"Jena Six" Teen Gets Second Chance

(CBS)  High school senior Jesse Ray Beard, known as Jody, is a wide receiver on his school's football team, hoping to go pro. But if that doesn't work out, then he hopes to get a degree and become a lawyer.

Big dreams now, but back in his hometown of Jena, La., Jody had been living a nightmare. 48 Hours correspondent Harold Dow reports that Jody was one of the teens known as the Jena 6, charged with attempted murder after a brawl injured a white student at Jena High.

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Protesters called the case a symbol of a biased justice system.

The fight, in December 2006, followed months of racial tension in the small town, after nooses were hung from a tree on the school lawn.

"It seemed like they really weren't giving us a chance," Jody said. "They like, described us as bad children. Like thugs."

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However, only two eyewitnesses out of nearly 50 identified Jody - then 14 years old - as a participant in the fight.

Attorney Alan Howard, of the New York firm Dewey & LeBoeuf, represented Jody for free. "I saw a lot of resilience there," he said. "Passion, charm, and I liked him right away."

Howard wanted to give him an opportunity. So he turned to the people he trusted most - his family.

"I remember saying that he should come and live with us, Howard's daughter Jesse said. "I was totally for it, but I never thought it would happen."

Jody recalls Howard made him a promise:

"That if I stay out of trouble, that he would get me out of Jena."

Howard made good on that promise, when he and other defense lawyers got the original judge in the case removed because of bias.

Howard thinks that if Jody had remained in Jena, "they would have found a reason to lock him up."

With Jody's mom's blessing, Howard became the teenager's guardian. Standing 5'11, and weighing 210 pounds - he's now a big part of the Howard family.

Dow asked, "two different pictures have emerged of Jody. Which one is the real Jody?"

Patti Howard replied, "We know him. He lives in our house. This is the real kid. I don't know who that kid was that they were depicting in Jena."

To those who thought he was just a thug, Jody said, "I'm doing well now."

Well enough, he says, to take advantage of this opportunity and run with it.

[GinaMo42]

During the civil rights movement the biggest monster in the box for me was the fact that our country could not enforce basic laws in a fair and consistent way with our African American citizens. It really was horrible and scary.

Jessie Jackson called this a "school yard fight" despite the fact that this kid could just as easily be dead because he had a hemorrhage in his brain. Hence why he lost consciousness.

I could not help but wonder what would be said if these guys were white and kicked a black boy until he lost consciousness. This would have been called a hate crime for certain.

It is my opinion that we should take care of our kids in these situations when it does not involve any real harm .Why because young people really do make mistakes..but we should be willing to do it for the WHITE BOYS TOO..
The kids that hung the noose should have been given the opportunity to understand what this really does represent in our country.
There were 5000 people lynched and 3440 of these were black lynchings which was really disproportionate for the number of black people in the country at the time.

The six boys that ganged up and kicked the kid in the head should have been sentenced to at least three months with the understanding that they could easily be serving time for murder.

We are now on the precipice of applying laws in an unfair way toward white people...instead of black people..
Why: I guess to keep prejudice alive and well no matter what...

[tiffanyplus2]

The kid did go to a party the same night.
Pay attention to the story.
Let's all cry a river for the kid that started to whole thing.

[tiffanyplus2]

You people are ridiculous and the exact reason why people react to racism the way they do. I have mixed children and as a white mother i would just as pissed as the young black kids. Wrong is wrong but its always been said an eye for an eye. As it should be.Regardless of who beat who in the beginning of this world we have all came a long way as we should but why would you hang a noose anyways unless you we're looking for trouble, the kid got what he deserved at the end of the day, and when it comes down to it the people who disagree are the ones who don't stand up for them self, that's all the kids were doing. The white kid probably comes from a family where one a rich or two a poor family living on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere who always have had something against people that don't look like they do. Either way the kid is ignorant

[godslovewillsaveusall]

You know this just goes to show that race is still abig issue in the United Staes of America were everyone is suppose to be created equal as so they say! yeah we should all just agree to disagree and just realize that the kkk no longer hide under sheet to hide there identity the sit be hide decks with pens,they drive us buses hell they even teach our kids in school! well it seem people want to go back in history and say that not only white people had slaves that black people did to and im not going to say that it is not true i just have not ran it to any book that say that but hey it is what it is!yeah it was wrong for these young men to do what they did notice i said young men beacuse that is what they are! lets take it back to Emmeit Till IF YOU DONT NO THE STORY LOOK IT UP! yeah not to many people want to no are even think of how mean a group of people can be in the comment above i could feel the angry the man had about these ytoung men gang up on this white man even went so for to as that if it was a back man they would i guess through the book at him! Yeah well maybe now they might if it gets enough play and make enough people mad about it! Emmiet Till a 14year old boy beaten to death they disfigured this young boy so to where his mother could not recegnize him pull his split his head into two parts took his eye out left one hanging out his face,chopped is ear off put a bullet through his head knocked his teeth out and if that was not enough they cut his privite part off all of this for whisleing at a white woman! and who was it done by two white with a not guilty and guess what an all white juries let talk about fare!!! LOOK IT UP GET THE WHOLE STORY EMMETT TILL GOOGLE IT!

[fromjena2]

Emmett Till was a victim of a violent, sick act. Justin Barker, the white high school student who was kicked repeatedly while unconscious by the Jena 6, was also a victim of a violent act. Making a stand against racism is one thing, but asking that six individuals who committed a violent act at a high school to be released and considering them heroes is a scary trend that proves to their young supporters that violence is profitable. The case of Emmitt Till is a sad case, but it has absolutely no basis for comparison to this case.

[uconchamp-_]

It is wrong for to kill or beat anybody. Go back to your history and you will come across WHITE people killing blacks for just being racist. It probably was some of your ancestors who killed innocent black people. That white boy knew what he was doing when he hung that noose on that tree, he knew the story behind that. When white people hung black people on those nooses and burned them alive so there families could watch them. He probably was grinning about it when he did. He got what he asked for. END OF STORY.

[shawnlsu]

Was there anyone IN the noose? So hanging an empty noose from a branch justifies 6 people beating and head stomping another person? So if I were to call you a "bad" name, would that give you the right to get 5 of your buddies and beat me unconcious? I guarantee if 6 white people stomped some poor black kids head into the ground for calling one a cracker, the white kids would have been sent directly to the firing line without a trial. But in this case, Al and Jessie raised hell about it and made sure that racism stays alive so they aren't out of a job, because the REAL truth is of those two men wouldn't push racism on everyone, racism wouldn't be as alive as it is now, but keeping racism alive is how they make thier money.
As far as the "your ancestors" comment. Read your history book (if you are able), Whites were not the only ones to own black slaves, BLACKS ALSO OWNED BLACK SLAVES. Shocker, I know, but undeniably true.

[shawnlsu]

http://americancivilwar.com/authors/black_slaveowners.htm
Please visit and read for yourself

[whats_goin_on]

This saddens me so much. I am white, but I have black relatives in my family. I am now trying to figure out how much I can send them to have a reasonable Christmas this year on my meager salary because I love them and I want to try and help out while they struggle to just have basic needs met. I know them and they are among the most intelligent, kind, honest and nonviolent people I know. Meanwhile, in my country, people who commit horrible acts of racist violence are treated like rock stars and given every thing they could ever want for, while never giving back to society or contributing labor for the betterment of the country. Why is violence among blacks rewarded, while goodness is ignored? What kind of unjust society have we created here?

I can never watch CBS evening news again because this story made me so sick to watch, I'd really rather not know.

[countrycuz1]

Wow..what a great story! He's on the football team and he wants to be a lawyer. And he never had to say he was sorry for ganging up with five others to beat up a kid. And only two people ID'd him, but he doesn't deny he was in on the assault. I hope my son grows up to be just like him!

[willihandjiv]

It will be interesting to watch the careers of these released unpunished "kids" blossom over time. I look forward to seeing them on CBS news again.

[smoknmirrors]

What I learned from the Jena 6 incident was: (1) when you make a point of showing disrespect you may receive a pointed disrespect in return. More importantly, when SOMEONE shows disrespect, SOMEONE ELSE receives disrespect. Most importantly, the disrespect shown by an empty rope in a tree by one party is equal to a head stomping for an entirely different party. (2) It is a sick world. Be careful out there. (3) Keep a good lawyer on retainer.

[louiecypher]

Anytime 6 people jump one person and give him an "wooping" is just cowerdly, unless its Jet li then good luck with 6 you better bring more.