For the third time since late 2001, a Snohomish County Superior Court jury on Friday began contemplating whether Kenneth Charles Jensen shot and killed a neighbor out of fear for his own safety.
Attorneys on Friday gave closing arguments in the case of Jensen, 61, who claimed self-defense when he fired a .357-magnum revolver from within a leather pouch.
He shot and killed neighbor Martin Frank, 40, with whom he had engaged in a long-standing dispute that included taunting and name calling from both sides in their Granite Falls neighborhood.
What’s undisputed is that Frank grabbed the handlebars of Jensen’s bicycle and shook it while Jensen was on it.
What the jury has to determine is whether Jensen was put at grave risk when the war of words turned physical, or if he intended to kill Frank on Aug. 8, 2001.
Jensen testified that he felt Frank was about to make him tumble off the bicycle, and “I was too scared to talk,” he said. “I thought he meant real business.”
Still, deputy prosecutor David Hiltner pointed out that Jensen himself had participated in name calling just moments before the fatal confrontation.
“He was just as antagonistic as Mr. Frank during this whole situation, and he was lethal and Frank was not,” Hiltner told jurors.
Jensen fired once, hitting Frank in the chest. There was no warning, and Hiltner told jurors “that’s not reasonable. It was unreasonable for him to issue no warning.”
Public defender Natalie Tarantino told jurors that the confrontation became physical when Frank grabbed the bike. The attack frightened Jensen she said. Tarantino also vilified Frank.
“He was a hostile, angry person in this neighborhood,” Tarantino said. During the attack, “there was no space to warn him with the gun. There was no time. This is a case of self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt.”
In late 2001, a jury ruled 9-3 in favor of acquittal. The next year, a jury convicted Jensen, but the case was returned for another trial following state Supreme Court rulings that overturned scores of murder cases around the state.
The convictions rested on the theory that deaths occurred during an assault, and death was not intended.
This time, Hiltner alleged that Jensen intended to kill Frank.
The jury spent half of Friday deliberating and is expected to resume Monday.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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