Sandi Jackson's counsel, in a document late Friday, made an impassioned plea that she be given probation. The document traced her roots from inner-city Akron, Ohio, to college years to her "tragic road to motherhood."



She suffered six "heartbreaking" miscarriages, giving birth in 1998, during her fifth month of pregnancy, to a son, Lee Louis Jackson, who died within a day. "Sandi and Jesse were able to dress him and hold him and take photos of him in their arms," the counsel wrote. "But he passed away within a day. Sandi's pain was immeasurable."



Her two successful pregnancies were difficult, requiring extensive bed rest, the counsel wrote, and she became a devoted mother and dutiful alderman in Chicago's 7th Ward.



Probation, they said, "will not restore Mrs. Jackson to her pre-case professional stature, alleviate the financial burden she now faces, or remove the suffering that her children have already undergone and will continue to undergo in the weeks and months ahead. It will, however, allow Mrs. Jackson to remain present to her children and to devote herself to healing their pain and loss."



Letters pleading for leniency for her — totaling more than 200 pages—were submitted. One section of her court papers, "Challenges Posed By Jesse Jr.'s Mental Illness," was redacted.