Mychal Bell of the `Jena 6' back in jail

[RichardCranium]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A judge decided the fight that thrust a teenager into the center of a civil rights controversy violated his probation for a previous conviction and ordered the boy back to jail, the teen's attorney said.

Mychal Bell, who along with five other black teenagers is accused of beating a white classmate, had gone to juvenile court in Jena on Thursday expecting another routine hearing, said Carol Powell Lexing, one of his attorneys.

Instead, state District Judge J.P. Mauffrey Jr. sentenced Bell to 18 months in jail on two counts of simple battery and two counts of criminal destruction of property, Lexing said.

"We are definitely going to appeal this," she said. "We'll continue to fight."

Bell had been hit with those charges before the Dec. 4 attack on classmate Justin Barker. Details on the previous charges, which were handled in juvenile court, were unclear.

Mauffrey, reached at his home Thursday night, had no comment.

"He's locked up again," Marcus Jones said of his 17-year-old son. "No bail has been set or nothing. He's a young man who's been thrown in jail again and again, and he just has to take it."

After the attack on Barker, Bell was originally charged with attempted murder, but the charges were reduced and he was convicted of battery. An appeals court threw that conviction out, saying Bell should not have been tried as an adult on that charge.

Racial tensions began rising in August 2006 in Jena after a black student sat under a tree known as a gathering spot for white students. Three white students later hung nooses from the tree. They were suspended but not prosecuted.

More than 20,000 demonstrators gathered last month in the small central Louisiana town to protest what they perceive as differences in how black and white suspects are treated. The case has drawn the attention of civil rights activists including the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

Sharpton reacted swiftly upon learning Bell was back in jail Thursday.

"We feel this was a cruel and unusual punishment and is a revenge by this judge for the Jena Six movement," said Sharpton, who helped organize the protest held Sept. 20, the day Bell was originally supposed to be sentenced.

Bell's parents were also ordered to pay all court costs and witness costs, Sharpton said.

"I don't know what we're going to do," Jones said. "I don't know how we're going to pay for any of this. I don't know how we're going to get through this."

Bell and the other five defendants have been charged in the attack on Barker, which left him unconscious and bleeding with facial injuries. According to court testimony, he was repeatedly kicked by a group of students at the high school.

Barker was treated for three hours at an emergency room but was able to attend a school function that evening, authorities have said.

Bell, Robert Bailey Jr., Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw were all initially charged - as adults - with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit the same. A sixth defendant was charged in the case as a juvenile.

Bell, who was 16 at the time, was convicted in June of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit that crime. LaSalle Parish prosecutor Reed Walters reduced the charges just before the trial. Since then, both of those convictions were dismissed and tossed back to juvenile court, where they now are being tried.

Charges against Bailey, 18, Jones, 19, and Shaw, 18, have been reduced to aggravated second-degree battery. Purvis, 18, has not yet been arraigned.

Edited to add the link. (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/J/JENA_SIX?SITE=LABAT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-10-11-22-29-36)

[Gan]

Bell had been hit with those charges before the Dec. 4 attack on classmate Justin Barker. Details on the previous charges, which were handled in juvenile court, were unclear.

How can something thats happend prior to the incident that resulted in probation be a violation of said probation?

[RichardCranium]

I believe he was on probation whenever the charges stemming from the fight occured. If that's the case however it's my experience that a probation hold would have been placed on him immediately after he was booked on the newest charges. Therefore I'm led to believe that this is the result of a corrupt legal system in the town of Jena.

[TheEschaton]

Wait, I don't exactly understand the timeline here. He had some juvenile counts against him BEFORE the incident in Jena, then got the whole Jena thing, was arrested, convicted for reduced charges, had that conviction thrown out by the court, and is now being jailed for a probation violation stemming from an incident which has been completely thrown out?

[RichardCranium]

I don't think the recent charges were completely thrown out. They reduced them and gave him bail which is how he got to go home. But he was still facing charges.

[RichardCranium]

I added a link in the OP.

