Jena Six Case Close To A Deal

Court Officials: Students Accused In Beating Will Plead Guilty

(AP)  Five of six black teens accused of beating a white high school classmate in a case that led to the biggest civil rights protest in decades will plead guilty in a deal expected to be finalized this week, Louisiana court officials involved with the case told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The six students were initially charged with attempted murder in the 2006 attack on Justin Barker and became known as the "Jena Six," after the town where the beating took place.

Charges against Carwin Jones, Jesse Ray Beard, Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery.

Court officials, who asked not to be identified because the agreement was not yet public, told the AP that those five will plead to lesser charges Friday but would not be specific. Officials also would not talk about penalties.

A sixth defendant, Mychal Bell, pleaded guilty in December 2007 to a misdemeanor second-degree battery charge and was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Bill Furlow, a spokesman for LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, confirmed the hearing for the remaining five defendants, but said Walters would have no comment.

Bailey's attorney, James Boren, wouldn't confirm the deal but said, "you certainly want to be in court on Friday."

The severity of the original charges brought widespread criticism and eventually led more than 20,000 people to converge in September 2007 on the tiny central Louisiana town of Jena for a major civil rights march.

Racial tensions at Jena High School reportedly grew throughout in the months before the attack. Several months before attack, nooses were hung in a tree on the campus, sparking outrage in the black community. Residents said there were fights, but nothing too serious until December 2006 when Barker was attacked.

Barker was knocked unconscious as the lunch period was ending. He was hit and kicked by the defendants as he lay on the ground, according to court testimony. Pictures from the emergency room show his face was swollen and bloodied, but he was not admitted and was able to attend a school function that same night.

Barker graduated that spring and is now working on an oil rig, according to Henry Lemoine Jr., the attorney representing Barker in the civil cases.

Bell graduated in May and is currently trying to find a college where he could play football, according to his attorney Louis Scott. Bell was considered a top football prospect before the attack and Scott said he was being widely recruited.

Meanwhile, Lemoine said Barker's family agreed on a settlement Wednesday with Bailey, Shaw and Jones.

His family filed a lawsuit in state court against the LaSalle Parish School Board, the parents of the young men accused of beating him and the adult defendants.

"It's not much, but the Barkers are satisfied," Lemoine said. "They believe it's time to put this to bed."

The agreement, according to Lemoine, also provides for Barker to receive the royalties from any account of the incident by any of the defendants.

"If they get funds from any source for anything about the incident within the next five years, we get them," Lemoine said.

The school board has not agreed on a financial settlement, Lemoine said.

[TPS2]

Take your time, read real slow, and see if you can comprehend what was written in the post.

[antoniof123]

This was a very unusual case it started out over a shade tree.

[cepe10-2009]

wow lot's of inbred redneck hicks to backup poor little innocent justin and his white supremacist noose hanging, shot gun toting friends. lol

[Questionews]

by cepe10-2009 June 25, 2009 6:17 AM PDT
I think Justin Barker probably got what he deserved. He is certainly far from innocent as an instigator in this case. He and his friends are cowards and bullies protected by the cowards and good ol boys without and morals or ethics in the community.



Hummm.. You're kinda like Mrs_Trepidation. The only difference is she has a demented sense of humor. You're just plain demented.

[Sloughfoot]

Where is the federallies? Sitting on their hands? Old man gets beaten by 5-6 of these brave thugs and when they return for seconds a few get shot, then they put old man in jail. 5-6 of these brave thugs beat white boy almost to death and are going to get plea bargain for misdemeanors. Should whites riot in the streets and burn black businesses???

[endurorob]

by cepe10-2009 June 25, 2009 6:17 AM PDT
I think Justin Barker probably got what he deserved. He is certainly far from innocent as an instigator in this case. He and his friends are cowards and bullies protected by the cowards and good ol boys without and morals or ethics in the community.


Just like the white truck driver that got pulled from his trcuk and bashed in the head with a brick during the Rodney King riots? He instigated it because he shouldn't have been driving his truck through that part of town.

[speakinup22]

I do find it a bit incongruent that 6 blacks can beat up a white, and yet it isn't a hate crime.

What - it was just a coincidence they were all black and he was white ?

If it isn't a hate crime, then I'd like to have the whole idea of a hate crime reviewed. It would seem that its use is just a might bit one sided, given this situation and the trucker that got his head hit with a brick.

It leaves a message for youths that should NOT be tolerated.

[endurorob]

by cepe10-2009 June 25, 2009 6:17 AM PDT
I think Justin Barker probably got what he deserved. He is certainly far from innocent as an instigator in this case. He and his friends are cowards and bullies protected by the cowards and good ol boys without and morals or ethics in the community.


Are you that stupid?

[Meg003]

The students knocked Barker unconscious with a vicious blow to the head, leaving him to fall to the concrete, then they stomped him on the face,head, and body, kicked him, and slammed his head into a concrete beam until blood ran from his ears and nose, as he lay helpless and motionless. This report kind of glosses over that part.

[cepe10-2009]

I think Justin Barker probably got what he deserved. He is certainly far from innocent as an instigator in this case. He and his friends are cowards and bullies protected by the cowards and good ol boys without and morals or ethics in the community.

[TPS2]

The cowards and bullies are the six kids who jumped on one kid.

[Sloughfoot]

You another of those who like the six against one odd? When looking for cowards sart with a look in the mirror.

[u-r-right]

I bet Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson won't be anywhere near this town. There's no more cha-ching in it for them.

[John_Merritt]

I can't believe this case has not been resolved by now. It makes you wonder if it wasn't purposely dragged out, to keep the tensions high. These judgments should have been delivered and lessons learned. Three years is a bit much for anything to be remedied, don't you think?

[hamiltongrad]

Oh, wasn't he trapped in the school gym, doors locked, surrounded jump-ed from be hind, and had the xx kicked out of him ? Not just pushed to the ground. It was the gym floor.

[Meg003]

No, it was a concrete surface. He was hit from being so forcefully that he was unconscious when he hit the ground. He was stomped and slammed headfirst into a concrete beam. When the assistant principal saw him, unconscious and bleeding from his ears and nose, he thought Barker was dead.