NEWARK, N.J. — An Army major and his wife are on trial for abusing their three adopted children by withholding food and water and physically assaulting them.
A federal prosecutor told jurors Monday in Newark that John and Carolyn Jackson’s children suffered broken bones and other injuries and were underweight as a result of the abuse over several years.
An attorney for Carolyn Jackson told jurors her parenting methods might have been questionable but they weren’t criminal.
Two of the children were removed from the home in 2010.
A previous trial ended in a mistrial after a prosecutor referred to the death of one of the children. The judge had ruled the boy’s death couldn’t be mentioned because the Jacksons weren’t charged directly with his death.
The Jacksons formerly lived at Picatinny Arsenal.
