Ex-Army couple avoids more prison time in child abuse case

By DAVID PORTER
Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A former Army major and his wife who prosecutors said routinely beat their young foster children and denied them food and water have avoided more prison time. Wednesday’s proceeding in Newark was the third sentencing in the case against John and Carolyn Jackson after federal appeals courts struck down the first two for being too lenient. The Jacksons’ 2015 trial produced testimony that their three foster children suffered broken bones and were severely underweight when they were removed from the home in 2010. The Jacksons’ lawyers argued the children had pre-existing health problems, and said the couple’s child-rearing methods may have been unconventional but weren’t criminal.