[senorgordoburro]

I think this whole case is bullshit, and I'm not picking sides either. The white kids pissed off the black kids, the black kids beat the shit out of them, and one kid got a concussion. Are you fucking kidding me, in that case they need to put everyone that has ever cause another person a concussion in jail, we can start with football players, then move on to hockey....... This is just a big case of "my dad can beat up your dad" except its my dads lawyer against yours, and it is fucking stupid. Americans every year become more and more easily offended to a point that it makes our entire society look like pansies. People can't even make jokes on t.v. without having to make formal apologies later, and kids aren't allowed to get into fights anymore. This is a perfect example as to why I feel the war in Iraq is still going on. America wants to get revenge for 9/11 and as soon as someone gets hurt they start crying and complaining. We also have rules of engagement that are being made more strict every day because America just gets so pissed off if an "innocent" person gets killed. I'm telling you right now that there are no innocent people in that country, there not all bad either, but every damn one of them knows who the bad guys are, where the IED's are, and when the attacks are going to happen and they don't say a word, which means that they are just as guilty for the spilled blood as the guy that made the bomb. So, to sum up my rant, I love America, it is a great country, but American's fucking suck.

[Celephais]

I think this whole case is bullshit, and I'm not picking sides either. The white kids pissed off the black kids, the black kids beat the shit out of them, and one kid got a concussion. Are you fucking kidding me, in that case they need to put everyone that has ever cause another person a concussion in jail, we can start with football players, then move on to hockey....... This is just a big case of "my dad can beat up your dad" except its my dads lawyer against yours, and it is fucking stupid. Americans every year become more and more easily offended to a point that it makes our entire society look like pansies. People can't even make jokes on t.v. without having to make formal apologies later, and kids aren't allowed to get into fights anymore. This is a perfect example as to why I feel the war in Iraq is still going on. America wants to get revenge for 9/11 and as soon as someone gets hurt they start crying and complaining. We also have rules of engagement that are being made more strict every day because America just gets so pissed off if an "innocent" person gets killed. I'm telling you right now that there are no innocent people in that country, there not all bad either, but every damn one of them knows who the bad guys are, where the IED's are, and when the attacks are going to happen and they don't say a word, which means that they are just as guilty for the spilled blood as the guy that made the bomb. So, to sum up my rant, I love America, it is a great country, but American's fucking suck.

You're comparing nooses, and a gang beating a kid unconcious (not concusion) to football and hockey? This isn't some school hall tussel between a kid and some bullies... and if it is, kids have obviously stepped it up beyond a level I saw at my school.

[senorgordoburro]

The white kids hung nooses in a tree to piss off the black kids, just because its a group of black kids doesnt mean its a gang. And even if they were, I know that white kids "roll deep" as well, so the gang part has nothing to do with this. The kid also didn't spend a single night in the hospital.... and yet he was nearly beaten to death.... doesn't make sense to me. All the black kids should get expelled and not graduate if there seniors, and the black kids should also be expelled for the hanging of the nooses. Both sides were wrong, but who is worse, the side that started a racial hot bed, or the side that got pissed and defended themselves. Punish them both.

Edited to add: Think about this. A homeowner let's a persont leave there house after they had a few drinks, they are liable by law to anything that happens to that person or anyone they injure. Yet starting a miniature race war has no punishment, they should not be let off the hook just because they got there ass beat.

[RichardCranium]

The white kids hung nooses in a tree to piss off the black kids, just because its a group of black kids doesnt mean its a gang.

Do you believe that all gang rapes involve actual gangs?

[senorgordoburro]

LOL, that's a whole different kind of gang banging.

[Warriorbird]

:shrugs: The case was initially extremely overcharged. This doesn't mean that the "Jena 6" aren't guilty of crimes however. If the school system had dealt with this better things could have been a lot different.

[senorgordoburro]

Im not saying there innocent, I'm just saying that they are still being overcharged, and that the other side isn't innocent either.

[Celephais]

Do you believe that all gang rapes involve actual gangs?
Thank you... yeah I didn't mean they were in a gang, I meant there were more of them and they "ganged" up on him.

It's different when one person fights another person in some schoolyard fight. It's completely different when 6 kids beat a kid to the ground and kick him while he's unconcious.

I think the whole legal aspect of this is getting out of hand, and the judges/procescutors/school administrators are certainly racist, but the six did commit a crime.

[senorgordoburro]

No shit, I said they aren't innocent. I said that they shouldn't be going to jail, and that all the other kids that instigated it should be in trouble as well.

