NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 14, 2007
Teen's Conviction Tossed In La. Beating
Court Throws Out Conviction Against Black Teen In Beating Of White Schoolmate
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Rosie Simmons, right, grandmother of Mychal Bell, listens to the Rev. Al Sharpton speak to a standing-room only congregation at Trout Creek Baptist Church in Jena, La., Sunday, Aug. 5, 2007. (AP Photo/Richard Alan Hannon)
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The lawyers for Mychal Bell speak to the crowd at Anitoch Baptist Church Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007, in Jena, La. (AP Photo/Kita Wright)
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With his hand on the Bible, Rev. Al Sharpton speaks to the crowded Anitoch Baptist Church in Jena, La. Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007, where six black teenagers face the possibility of decades in prison for attacking a white classmate. (AP Photo/Kita Wright)
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Mychal Bell, 17, should not have been tried as an adult, the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal said in tossing his conviction on aggravated battery, for which he was to have been sentenced Thursday. He could have gotten 15 years in prison.
“There is no substitute for victory. Giddy is the right word,” defense attorney Bob Noel said at a news conference in Monroe.
Bell's conspiracy conviction in the December beating of student Justin Barker had already been thrown out by another court.
District Attorney Reed Walters said in a statement delivered to the weekly Jena Times that he would appeal to the state Supreme Court “after I review the decision thoroughly,”
He must appeal within two weeks. Bell, whose bond was set at $90,000, cannot be released from the LaSalle Parish jail unless Walters lets that period lapse without an appeal or the Supreme Court rules in Bell's favor, Sheriff Carl Smith said.
Bell, who was 16 at the time of the beating, is one of six black students at Jena High School charged in an attack on fellow student Justin Barker, and one of five originally charged with attempted second-degree murder.
Those charges brought widespread criticism that blacks were being treated more harshly than whites after racial confrontations and fights at Jena High School.
Civil rights leaders, including the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, had been planning a rally in support of the teens for the day Bell was to have been sentenced.
“Although there will not be a court hearing, we still intend to have a major rally for the Jena Six and now hopefully Mychal Bell will join us,” Sharpton said in an e-mailed statement.
Said Jackson: “The pressure must continue until all six boys are set free and sent to school, not to jail.”
Jena is a mostly white town where racial animosity flared about a year ago when a black student sat under a tree that was a traditional gathering place for whites. A day later, three nooses were found hanging from the tree. There followed reports of racial fights at the school, culminating in the December attack on Barker.
The reversal of Bell's conviction will not affect four other teenagers also charged as adults, because they were 17 years old at the time of the fight and no longer considered juveniles, said attorney George Tucker of Hammond.
Judge J.P. Mauffray had thrown out Bell's conspiracy conviction, saying it was not a charge on which a juvenile may be tried as an adult. But he had let the battery conviction stand, saying Bell could be tried in adult court because the charge was among lesser charges included in the original attempted murder charge.
Teenagers can be tried as adults in Louisiana for some violent crimes, including attempted murder, but aggravated battery is not one of those crimes, the court said.
Defense lawyers had argued that the aggravated battery case should not have been tried in adult court once the attempted murder charge was reduced.
The case “remains exclusively in juvenile court,” the Third Circuit ruled.
Below is the full statement issued Friday by LaSalle District Attorney Reed Walters, as reported by CBS News affiliate WAFB in Baton Rouge.
I begin this statement by saying that it has been my long-standing policy to not make statements about pending cases. I am further restrained by ethical considerations that are designed to protect defendants from prejudice as a result of public remarks made by a prosecutor. However, because of the massive amount of misinformation that has been reported concerning the recent conviction obtained in the so-called "Jena Six" matter, and for my concern for the residents of LaSalle Parish, I have decided to issue the following statement. This statement is designed to correct the major misrepresentations of fact and is carefully designed to comply with the rules of professional conduct.
At this time, I cannot address every factual misrepresentation made concerning this matter. The following statement will address those that I consider to be major inaccuracies. Because of the ongoing nature of these matters and the ethical restraints of Rule 3.6 of the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct, I will not be able to make any further statement at this time.
No. 1: Noose Incident at Jena High School
The noose incident at Jena High School occurred in August, 2006. This incident was very thoroughly investigated by the United States Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana who concluded that the facts did not constitute an offense that should be prosecuted under federal law. I researched state law and came to the conclusion that there is no state criminal statute prohibiting the conduct. I could not prosecute the perpetrators without an applicable statute. This is an issue that may be appropriate for Legislative consideration.
The incident which led to the charges resulting in the conviction of Mr. Mychal Bell took place December, 2006. At no time during the investigation of the incident or at the trial was any evidence presented connecting the two events. There has been no evidence presented to me that the victim in this case had any connection to the perpetrators of the noose incident.
No. 2: An Attack - Not a Schoolyard Fight
It has been repeatedly reported that this incident was just a schoolyard fight. The evidence showed that the victim was "sucker-punched" and knocked immediately unconscious before being stomped and kicked. There was no credible evidence before or during the trial that the victim had provoked the attack by word or gesture. The evidence showed that this was an attack, not a fight. It was prosecuted as such. At no time during the consideration to prosecute or the prosecution of this matter did anyone's race enter into any decision that was made. It would be a fruitless waste of time considering something that would have no effect on the presentation of evidence or be admissible in a court of law.
