Jackson document indicates shooter and attorney McKenna met on Feb. 18, 2002

On Tuesday, Dec. 12, the Chicago Tribune disclosed text of a document written by shooter Joe Jackson in February 2003, more than three years before the December 2006 shooting: "I feel with no uncertainty that he [McKenna] sold or stole my project. He has destroy my life after he sign a confidenitally a vow of secrecy that he wouldn't betray me."

The document, provided by Rev. C.L. Sparks (pastor at New Pleasant Valley International Cathedral), indicates Joe Jackson first met patent attorney Michael R. McKenna on Feb. 18, 2002. The document included text: "He [McKenna] wrote down every detail and ask me every last question about my project he said cause when he submit it to them patend people he needs to know everything about it ... He told me this was so kind of joke and he told me it would not work or it was already on the market. I [Jackson] told him absolutely not I drive a truck for almost 25 years off and on and it did not exist."

The Tribune also noted that on Monday [Dec. 11], for the first time, McKenna's family confirmed that he had done legal work for Jackson.

"Mr. Jackson paid Michael McKenna a standard fee of $825 to conduct a patent search for his proposed invention," the McKenna family said in a statement. "The search showed that a patent already existed for his device."

The statement did not say when the transaction occurred, but a receipt for $825 that appears to have been signed by McKenna on Feb. 18, 2002, was provided by Jackson's pastor.

The Trib story does not mention a $5,000 retainer.

The Tribune also noted that the family stated: (T)here is no patent in our father's name for a device that is anything like Mr. Jackson's."

The Tribune corrected a previous misimpression left about a disciplinary complaint against McKenna:

James Grogan, chief counsel for the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission, said unfounded complaints against attorneys are not made public.

However, the McKenna family confirmed Monday that Jackson had filed a complaint against the attorney, but that the ARDC cleared McKenna of any wrongdoing.

The brief confusion over the existence of a disciplinary complaint filed against McKenna illustrates some of the issues over the disclosure of such complaints, previously discussed by IPBiz:

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2005/10/new-jersey-bartender.html

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2005/10/increased-publicity-of-ethics.html

The Trib quoted Henry Jackson, the brother of Joe Jackson: "He complained that he would call but they would just hang up on him or not return his calls. He said he wanted to get his money back from the lawyer."

On Dec. 12, the Chicago Sun-Times presented words from the McKenna family:

The family of Michael McKenna, the intended target in last week's deadly shooting inside a West Loop law office, says there's no justification for the gunman's actions.

"We are deeply dismayed by comments to the media intended to justify Mr. Jackson's actions by suggesting he was cheated," family members said in a written statement Monday.

A previous post on IPBiz concerning this topic appears at:

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2006/12/questions-about-jacksonmckenna.html

(accessible here.)

The law offices of Michael R. McKenna were located in space rented from the law firm Wood, Phillips, Katz, Clark & Mortimer on the 38th floor of 500 W. Madison. McKenna was a solo practitioner, not otherwise involved with Wood, Phillips.