ELKHORN, Wis. — Thousands of pornographic photos took center stage at the trial of a Kenosha County man accused of poisoning his wife with antifreeze.
The trial is now in its fifth week.
The defense doesn’t want jurors to see the photos.
Prosecutors want to present the photos to jurors, saying they are key evidence to show Mark Jensen’s motive for killing his wife.
Prosecutors said they found more than 5,000 pornographic photos on Mark Jensen’s computer — the same type of photos Jensen claimed his wife’s former lover was leaving around the house after she broke up their affair.
But prosecutors argued it was actually Mark Jensen who left those photos behind to humiliate Julie for her infidelity.
“That other acts evidence demonstrates this defendant’s hatred of his wife, his torturing of his wife because she had that one weekend affair in 1990 and 1991, and he could never let it go. No wonder Julie Jensen was unhappy. She was married to a man who hated her and who tortured her,” Special Prosecutor Robert Jambois said.
But the defense argued against showing the jury the pictures, saying the photos prove nothing and would unfairly prejudice the jury against Mark Jensen.
“I think this is a smear campaign. (What) he (Jambois) tries to paint is weirder, stranger and stranger. The court at first initially used the word deviant and then changed. A lot of people think that,” defense attorney Craig Albee said.
The judge questioned that argument.
“With all the lurid material that has already been spread on this record, I find it hard to believe that some stored or printed pornographic pictures are going to push the jury over the edge, I don’t see it,” Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder said.
The ongoing argument ultimately tapped the judge’s patience. He still hasn’t decided which, if any, of the thousands of photos, jurors will see.
“People who think you can try a case off a script. They ought to read this transcript, I never had one like this in my life,” Schroeder said.
Monday morning, it was discovered the sister of a juror was writing on a Web forum about the case. The judge called her to the stand to make sure her brother wasn’t talking about the case.
While she wrote that she thought Jensen was guilty, she told the judge her brother had made no such comment.
She said his only comments were about how long the trial was going and how much work he was missing.
For now, the juror will stay on the jury.
The defense hopes to begin its case on Tuesday.