation of such deaths until a law passed in 2000 created the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program.
Even after its passage, the reporting program acknowledges huge gaps in departments reporting deaths from Tasers and/or stun-guns. What we do know is that at least 34 people have died in the United States this year after being Tased, two of them in the Twin Cities.
Here’s how one of those cases unfolded:
On Jan. 15, 29-year-old Mark Backlund is driving to the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport from New Brighton to pick up his parents during rush hour. Backlund crashes into a minivan on Interstate 694. Five Minnesota State Patrol officers, two of them in training, immediately arrive on the scene. About eight minutes later, Backlund is unresponsive after being Tased three times. He is pronounced dead at the hospital.
According to video released by the State Patrol, Backlund appears to slow
7Hospital calls cops and feels the sting
18 June 2008
When the emergency room staff at Northfield City Hospital thought an obviously disturbed patient was about to turn violent, they did what many hospitals do in that situation: They called the police.
In this instance, officers used a Taser to shock the man. The patient dropped to the floor, was injected with medications and transferred to the psychiatric unit at another hospital, according to an official report about the February incident.
Now federal and state health officials have cited the Northfield hospital for violating the patient’s rights.
The hospital and the Minnesota Hospital Association are perplexed by the ruling, which could have implications throughout the state.
“They did nothing wrong….
8David Flores case: D.M. police admit having key report
17 June 2008
Prosecutors now acknowledge that a key piece of evidence in a controversial gang-related murder in 1996 was never disclosed to convicted killer David Flores’ defense lawyers.
Court records show Des Moines police are admitting for the first time that they did have an FBI report identifying another suspect in the case when Flores was convicted of shooting bank executive Phyllis Davis.
The revelation could result in Flores, now 31, being freed after 12 years behind bars. Attorneys will hold an emergency meeting this morning with Polk County Judge Don Nickerson to discuss what happens next in the case.
9JTA Bus Driver’s Record Highlighted…
14 June 2008
JACKSONVILLE, FL — A city bus driver’s driving record is being questioned in a wrongful death lawsuit naming the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.
Cesar Solomon was killed on March 25 when he fell to his death after a city bucket truck was hit by a JTA bus. The 52 year old man was fixing a traffic light on Commonwealth Avenue when the accident happened.
JTA personnel records provided by the Solomon family’s attorney indicate this was Gwen Mordecai’s eighth accident since 1991. Mordecai according to JTA records was terminated from her job on April 9 for “gross negligence.”
The victim’s widow, Ruby Solomon, talked with reporters about…
10Wrongful death lawsuit brought against…
13 June 2008
Billy Gensmer blames Winona County for his parents’ deaths and is suing for more than $100,000.
Victor and Joyce Gensmer died Aug. 19, 2007, when their Jeep plunged into a 30-foot, flood-ravaged washout on County Road 17, and their son said the county and other agencies responding to the flood should have warned them of the hazardous road less than a mile away from their home.