[Ppnews] Charges "reduced" for 2 of the Jena Six

Tue Sep 4 13:47:22 EDT 2007

Charges reduced for 2 of the 'Jena Six'

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-34/1188925171133910.xml&storylist=louisiana#continue

[So this means potentially 22+ years and not 80 years...hmmmm]

9/4/2007, 11:53 a.m. CT
The Associated Press

JENA, La. (AP)  Charges against two of the six 
black teenagers originally arrested for attempted 
murder following an attack on a white schoolmate 
last year were reduced Tuesday to aggravated second-degree battery.

Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw are two of six black 
Jena High School students known as the "Jena Six" 
who have been charged in connection with the 
attack on Justin Barker. Five of the six were 
originally charged with attempted second-degree 
murder and conspiracy to commit that crime, 
carrying sentences of up to 80 years in prison.

Some black residents and civil rights advocates 
from around the country complained that the charges were unfairly harsh.

Another of the six, Mychal Bell, saw his charges 
reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and 
conspiracy to commit same. He was tried and found 
guilty and could be sentenced to 22 1/2 years on Sept. 20.

Jones' and Shaw's charges were reduced Tuesday to 
the same charges on which Bell was convicted.

The attack on Barker, 18, came amid tense race 
relations in Jena, a mostly white town of 3,000 
in north central Louisiana where racial tensions 
have grown since incidents that started last school year at Jena High.

The morning after a black student sat under a 
tree on campus where white students traditionally 
congregated, three nooses  lynching symbols in 
the old South  were hung in the tree. Students 
accused of placing them were suspended from the 
school for a short period, but tensions 
increased. Fights between black and white 
students were reported on and off campus.

Then on Dec. 4, six black students were accused 
of jumping Barker, beating and kicking him at the high school.

Also awaiting trial are Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant 
Purvis and an unnamed juvenile. Juvenile 
proceedings are closed to the media, so the 
status of that trial and the charges are unknown.

___

Information from: Alexandria Daily Town Talk, 
<http://www.thetowntalk.com>http://www.thetowntalk.com

Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/ppnews_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20070904/e120a411/attachment.htm>