State v. Jensen

Mr. Jensen was charged with killing Mrs. Jensen. Before her death, Mrs. Jensen wrote a letter stating her belief that Mr. Jensen would kill her, and gave instructions to a neighbor to deliver it to police if anything happened to her; the neighbor did so after her death. The trial court initially found admitting the letter would violate Mr. Jensen's Sixth Amendment confrontation right. On appeal the state supreme court held that if Mr. Jensen caused the witness's unavailability by murdering her, he would forfeit that right, and remanded. Mid-retrial, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari on a similar confrontation issue, prompting the trial judge to instead decide whether the letter qualified as an admissible dying declaration.