This post was written by Mark Rathjen. Mark’s wife Justeen is currently serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for an offense she committed as a youth.
My name is Mark Rathjen and in 2004, through a friend, I had the opportunity to meet and get to know Justeen, an inmate at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women. My first meeting with her was apprehensive, but a beautiful young lady who was full of life and all smiles greeted me. She had a wonderful sense of humor and by the end of our first visit I knew I’d be coming back.
With each visit I learned a little more about her and her life. She was a juvenile offender convicted of murder and given a life sentence without parole. One bad decision on one bad day was going to dictate the rest of her life. As I got to know her I sensed her remorse as she opened up to me little by little, especially when it got close to the date of her crime. That was always, and still is, very hard for her. I also found a women so full of love, energy and with a positive attitude that it astounded me. How could someone facing such a bleak outlook be as nice and outgoing as she was? She had no bitterness for doing her time, only at the sentence she was given.
I learned that she loved children and whenever one was present during visiting she would light up and pay loving attention to each and every one. She loves sports and takes great pride in how she looks. She is a very hard worker who always tries to do her very best and expects nothing short of excellence in what she does as well as from those around her. She has taken every opportunity to better herself and to educate herself and she is very intelligent, and if there is something she doesn’t know but is interested in, she always asks for more information so that she can learn.
She is very giving of herself and what she has and if someone is in need or less fortunate than herself, she is always the first to give. She is very sympathetic to those who are ill or who are just having a rough time, and is always first to lend a helping hand. She is definitely a Lady.
The more I saw and learned of her, the deeper my feelings became. She went from being a stranger, to a friend, and slowly but surely she began to find a place in my heart. I knew it was a possibility that she and I would never be given the chance to live as a normal man and wife and it took me quite a while to be sure that this is what I truly wanted.
I told her of my feelings and after a year of her searching her feelings we were married on July 2, 2008. It was, and always will be, the happiest day of my life.
I was given the chance to meet and to know her as she is today, as an adult woman and not the teenager she was when she committed her crime. She’s been told that because of that one act as a juvenile she is no longer worthy to be seen or evaluated by the parole board and judged on whom she has grown and evolved into. I, from my own past, know that who I was as a teenager is not who I am today. I doubt anyone can honestly say that they were mature and set in their ways at 14 to 18 years old.
I am very much in Love with Justeen and know I made the right choice to stand by her and accept her for who she is now. The world is depriving itself of a hard working, caring, loving person with a passion for life, learning and helping others. She is a beautiful soul and needs only the chance to prove herself.
I will stand by her as any man would do for his wife and only hope that someday the State of Nebraska will see that all juveniles have the capacity to grow and change and be productive members of society.