NEWARK, NJ – The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled today that a former US Army major and his wife must be resentenced before a different district court judge for having endangered the welfare of their young, adopted children through a series of physically abusive and neglectful acts.
Carolyn Jackson initially received 24 months in prison, while her husband, John E. Jackson, formerly a major in the Army at the Picatinny Arsenal Installation in Morris County, New Jersey, received probation and 400 hours of community service.
The government appealed their sentences to the Third Circuit, which found procedural error and ordered resentencing. The district court then imposed a 40-month sentence on Carolyn Jackson and the same probationary sentence on John Jackson.
The Third Circuit again found procedural error and remanded the case for resentencing. At the third sentencing hearing in October 2021, the district court reimposed the same 40-month sentence on Carolyn Jackson and imposed a sentence of 18 months’ home confinement on John Jackson. The Court of Appeals agreed that the district court had failed to follow its directions in the process of imposing those sentences and ordered resentencing.