CHICAGO _ Jesse Jackson Jr. filed for divorce from his wife, Sandi Jackson, while she was still in federal prison this fall.
But is their fight about to get even uglier?
The disgraced former congressman's attorney, Brendan Hammer, said Wednesday that former alderman Sandi Jackson "committed acts in Illinois" that led to Jackson Jr. filing the case in Chicago, as opposed to in Washington, D.C., where Sandi wants the case to be heard.
Hammer declined to identify, specifically, what mysterious acts he was alleging.
Hammer acknowledged that Jackson Jr. has subpoenaed emails, text messages and call records from his wife of 25 years, but noted that any number of acts other than adultery would, if committed by her in Illinois, also entitle Jackson Jr. to fight the case in Chicago.
Neither Jackson was at the Daley Center on Wednesday for a brief hearing in the case, and her lawyer, Jessica Bank Interlandi, declined to comment while leaving court.
Hammer said that Sandi Jackson has the couple's two children in D.C. but that his client continues to live in Chicago. Jackson Jr., who has been treated for bipolar disorder, was convicted in 2013 of violating federal campaign law by using campaign funds to make personal purchases, including a fedora that once belonged to Michael Jackson and cashmere capes. Both he and his wife served time in the case.
If the couple can't resolve the battle over jurisdiction soon _ a hearing in the competing case filed in D.C. by her is scheduled for next month, and the Chicago case is due back before Judge Carole K. Bellows on March 8 _ Jackson Jr.'s legal eagles will have to make it clear just what they're hinting at.
"There's always a chance that things can be resolved" before then, Hammer said.
