NEW ORLEANS — A state appeals court on Friday threw out the only remaining conviction against one of the black teenagers accused in the beating of a white schoolmate in the racially tense north Louisiana town of Jena.
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. His conspiracy conviction in the December beating of student Justin Barker was already thrown out by another court.
Bell, who was 16 at the time of the beating, and four others were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder. Those charges brought widespread criticism that blacks were being treated more harshly than whites following racial altercations involving Jena High.
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.
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.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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The Rev. Al Sharpton called for an investigation of the district attorney prosecuting a group of black teenagers on serious criminal charges stemming from a Louisiana school fight involving a white classmate. In a telephone interview Sunday from New York, Sharpton also said he would join thousands of people in Jena on Sept. 20 — the day one of the teens is scheduled to be sentenced on an aggravated second-degree battery conviction. Mychal Bell faces up to 15 years in prison. “After that, if we need to, we’ll go to Baton Rouge and see the governor and the Legislature,” Sharpton said. Sharpton said he wants the state attorney general and judicial oversight agencies to investigate the actions of LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters. A telephone message left at Walters’ residence was not returned Sunday. He has previously said he cannot comment because of the pending cases. Today in Americas On 9/11 anniversary, looking inward to explain terrorist attacks Petraeus sees partial pullout by 2008 Interest grows in limiting life tenure in Supreme Court The case drew protests after five of the six teens, dubbed the “Jena Six,” were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, carrying sentences of up to 80 years in prison. The sixth was charged in juvenile court. The beating victim, who is white, was treated for injuries at a hospital and released the same day, and a motive for the alleged Dec. 4 attack at Jena High School was never established. The beating came amid tense race relations in Jena, a mostly white town of 3,000 in north-central Louisiana. After a black student sat under a tree on the school campus where white students traditionally congregated, three nooses were hung in the tree. Students accused of placing the nooses were suspended from school for a short period. In Jena on Sunday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson urged residents to come together to demand equal justice. “Why be fighting when we can turn to each other and find common ground?” Jackson said. “Jena is too small not to move together.”
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 Pressure from the top down! This has been a issue that has not been raised to the top. Here are the Congressional and Senatorial Delegates for Louisiana. Have them contact the DA and the judge.
Sacha Louisiana Congressional Delegation U.S. Senate
David Vitter
516 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202.224.4623
Fax: 202.228.5061
Mary Landrieu
724 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202.224.5824
Fax: 202.224.9735
U.S. House of Representatives
Bobby Jindal
District 1 1205 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202.225.3015
William Jefferson
District 2 240 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202.225.6636
Fax: 202.225.1988
Charlie Melancon
District 3 404 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202.225.4031
Fax: 202.226.3944
Jim McCrery
District 4 2104 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202.225.2777
Fax: 202.225.8039
Rodney Alexander
District 5 316 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202.225.8490
Fax: 202.225.5639
Richard Baker
District 6 434 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202.225.3901
Fax: 202.225.7313
Dr. Charles Boustany, Jr.
District 7 1117 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-1807
Phone: 202.225.2031
JENA 6
Send Mychal Bell letters of encouragement while he is held in prison, here is his address:
Mychal Bell
Inmate, A-Dorm
LaSalle Correctional Center
15976 Highway 165
Olla, LA 71465-4801
The Jena 6 need financial support to fight their cases. Any amount raised goes directly towards hiring private attorneys that the families of the Jena 6 cannot afford on their own. To send donations:
Jena 6 Defense Committee
PO BOX 2798
Jena, LA 71342
Email requests, offers of help, or comments can be sent to an account maintained by the families and their volunteers:
jena6defense@gmail.com
FURTHER CONTACT INFORMATION
The Jena 6 Defense Committee
PO Box 2798,
Jena, LA Â 71342
jena6defense@gmail.com <mailto:jena6defense@gmail.com>
Murphy McMillan, Mayor
P.O. Box 26
Jena, La. Â 71342
Phone (318) 992-2148
To contact District Attorney Reed Walters directly:
Reed Walters, District Attorney
28th Judicial District
PO Box 1940
Jena, Louisiana  71342-1940
(318) 992-8282
Fax: (318) 992-4731
contact Governor Kathleen Blanco
Write:
Office of the Governor
Attn: Constituent Services
P.O. Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9004
Fax: 225-342-7099
Call:
866-366-1121
225-342-0991
225-342-7015
CONTACT JUDGE J.P. MAUFFRAY:
1050 COURTHOUSE STREET
P.O. BOX 1316
JENA, LA Â 71342
(318)992-2002- phone
(318)992-8701-fax
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Al Sharpton and New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly pledge to work against police brutality. Kelly spoke at a rally organized by Sharpton’s National Action Network. CBS2’s Deborah Garcia reports.
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“The frenzy was when the levies broke!”
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