[Jesuit]

No shit, I said they aren't innocent. I said that they shouldn't be going to jail, and that all the other kids that instigated it should be in trouble as well.

You can't get in trouble for throwing a noose over a tree it's freedom of expression. Just like Jesse Jackson calling New York hymietown was freedom of speech. What do you think the response from the black community would have been if 6 jewish men beat Jesse Jackson unconscious for that?

[Anailea]

You can't get in trouble for throwing a noose over a tree it's freedom of expression. Just like Jesse Jackson calling New York hymietown was freedom of speech. What do you think the response from the black community would have been if 6 jewish men beat Jesse Jackson unconscious for that?

If hanging a noose is a freedom of expression, then so is burning a cross. But that isn't how the law sees it.

[senorgordoburro]

Actually, in a school enviroment, you are not free to express your racism. You would be at the minimum suspended pretty much anywhere else in the country. I grew up in Texas, Alabama, and Virginia, I can attest to the racism and how it is not tolerated first hand.

[DeV]

What do you think the response from the black community would have been if 6 jewish men beat Jesse Jackson unconscious for that?A thank you would definitely be in order.

[Celephais]

No shit, I said they aren't innocent. I said that they shouldn't be going to jail, and that all the other kids that instigated it should be in trouble as well.
I said they commited a crime... so you think that because they commited a crime, but due to it's context they shouldn't go to jail? I think they should face whatever penalties are assosiated with the crime they DID commit, I just think the elevation of the crime to attempted murder was the racist part.

I also think the appropriate juvinelle/first time offender/sanctions light punishments should be administered, but if that one guy is a second time offender then yeah... maybe he should be going to jail. (just not for attempted murder).

[senorgordoburro]

I said they commited a crime... so you think that because they commited a crime, but due to it's context they shouldn't go to jail? I think they should face whatever penalties are assosiated with the crime they DID commit, I just think the elevation of the crime to attempted murder was the racist part.

I also think the appropriate juvinelle/first time offender/sanctions light punishments should be administered, but if that one guy is a second time offender then yeah... maybe he should be going to jail. (just not for attempted murder).

So....pretty much were both saying that they are being overpunished, and should not be facing attempted murder charges....sweet

[Jesuit]

Actually, in a school enviroment, you are not free to express your racism. You would be at the minimum suspended pretty much anywhere else in the country. I grew up in Texas, Alabama, and Virginia, I can attest to the racism and how it is not tolerated first hand.

Yes a suspension or an expulsion from school is fine, but they shouldn't be in trouble legally. Again I ask you, what do you think the response from the black community would have been if 6 jewish men beat Jesse Jackson unconscious for calling New York hymietown?

[Skeeter]

racism or not, violating your parole is a bad idea. Just ask Michael Vick / Paris Hilton / Chris Henry / Tank Johnson / etc.

[senorgordoburro]

Pissed, now come up with a more similar situation if you want to prove a point. It was a bunch of unknown black kids beating up an unknown white kid, no fame or celebrity status. If it wasn't completely obvious that the punishments are excalated due to racism this never would have hit evening news. Shit, go to any major city and this happens every day with every race beating the shit out of every other.

[Celephais]

So....pretty much were both saying that they are being overpunished, and should not be facing attempted murder charges....sweet
You said they should just be suspended and not allowed to graduate (I won't get into the rant about how we should go after hockey players), I say they should be put on probation, fined, put in juvie, do community service, whatever it is you get for assault.

[Jesuit]

If hanging a noose is a freedom of expression, then so is burning a cross. But that isn't how the law sees it.

The courts linking cross burning to a direct act of violence is as absurd as trying to link flag burning to trying to violently overthrow the goverment.

[Skeeter]

Pissed, now come up with a more similar situation if you want to prove a point. It was a bunch of unknown black kids beating up an unknown white kid, no fame or celebrity status. If it wasn't completely obvious that the punishments are excalated due to racism this never would have hit evening news. Shit, go to any major city and this happens every day with every race beating the shit out of every other.

I could name 100s of people who go to jail for violating parole I just named people you would've heard of and cases you would be familiar with.

Its not unusual at all for parole violators to be thrown in jail. Obviously there are some serious racial issues in Jena, this particular incident doesn't necessarily reflect them though.