Accused Ill. murderer and French pres. have what in common?

CHICAGO - Who would have thought a husband in a supposedly "perfect marriage" in Illinois shares the same kinds of marital infidelities that have recently scandalized the President of France. Francois Hollande and Allan Kustok are not so much separated at "birth" as separated at "flirt."

Granted, only one is charged with murder - and it is not the President of France.

But while the connection may be a curious one, it's also a real problem for the accused Allan Kustok, currently on trial in Cook County, Ill., charged with murdering his wife, Jeanie, in 2010. The French are reputed to have a "live and let live" attitude about extra-marital affairs. But there are no "c'est la vie" French citizens on the Kustok jury in suburban Chicago. So the tales of his womanizing could affect the homicide verdict.

France's Francois Hollande was with Segolene Royal for 30 years and the couple had four children together. In the U.S. that could qualify as a common law marriage.

Allan Kustok of Orland Park, Ill. was married to his wife, Jeanie, for 34 years and they had two children.

While still with Segolene Royal in 2006, Hollande started seeing a separated woman, journalist Valerie Trierweiler. The relationship lasted six years. In 2005, Allan Kustok, a married man, started seeing a divorced woman, lawyer Michelle Ventress. Their affair lasted five years, according to Ventress.

Then, the former mistresses were two-timed.

This year, former "First Lady" of France Valerie Trierweiler learned that Francois Hollande had, for two years, been secretly seeing a performer, film actress Julie Gayet. In 2010, Kustok, married to Jeanie and still seeing Michelle Ventress, had a brief affair with a performer, comedian Antoinette Kregelka. Kustok also pursued two other women in 2010.

In spite of his marital scandal, Francois Hollande remains France's President and lives in a Palace in Paris. But his relationship with Valerie Trierweiler: "c'est fini."

Allan Kustok is housed in the Kankakee County jail. That's because he was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife in October 2010. Kustok told police that his wife shot herself in the face with a .375-caliber revolver while he was sleeping next to her. A Cook County Medical Examiner ruled Jeanie Kustok's death a homicide.

In opening arguments, defense attorney Rick Bueke told the jury Allan Kustok "adored" his wife. But later testimony that Kustok took off his wedding ring when hitting on women, fights the goo-goo, gah-gah over Jeanie argument presented to the jury.

Last Friday, the jury heard the details of Kustok's lengthy affair with Chicago lawyer Michelle Ventress. The attractive 55-year-old told the court that she and Kustok would secretly meet at her home three or four times a month. Those trysts went on for five years and only stopped when Kustok was arrested and jailed. Ventress testified that she and Kustok both told each other, "I love you."

Michelle Ventress told the jury that Kustok had no plans to leave his wife and never spoke badly of her. But Ventress also said that Kustok "described himself as not being fulfilled."

In 2010, Allan Kustok began fulfilling himself in new ways. That year, he started actively using the Ashley Madison website to find women interested in having affairs. He then "cheated" on both his wife and his mistress. He also considered suicide in the minutes after his wife's death, according to court testimony.

The now deceased French novelist, Francoise Sagan - a fan of sex but not marriage - once said about herself, "I have loved to the point of madness." In some ways, that's what the Kustok jury will soon have to decide; was Allan Kustok so crazed in 2010 that he reached a point where he killed his wife?