Jesse Jackson and Sandi Jackson's sentencing postponed

SHARE Jesse Jackson and Sandi Jackson's sentencing postponed

** Updated **

The day of reckoning for Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife will have to wait.

A federal judge on Monday moved to postpone the federal sentencing scheduled for Wednesday for the once politically powerful husband and wife.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson (no relation), noted in an order that the request is to “accommodate the Court . . . and that neither party has requested this postponement.”

No new date had been scheduled by the close of business on Monday.

The two will be sentenced out of the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C. where the FBI investigation was initiated.

The disgraced congressman faces up to four years and his wife, former Ald. Sandi Jackson, up to 18 months in prison.

Sandi Jackson’s attorneys asked for no prison time; his lawyers pleaded for an unspecified shorter sentence.

The two were to be sentenced after pleading guilty in February to looting Jesse Jackson Jr.’s campaign fund of $750,000. Prosecutors had recommended staggering the couple’s time in prison because the Jacksons have school-age children. Prosecutors also revealed they will seek to seize the couple’s two homes – one in South Shore neighborhood and one in Washington, D.C. — as part of the penalties against them.

The Jacksons illegally dipped into the ex-congressman’s campaign fund to buy personal luxuries — from a Rolex watch to fur coats to pricey vacations.

Lawyers for both Jacksons, in asking for leniency, argued in memos filed last month — supplemented with letters from constituents — that they were worthy of shorter sentences because of all the “good works” they did while in public office.

In particular, Jesse Jackson Jr., who served in Congress for 17 years, cited his work on civil rights; bringing safer drinking water and federal funds to his South and South suburban district; addressing minority health disparities, and securing funds for war-torn nations.

Federal prosecutors, in their replies, said the Jacksons do not deserve extra credit for doing their jobs.

“It is an elected official’s job to perform good works on behalf of his constituents,” prosecutors said about Jesse Jackson Jr.

Making the same point for Sandi Jackson, they wrote she should not get less time “merely for doing her job as a public servant.”

***

The federal sentencing for former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson will not happen this week as scheduled.

Both Jackson and his wife, former Ald. Sandi Jackson, were to be sentenced July 3rd in a Washington D.C. courthouse.

An entry on the court docket says it was the judge — and not the Jacksons or prosecutors — who asked for a new date.

The Jacksons were to be sentenced after pleading guilty to looting the ex-Congressman’s campaign fund over a series of years, illegally using the money to buy personal luxuries — from a Rolex watch to fur coats and pricey vacations.

Here’s the minute order:

MINUTE ORDER as to JESSE L. JACKSON, JR. It is ORDERED that the sentencing hearing currently set for July 3, 2013 at 9:30 AM will be vacated to accommodate the Court and will be rescheduled in a separate order. The Court notes that neither party has requested this postponement. Signed by Judge Amy Berman Jackson on 7/1/13.

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