AP: Charges Reduced in 'Jena 6' Attack

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Charges Reduced in 'Jena 6' Attack

1 hour ago

JENA, La. (AP) — Prosecutors on Tuesday reduced the
attempted murder charges against two more teenagers
among the "Jena Six," a group of black high school
students who were arrested following an attack on a
white schoolmate.

Five of the teens were originally charged with
attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to
commit murder, carrying sentences of up to 80 years
in prison. The sixth faces undisclosed juvenile charges.

Civil rights advocates have decried the charges as
unfairly harsh.

On Tuesday, charges against Carwin Jones and Theo
Shaw were reduced to aggravated second-degree
battery and conspiracy. That same reduction was
made earlier for Mychal Bell, who was tried and found
guilty and could be sentenced to 22 1/2 years at a
hearing Sept. 20.

-snip-

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hEDGACsk9ZRgdFmzTA-FtR5-3LdQ

[EFerrari]

1. This is progress but still bullshit.

Keep the pressure on these bastards.

[Richard Steele]

4. Agreed. It's still bullshit to make them face YEARS in prison for this while white kids get a pass.

Jim Crow is alive and well in Jena.

[flashl]

2. The Jena students are still in jeopardy

Charges against Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. That same reduction was made earlier for Mychal Bell, who was tried and found guilty and could be sentenced to 22 1/2 years at a hearing Sept. 20.

Now, instead of facing 80 years, they face 22 1/2 years. The charge of aggravated battery requires the use of a deadly weapon. The prosecutor argued that Bell’s TENNIS SHOES were deadly weapons. Bell was found guilty and will face the possibility of up to 22 years in prison when he is sentenced for wearing deadly shoes. While, Barker, the white victim of the beating was later arrested for bringing a hunting rifle loaded with 13 bullets onto the high school campus WAS RELEASED ON $5000 BOND.

[backscatter712]

5. They did commit assault and battery, but the charges are insanely harsh.

They knocked down and kicked another student. I can understand why they were so angry, but I can't condone that violent act.

That said, an appropriate charge and punishment would be 30 days (not months, not years, 30 days) in jail for simple assault and battery.

Trying to give these kids life sentences for "attempted murder" is completely batshit insane.

Not only that, but the white kids who put those nooses in the tree and committed other acts of racially motivated harassment and terrorism should get similar sentences - in the scale of days in jail. Make sure the white kids and black kids who committed crimes get treated equally and fairly.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. It's a school yard fight.

three or five day suspension at worst.

Me, I'd have given them a medal.

[Pavulon]

10. An incident where a person is beaten unconscious

and then hospitalized is beyond a fight. A group attack on one person meets the criteria for use of deadly force in my state.

A responsible response should be expulsion and charges of assault and battery with intent to cause bodily harm. They should pay medical bills for the person the injured.

Race is irrelevant.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Ah bullshit.

One guy threatens the life of several other people, they defend themselves, he gets his asskicked, that's his own problem.

"hey should pay medical bills for the person the injured."

Nah, I think the kid in the hospital should pay. Emotional distress.

[0007]

19. The kid needed his ass kicked but good and got what he

deserved for bullying others and hanging nooses in trees.

[Pavulon]

22. where is it documented that is was THIS kid

or did you even get that far. come on. we have laws for a reason. You want to play lord of the flies, have a nice time, but we all know how that ends up.

[backscatter712]

23. IIRC, the kid who was beaten by the Jena Six

didn't put up the nooses in the "white tree" but was very good friends with the ones that did. On top of that, he was openly taunting the blacks at that school, including the ones that later would be the Jena Six, and was calling them "niggers" to their faces. I do believe that under many statues, that does count as "fighting words."

[0007]

24. I definitely know that you know nothing about this case or incident, daddyo!

"where is it documented that it was THIS kid"

Pray tell what KID are you indeed talking about? Bell or the little bigot bully that got his ass kicked?

Talk about laws! They sure got funny laws in the south for black when it is believed they stepped on some white guys toe, 'eh?

[flashl]

21. Beaten unconscious just entered into discussion

From DemocracyNow

Amy Goodman is a reliable source.

Last December, six black students at Jena High School were arrested after a school fight in which a white student was beaten and suffered a concussion and multiple bruises.

[flashl]

8. The adults in this situation were NOT responsible

Yet, they now claim that they want responsible behavior from the children.

[Zodiak]

3. Where is the DUer who posted 30 times yesterday all over another thread

insisting that is WAS attmpted murder.

