The Jena 6 and Louisiana Racial Tensions

Quote:

JENA, La. (AP) — The attorney for a teenager whose conviction in a racially charged school yard beating was overturned last week asked the court Monday to release him from jail or move him to a juvenile facility during appeals.

Mychal Bell, 17, has been jailed since January, unable to meet the $90,000 bond. On Friday, state appeals court threw out his conviction of aggravated battery, saying Bell shouldn't have been tried as an adult.

"It's my opinion that he should be out of jail now, but at the very least he should not be in an adult correctional facility," attorney Bob Noel said.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Monday that he was calling for federal intervention to get Bell released, and would talk to the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to see if assistance was available.

"We need federal intervention on this," Jackson said. "We needed federal intervention to get into school in Little Rock in 1950 and we need federal intervention now."

District Attorney Reed Walters said he plans to appeal the ruling of the state 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

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.

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, attorney George Tucker said.

The Jena 6 (Jena Six) And Louisiana Racial Tensions - Original News: The Post Chronicle
The Associated Press: Another Charge Reduced in 'Jena 6' Case

This Youtube clip provides the best summary of the entire incident that I've seen.

Jam it back in, in the dark.