Executive Clemency Denied In 1986 Mercer County Murder Case

Convicted Mercer County murderer Janet Jackson denied in her executive clemency request. The Illinois Prisoner Review Board notified the Mercer County State’s Attorney’s office of Governor Bruce Rauner’s decision late last month. Jackson can file another petition next June. In May, she lost a post-conviction relief motion in Mercer County Circuit Court. She was claiming she suffered from “Battered Woman’s Syndrome”. The former Rock Island woman is serving life in prison for orchestrating the November of 1986 fatal attack on her estranged husband—35 year old Kim Wayne Jackson. The deadly beating occurred at a rural Viola farm house. The motive for the crime was to collect on a life insurance policy.
Both Jackson’s were employed at the Rock Island Post Office before the murder. 63 year old Janet Jackson remains in custody at the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln.