Plea Bargain Wraps Up "Jena 6" Case

No Contest Plea Ends Case Of Black Teens Accused Of Beating White Schoolmate In La.

(AP)  Five members of the Jena Six pleaded no contest Friday to misdemeanor simple battery and won't serve jail time, ending a case that thrust a small Louisiana town into the national spotlight and sparked a massive civil rights demonstration.

The five, standing quietly surrounded by their lawyers, were sentenced to seven days unsupervised probation and fined $500. It was a far less severe end to their cases than seemed possible when the six students were initially charged with attempted murder in the 2006 attack on Justin Barker, a white classmate. They became known as the "Jena Six," after the central Louisiana town where the beating happened.

As part of the deal, one of the attorneys read a statement from the five defendants - all of whom are black - in which they said they knew of nothing Barker had done to provoke the attack.

"To be clear, not one of us heard Justin use any slur or say anything that justified Mychal Bell attacking Justin nor did any of us see Justin do anything that would cause Mychal to react," the statement said.

The statement also expressed sympathy for Barker and his family, and acknowledged the past 2½ years had "caused Justin and his parents tremendous pain and suffering, much of which has gone unrecognized."

None of the defendants spoke to reporters.

By pleading no contest, the five do not admit guilt but acknowledge prosecutors had enough evidence for a conviction.

Charges against Carwin Jones, Jesse Ray Beard, Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw had previously been reduced from attempted murder to aggravated second-degree battery. All but Shaw were assessed $500 in court costs. The judge did not tack that punishment on to Shaw's case because he stayed in jail for almost seven months, unable to raise bail, following his initial arrest.

Each paid the fine and court costs immediately. The payment of restitution to Barker was also part of the deal, but the amount was not released.

The only member of the group to serve jail time was Bell, who pleaded guilty in December 2007 to second-degree battery and was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

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 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.

Friday's criminal proceedings were followed by a brief civil hearing to settle the lawsuit by Barker against the group.

[Injustices]

This is a travesty of JUSTICE!

[josiebass]

Police say high-level drug dealer, others captured in LaSalle Parish, Louisiana.

By Abbey Brown ? [e-mail] ? July 10, 2009

What do you have to say about this? Are you ready to Take up for these thugs, to Get your march ready to free these drug dealers. To Get your pen out to bash the Police, the State and all White hard working law abiding people. The Michael Jackson icons of Jena 6, Louisiana.

Catrina Wallace is the sister to one of the Jena6, Robert Bailey. She was very vocal in interviews, helped arrange protests, solicited money for a 'defense' fund, and was working as secretary for the LaSalle NAACP.

"Wallace three counts of distribution of cocaine, according to police.

Wallace is the stepsister of Robert Bailey Jr., one of the "Jena Six" who recently pleaded no contest in connection with the 2006 attack on then-classmate Justin Barker at Jena High School. Wallace was outspoken during rallies in the community, helped organize a benefit concert to raise money for the Jena Six teens and was at one point the secretary of the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter.

LaSalle Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Jimmy Arbogast pointed out that the length of the investigation and the cooperation of other agencies helped with its success."

"These arrests are the result of a lengthy investigation," he said. "The main thing we wanted to do was return the community back to the law-abiding citizens."

[josiebass]

Are you ready to Take up for these thugs, to Get your march ready to free these drug dealers. To Get your pen out to bash the Police, the State and all White hard working law abiding people. The Michael Jackson icons of Jena 6, Louisiana.

Catrina Wallace is the sister to one of the Jena6, Robert Bailey. She was very vocal in interviews, helped arrange protests, solicited money for a 'defense' fund, and was working as secretary for the LaSalle NAACP.

"Wallace three counts of distribution of cocaine, according to police.

Wallace is the stepsister of Robert Bailey Jr., one of the "Jena Six" who recently pleaded no contest in connection with the 2006 attack on then-classmate Justin Barker at Jena High School. Wallace was outspoken during rallies in the community, helped organize a benefit concert to raise money for the Jena Six teens and was at one point the secretary of the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter.

LaSalle Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Jimmy Arbogast pointed out that the length of the investigation and the cooperation of other agencies helped with its success."

"These arrests are the result of a lengthy investigation," he said. "The main thing we wanted to do was return the community back to the law-abiding citizens."

[josiebass]

Are you ready to Take up for these thugs, to Get your march ready to free these drug dealers. To Get your pen out to bash the Police, the State and all White hard working law abiding people. The Michael Jackson icons of Jena 6, Louisiana.

Catrina Wallace is the sister to one of the Jena6, Robert Bailey. She was very vocal in interviews, helped arrange protests, solicited money for a 'defense' fund, and was working as secretary for the LaSalle NAACP.

"Wallace three counts of distribution of cocaine, according to police.

Wallace is the stepsister of Robert Bailey Jr., one of the "Jena Six" who recently pleaded no contest in connection with the 2006 attack on then-classmate Justin Barker at Jena High School. Wallace was outspoken during rallies in the community, helped organize a benefit concert to raise money for the Jena Six teens and was at one point the secretary of the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter.

LaSalle Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Jimmy Arbogast pointed out that the length of the investigation and the cooperation of other agencies helped with its success."

"These arrests are the result of a lengthy investigation," he said. "The main thing we wanted to do was return the community back to the law-abiding citizens."

[Jesus_is_Love]

I think that the boys who hun the noose were wrong, but the beating DID NOT happen the day it was hung. Therefore the beating was planned before hand and the boys who did should not be given an easy out. Just because people marched in their favor does not change their crime. Those boys wanted to kill that boy by the fact that it was 6 on 1. It was premeditated and it was attemted murder. they should all be justly punished for their crimes.

Also ALL crimes are hate crimes.

[John_Merritt]

One could only hope that all the young men involved, have grown into men because of the lessons and the length it took to bring this to a conclusion. We all can learn lessons, hopefully, there will be no repeats for any of these guys in the future. Just the mere thought that your (a persons) life will be put on hold for 2-3 years should be an impediment to anyone with a lick of sense. Whether it was a hate crime or not, there is no place for displaced anger with the resultant beating the victim took. I hope they all turn out to be pillars within their community. Good luck to all.

[willcad]

Somehow I doubt that those six young men will become pillars in their community.

Going through 2-3 years of legal and political turmoil doesn't usually make a person re-evaluate their lives, despite what we see on those touchy-feely movies of the week. Much more often, that kind of turmoil in a person's life - whether they deserved it or not - turns them bitter and vengeful.

No matter what else these young men do with their lives, they will very likely now hold a bitter grudge against the cops who arrested them, the judicial system which prosecuted them, the media which made them a spectacle, and the white society which vilified them.

It matters not whether they were guilty or innocent of a hate crime, nor whether they were convicted or acquitted in court; what matters is that they have all had a bad experience, and like all human beings, they will lay the blame for that bad experience on anyone but themselves.

With that sort of emotional baggage, how could anyone become a pillar of their community?

[Questionews]

He should have just threw them a basketball.....

by easeup-2009 June 26, 2009 1:25 PM PDT





Is that a reference to Full Metal Jacket???

[Questionews]

"These are great days we're living, bros. We are jolly green giants, walking the Earth with guns. These people we wasted here today are the finest human beings we will ever know. After we rotate back to the world, we're gonna miss not having anyone around that's worth shooting."

[IndianaGuy]

"What about the guy who hung the noose in the first place - hate crime too?"

A clever debate device, attempt to sidetrack your opponents? point by asking a seemingly related, while totally unrelated, question.

Two wrongs do not make a right. Otherwise I would be justified in violence against blacks due to the Duke University incident, Tawana Brawley, OJ, the LA riots, etc.

[Dmc1184]

Where are the hate crime charges? Oh wait, they are black. They couldnt possibly commit a hate crime against a group of white students...

[hwy71so]

Hate Crime.

6 on 1 is NOT 2n degree. It is NOT battery.

[dartplayer501]

What about the guy who hung the noose in the first place - hate crime too?