Tweet
Little more than a year ago, Jesse L. Jackson Jr. was a popular young Democratic congressman pushing to increase the federal minimum wage, an issue that fit his reputation as an advocate for the less fortunate, especially those in his Chicago-area district.
But on Wednesday, the former congressman was a felon standing in a federal courtroom in Washington to receive his sentence.
Mr. Jackson, 48, received 30 months in prison for spending $750,000 from his campaign on personal items. His wife, Sandi, 49, was sentenced to 12 months in prison for omitting $580,000 in income from the couple’s tax returns while they lived lavishly.
“The inescapable fact is that you and Sandra Jackson used campaign funds to sustain a lifestyle that you cannot afford,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson said before announcing Mr. Jackson’s penalty.
The judge granted a request from the couple, who have two children, ages 9 and 13, that they be allowed to serve their sentences one at a time. Mr. Jackson will report to prison on or after Nov. 1. When he is released, Ms. Jackson will have 30 days to surrender.
“I am the example for the whole Congress, and I understand that,” Mr. Jackson told the judge. “I didn’t separate my personal life from my political activity, and I couldn’t have been more wrong.”
Mr. Jackson wept as he stood before the packed courtroom in United States District Court. He apologized to his parents, who sat in the front row next to his siblings, and said he accepted responsibility.
“I still believe in the power of forgiveness,” Mr. Jackson said to reporters after the sentencing. “I believe in the power of redemption. Today I manned up and tried to accept responsibility for the error of my ways, and I still believe in the resurrection.”
The sentencing had been postponed from June 28 to accommodate the court’s schedule. During the breaks on Wednesday, relatives exchanged hugs, kisses and words of support with the Jacksons and their parents, but an air of grief quickly descended when the court was in session.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/us...30-months.html
But on Wednesday, the former congressman was a felon standing in a federal courtroom in Washington to receive his sentence.
Mr. Jackson, 48, received 30 months in prison for spending $750,000 from his campaign on personal items. His wife, Sandi, 49, was sentenced to 12 months in prison for omitting $580,000 in income from the couple’s tax returns while they lived lavishly.
“The inescapable fact is that you and Sandra Jackson used campaign funds to sustain a lifestyle that you cannot afford,” Judge Amy Berman Jackson said before announcing Mr. Jackson’s penalty.
The judge granted a request from the couple, who have two children, ages 9 and 13, that they be allowed to serve their sentences one at a time. Mr. Jackson will report to prison on or after Nov. 1. When he is released, Ms. Jackson will have 30 days to surrender.
“I am the example for the whole Congress, and I understand that,” Mr. Jackson told the judge. “I didn’t separate my personal life from my political activity, and I couldn’t have been more wrong.”
Mr. Jackson wept as he stood before the packed courtroom in United States District Court. He apologized to his parents, who sat in the front row next to his siblings, and said he accepted responsibility.
“I still believe in the power of forgiveness,” Mr. Jackson said to reporters after the sentencing. “I believe in the power of redemption. Today I manned up and tried to accept responsibility for the error of my ways, and I still believe in the resurrection.”
The sentencing had been postponed from June 28 to accommodate the court’s schedule. During the breaks on Wednesday, relatives exchanged hugs, kisses and words of support with the Jacksons and their parents, but an air of grief quickly descended when the court was in session.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/15/us...30-months.html