[gollygee]

7. So people are supposed to say, "Oh it's ONLY 22-1/2 years, that's OK"?????

bullshit. This is still completely wrong. These kids were part of a fight where their side will rot in prison while the other side got off without anything, and the only reason for that discrepancy is that they are black. It's horrifying that this is happening. Truly horrifying.

[LisaL]

15. As far as I understand it, it was a bunch of people beating one

person. I wouldn't exactly describe it as a "school fight." What would be the "other side" in the case where a bunch of people are beating one person?

[backscatter712]

16. There were several other incidents in Jena,

that aren't too well known.

In at least one of them, several white kids kicked the snot out of a single black kid. Of course, the DA declined to press charges in those cases, citing "lack of evidence."

There was another where a white kid menaced some black kids with a loaded shotgun. The black kids wrestled the shotgun out of the white kid's hands. Afterwards, the blacks were charged with theft of the shotgun.

[flashl]

9. Motions to Throw Out Conviction of Mychal Bell

Judge to Hear Arguments on Motions to Throw Out Conviction of Jena Six’s Mychal Bell

By: Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com

A Louisiana judge is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday on motions to toss out the conviction of Mychal Bell, the only one of six black teens to be convicted after facing charges of beating a white student in the small town of Jena following a series of racially charged incidents in 2006.

The other five -- Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis, Carwin Jones, Theodore Shaw and one who has not been identified because he is a juvenile -- still await trial.

“Mychal was a juvenile at the time of the incident. This should have been handled in juvenile court. It is or opinion that the whole trial was null and void, and we are seeking a ruling that the conviction is null and void,” Bell’s attorney Louis Scott told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

If the motion to toss out the convition fails, Scott said he will seek to get a new trial.

In the meantime, Bell’s father, Marcus Jones, said he tries to keep his son’s spirits up.

“We prepare for the worse,” Jones told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

---

I am glad that these kids are finally getting the type of support that may keep them from the horrors of enhanced prison sentences.

[Tim4319]

11. This is still far from being justice!

These young men should be freed! No ifs, ands, or buts!!!!!!

[Tim4319]

12. This should get more push then what Whoopi said!

I see mainstream media is slowly catching up with the rest of the world.

[Coexist]

13. Shouldn't the hanging of nooses be a hate crime

with harsh punishments?

[backscatter712]

17. It should have been,

but the DA declined to press charges, and the school superintendent referred to that incident as "a prank."

[Glimmer of Hope]

20. If that isn't a hate crime, I don't understand what is.

[flashl]

18. I think so, but ...

Our Justice Department came to Jena and said they could find no violation in the way Jena High authorities have handled things and the authorities in Jena procedures were ‘regular’.

Regular, I suppose would be correct for a Justice Department Civil Rights division that is used for voter suppression.

Jena, by the way, is the site of the infamous Juvenile Correctional Center for Youth that was forced to close its doors in 2000.

The Jena Juvenile Correctional Center for Youth was closed only two years after opening, due to widespread brutality and racism including the choking of juveniles by guards after a youth met with a lawyer.

The Justice Department sued the private prison amid complaints that guards paid juvenile inmates to fight each other and laughed when teens tried to commit suicide.

What the hell IS Regular in Jena?

[flashl]

25. Judge Reduces Charges in Jena 6 Case

Judge Reduces Charges in Jena 6 Case But Refuses to Overturn Mychal Bell Conviction

A Louisiana judge has refused to overturn the conviction of Mychal Bell. Bell and five other African American teens were arrested after a schoolyard fight in which a white student was beaten and suffered a concussion. The fight followed months of escalating tension in the town of Jena, Louisiana. Nooses had been hung from a schoolyard tree where the black students had sat. The Jena Six, as they've come to be known, were initially charged with attempted murder. Bell is the only student tried so far. An all-white jury found him guilty of second-degree battery and conspiracy in June.

On Tuesday, Judge Judge J.P. Mauffray let the conviction stand -- despite ruling Mychal Bell was improperly tried in adult court instead of as a juvenile. Bell's conspiracy charge was dismissed, but he still faces up to fifteen years in prison. Thousands of supporters from across the country are expected to gather for a rally in Jena when Mychal is sentenced on September Twentieth.

Meanwhile prosecutors also announced they've reduced the attempted murder charges against two others among the Jena Six. Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw are also now charged with aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. Two other students, Robert Bailey Jr. and Bryant Purvis, await trial for attempted murder.

Democracy Now! traveled to Jena over the weekend to cover the story. I spoke to Theo Shaw and Robert Bailey at their home in Jena. They were ironing their clothes, preparing to go out that evening. Robert and Theo were held for about eight months in prison until their families raised the money to bail them out. Theo was released just over a month ago on a more than $100,000 bail.