Jury Clears Jesse Jackson of Threatening Adversary

A jury Friday cleared the Rev. Jesse Jackson of allegations that he threatened and violated the civil rights of a conservative minister at a business meeting four years ago.

The Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, who was seeking unspecified damages, alleged in a lawsuit that Jackson threatened him and that Jackson’s son, Jonathan, assaulted him at a meeting in Los Angeles with Toyota executives four years ago.

The Los Angeles County Superior Court jury split 6 to 6 on the assault allegation against Jonathan Jackson. His attorney, Carol Sobel, said she would ask the judge to decide. Peterson’s attorney, Michael Hurley, said he would oppose such a move.

Jesse Jackson was in Chicago at an Urban League meeting and was not in court Friday. As the verdict was read, his wife, Jacqueline, pulled a tissue from her purse and wiped her eyes. After the trial, she and her son shook hands with jurors and thanked them.

Outside the courthouse, Jonathan Jackson said the verdict proved not only that no assault had occurred but that a conservative attack on his father’s organization had failed. Judicial Watch, the Washington, D.C.-based conservative organization that provided attorneys for Peterson, is out to destroy “our organization, our funding and our mission,” he said.

“This is a complete vindication,” he said. “I spoke to my father; he was elated to hear this.”

Although the verdicts on the counts against Jesse Jackson were decisive, the deliberations were not simple. Three jurors who sided with Jackson told Peterson they believed him but did not have enough evidence to vote his way. And until late Thursday the jury was hung 6 to 6 on all counts against father and son.

Jesse Jackson’s “lawyers didn’t convince me at all,” one juror told Peterson in the hallway. “It was the other jurors who convinced me that there wasn’t enough evidence, but I wanted you to know that I did believe you.”

Peterson said he was disappointed in the outcome but remained upbeat.”Everything we said in court was true, and I feel good about that,” he said.

Peterson, founder and president of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny, is a longtime adversary and critic of Jackson. He is a frequent guest on conservative talk shows and author of the book “Scam: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America.”

His opposition to Jackson is political, he said, not personal. His goal is to speak out against Jackson whenever possible and urge black Americans not to follow his leadership. To the extent that the trial provided that platform, one goal was met, he said.