How Jesse Jackson puts family first; exciting book digs behind the scenes to reveal how the Rev. Jesse Jackson turned the screws to put his sons in positions of influence and to launch a family dynasty

0 Comments | Insight on the News, April 1, 2002 | by Kenneth R. Timmerman

"It's clear Jesse was trying to help his brother. He came over here to make a plea for mercy for Noah as a family member," says prosecutor Victoria Peters. "He didn't claim to know the facts of the case. He just said it was his brother and he loved him no matter what. He didn't push anything or try to manipulate anyone. It was not your typical Jesse move. He didn't use it as any kind of platform."

Judge Zagel was unmoved by Jackson's impassioned plea for clemency for his half-brother. Noah had already been sentenced once to life in prison for ordering the murder of a former gang member and of the witness who had seen the murder. He had also been convicted for conspiring to murder a former business partner, Robert Aulston, by sending a Rukn hit team to Texas with orders to stalk and kill him during a business trip. Noah's case had been declared a mistrial by an appeals court, thanks to clever lawyering and incredible mishaps that befell the prosecution. The mishaps included revelations that two key prosecution witnesses -- former gang members Henry Harris and Harry Evans -- were given special favors in jail, including sexual visits by female friends and access to illegal drugs. On May 13, 1996, Judge Zagel denied Noah's motion to be released on bail.

Jesse tried again in September, this time in an appearance before the court. Prosecutors Matthew M. Schneider and Victoria J. Peters had argued successfully to the judge that Jackson should not be allowed to testify in open court because his public stature might sway jurors to overlook incriminating evidence. So Jackson presented himself to Judge Zagel when the jury was absent. "He didn't bring a lot of people," Peters and Schneider recall. "It wasn't a big media event. We were a bit surprised that he was so subdued."

But Jesse didn't come alone: He brought the Rev. Al Sharpton, associates from Operation PUSH and a handful of reporters. "It wasn't a crowd. But it wasn't exactly humble pie," recalls one of several law-enforcement officials I interviewed who was present at the scene.

Judge Zagel recessed for lunch, and prosecutors were wondering whether Jackson intended to make a scene. "I was eating a sandwich, and then I remembered: We still had the picture," one member of the prosecution team recalls.

"What picture?" he was asked.

The picture. When he described the 1969 photograph, which was hanging on the wall of his office, the prosecutors told him to run to get it.

He re-entered the courtroom as Judge Zagel was getting ready to gavel open the session, with Jackson as the first witness. Several reporters were present in the gallery. To reach the stand, Jackson had to pass along the prosecution table. Still puffing from the exertion of running, the official made a display of sliding the 8 x 10 glossy photograph, face-up, from one end of the prosecution table to the other, where the lead prosecutor caught it and set it straight so Jackson could see it. "Jackson came around our table, he saw the picture and he froze," the official recalls. "His jaw actually dropped. And then he took the stand and forgot he had a brother."