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<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/04/AR2007090401978.html" eudora="autourl">
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/04/AR2007090401978.html<br>
<br>
</a></font><font size=2>Wednesday, September 5, 2007; A05<br><br>
</font><font size=3><b>Charges Are Reduced in Attack on Louisiana
Teen<br><br>
</b><i>JENA, La. --</i> Prosecutors on Tuesday reduced the
attempted-murder charges against two more teenagers among the "Jena
Six," a group of black high school students who were arrested after
an attack on a white schoolmate.<br><br>
Five of the teenagers were originally charged with attempted
second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, carrying sentences
of as much as 80 years in prison. The sixth faces undisclosed juvenile
charges.<br><br>
Civil rights advocates have decried the charges as unfairly
harsh.<br><br>
Charges against Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw were reduced to aggravated
second-degree battery and conspiracy. That same reduction was made
earlier for
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Mychal+Bell?tid=informline">
Mychal Bell</a>, who was tried and found guilty and could be sentenced to
15 years in prison at a hearing on Sept. 20.<br><br>
On Tuesday, Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. threw out Bell's conspiracy
conviction, granting a defense motion that Bell's June trial should have
been conducted as a juvenile proceeding. He let the battery conviction
stand.<br><br>
Conspiracy charge dropped against black student in Louisiana school
beating case <br><br>
Conspiracy charge dropped against black student in Louisiana school
beating case <br>
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<br>
The Associated Press <br>
Wednesday, September 5, 2007 <br><br>
<b>JENA, Louisiana:</b> A judge dropped one of two criminal charges
against a black teen convicted of assaulting a white student in a
racially-charged Louisiana school beating case.<br><br>
The dismissal of the conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree
battery charge means thatMychal Bell the first of six black teens to be
tried for the attack on another student at Jena High School will face
at most 15 years in prison instead of 22 1/2 when he is sentenced in
Sept. 20. The judge refused to dismiss the second charge of which Bell
was convicted, aggravated second-degree battery.<br><br>
Earlier Tuesday, a judge had reduced murder charges against two of the
other teens accused in the case. Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw will instead
face aggravated-second degree murder charges in the attack on Justin
Barker. The attack followed months of racial tension after black students
found three nooses hanging from a tree at Jena High School.<br><br>
The students are part of what has become known as the "Jena
Six." Critics have complained that the charges against them are too
harsh.<br><br>
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. Meanwhile, three white students were suspended in the
noose incident, but no criminal charges were filed.<br><br>
Bell, the first of the students to go on trial, was 16 when he was
charged with Barker's attempted murder. That charge was later reduced to
aggravated second-degree battery after an outcry of protest by some in
the community.<br><br>
The judge on Tuesday said a juvenile could not face a conspiracy charge
and dropped that count, the Alexandria Daily Town Talk reported.<br><br>
<br><br>
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