EST: A
federal judge has sentenced former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. to 30 months
in prison, following his guilty plea that he engaged in a scheme to
spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items. Sandi Jackson, his
wife, has been sentenced to one year in prison for filing false joint
federal income tax returns that understated the income the couple
received.
Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.
is ashamed of his conduct and accepts responsibility, his lawyer told
the federal judge who was deciding the sentences Wednesday for the
Illinois ex-congressman and his wife for misusing $750,000 in campaign
money on splurges from a gold-plated Rolex watch and mink capes to
vacations and mounted elk heads.
Jackson’s lawyer, Reid Weingarten,
told the judge that his client is “a very special guy” who can be
charming and kind and whose behavior reflected mental illness. “He
immediately wanted to come to terms with the conduct and did,”
Weingarten said.
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The 48-year-old son of civil
rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson was expected to step before the
judge at the hearing to make a statement, a moment defendants typically
use to apologize or ask for mercy. An emotional Jackson held back tears
earlier this year when he entered a guilty plea to conspiring to defraud
his campaign.
Citing the brazenness of his
illegal spending, prosecutors are recommending a four-year prison term
for the Chicago Democrat once seen as a possible candidate for U.S.
president. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson — who is not related
to the defendants — could give him as little as probation or impose the
maximum five-year prison term.
Sandra Jackson, 49, a former
Chicago alderman, pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns, and
prosecutors are seeking 18-month sentence for her crimes. But as a
concession, they have asked that the couple’s sentences be staggered so
one Jackson would be free to care for their two children while the other
is behind bars.
In letters to the court prior to
Wednesday’s sentencing in Washington, the former congressman’s family
urged the judge to go easy on him, blaming much of his bad behavior on
his recent diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
“I appeal to you for
mercy,” Jackson’s father wrote in one letter. “Jesse Jr. is an example
as a teacher and counselor who will be better served under supervision
and probation.”
Jackson’s mom, Jacqueline Jackson,
describes becoming aware of her son’s unraveling a year ago, just
before he disappeared from public view. Months later, he resigned his
House seat.
“(I) found my son grossly
underweight and in poor health,” she writes. “When I took him to his
Capitol Hill office to prepare for (a) vote, the office was in total
disarray, which was most unusual for my son.”
Weingarten said the
younger Jackson has been under a microscope for his entire life and had
enormous expectations placed upon him from the time he was born.
But prosecutors dismiss the notion that Jackson’s bipolar disorder explains his misdeeds.
There is no proof his mood swings
had any bearing on the “3,100 illegal transactions that occurred during
the life of the conspiracy,” they say in one filing.
They also noted his apparent
greed. The combined annual salaries of Jackson and his wife were more
than $300,000 during much of the time they were burning through donors’
money.
Prosecutors took particular
umbrage at defense claims that Jackson’s crimes were ultimately
victimless.Jackson betrayed voters, they told the judge, and he
undermined the democratic process by shaking public confidence in the
nation’s campaign-finance system.
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