I realize that there have been numerous requests of me to give more details and a more thorough statement delving into this matter. However, because of the ethical considerations that I must abide by, I cannot make any further statement at this time.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 126 Commentsnooses from the tree, to start trouble and
give that city a bad name, to get a cash reward, like milking the cash cow? That would be just like them. Like that nappy
whor, who lied. I bet the nappies are stirring up trouble, against the white folks, for financial gains. White people can''t talk to nappies, cause they are to senitive and will beat up on you or file a civil right suit. They are bigots.
The kind that watch "kiddie p0rn", while claiming to be an activist. Or the kind that ride around at night like "boo boo the clown" in white hooded sheets who cowardly terrorize black folks, because he is too MUCH of a "punk" to face them off in the daylight.
Your ancestors were probably members of the KKK, if not, you, generations long of uncivilized primordial behavior.
So, tell me what type of wh0re are you, the one that solicits black prost1tutes, while going out at night dressed up like "boo boo the clown" looking like Micheal Myers in "Halloween" busting black folks heads.
Posted by roaeja"
First, go back to school and learn to spell.
Second, learn that anyone born in the US, whose parents and grandparents were born in the US, are US citizens.
Third learn that you will be held accountable for your words and actions, if you say something you can be sued for, you deserve to be sued.
Lastly, learn that repeatedly posting ignorant statements does not make them less ignorant, it only multiplies the appearance of your lack of education, your fear, and your self-hatred.
nooses from the tree, to start trouble and
give that city a bad name, to get a cash reward, like milking the cash cow? That would be just like them. Like that nappy
whor, who lied. I bet the nappies are stirring up trouble, against the white folks, for financial gains. White people can''t talk to nappies, cause they are to senitive and will beat up on you or file a civil right suit. They are bigots.
nooses from the tree, to start trouble and
give that city a bad name, to get a cash reward, like milking the cash cow? That would be just like them. Like that nappy
whor, who lied. I bet the nappies are stirring up trouble, against the white folks, for financial gains. White people can''t talk to nappies, cause they are to senitive and will beat up on you or file a civil right suit. They are bigots.
nooses from the tree, to start trouble and
give that city a bad name, to get a cash reward, like milking the cash cow? That would be just like them. Like that nappy
whor, who lied. I bet the nappies are stirring up trouble, against the white folks, for financial gains.
And the six white animals that kidnapped, raped, and brutalized a black woman, was merely a demonstration of Southern white solidarity.
I mean "payback" for the six black boys beating up on the poor misunderstood white kid.
Most Southern whites are the "throw backs" of pre-civilization, they are the sadistic perverted degenerates that took great pleasure in the torture of African slaves in the Caribbean.
They are the cannibalistic deviants, like Ed Gein that troll graveyards searching for and defacing plots, digging up dead folks desecrating their bodies using them in sadistic rituals of ***[ual] perversions.
And these are the uncivilized animals that pontificate black folks are sub-human, those animals that created the sadistic sport of "dog and *** fighting"and inbred with their sisters, cousins, and sometimes mother/father.
These are the individuals that birthed "bestiality", then projected their pathological behavior unto others in order to hide their perverted deviant behavior, etc, etc, etc.
"Why did it take 6 nappies, to beat up one
white boy", likewise, why did it take a mob of hundreds of white "boys" to beat up one black 14 year old teenager, curious, you do remember Emmett Till?
Moreover, why did it take a mob of foul breathed putrid smelling white folks to lynch one black man couldn''t muster the courage to do it one on one?
And if Southern white folks were so courageous and fearless why did they run around at night dressed in "boo boo the clown" white sheets hiding their identities, I mean, after all the police had your backs, so, what pray tell, were you hiding from, scared of your own shadow?
And why do some white folks have to sneak around corners like spineless cowards whispering about blacks, I mean if you had something to say just say it?
Likewise, if white men are so superior, why are you "pulling your hair out from the roots", urinating and defecating everywhere when you see a black male talking to a white woman, what are you so afraid of, certainly not the competition, since, according to you, black men are worthless, useless, pieces of scum?
Now, I know it''s hard to see behind that white hood, and I know with a 6th grade education and parents who are cousins it''s hard for you to think clearly(it''s easier to just spout racist remarks like "kill all the blacks", which you both would obviously be ok with), but let''s just walk through this...
A.) The black kid in this story was jumped earlier by white kids. The white kids weren''t charged with anything. Do you think this was fair?
B.) One of the white kids pulled a gun on the black kid. The black kid wrestled the gun away from him, and was charged with theft. Do you think this was fair?
C.) The kid you keep claiming was beaten near death went to a party that night. Would you be able to go to a party if you were beaten near death early in the day?
Now, if you answered Yes to any of the questions above, you are beyond help.
Tell me honestly, why didn''t the white kids get charged with attempted murder for committing the same exact act earlier?
Oh, you can''t? Yeah, that''s because the system is racist down there. Maybe when you get back from burning crosses in people''s yards and wishing all people who aren''t white Christians were dead, you''ll be able to answer these questions.
Posted by sblake63 at 05:08 PM : Sep 15, 2007
sblake63,
Thanks for the backup, I currently work for a telcom company as well and see the same things you are talking about and it caused my company to be bought out.I`m in the process of moving now because I`ve had it and can`t take any more of all this B.S.Abandon the cities and surrounding suburbs !!!Let em` rot...
Posted by jlmcscanner at 02:03 PM : Sep 15, 2007
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AMEN to that! And that''s exactly what I did moved away from the city and just them them rot. As a former manager of a divison within a rather large telecom company, I recall vividly WHICH members of my team were complaining 8 hours a day (Hint Hint), demanded special treatment and were always in HR''s office crying racism. It''s beyond LAME. No wonder the company went bankrupt LOL!!
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