Jena Six

Template:Current court case Jena Six refers to a group of six black teenagers who have been charged with the beating of a white teenager in Jena, Louisiana, on December 4, 2006.

While U.S. Attorney Donald Washington has stated that there is no evidence of unfair prosecution, there have been protests by those who argue that the arrests and subsequent charges were racially motivated, alleging a lack of arrests and serious charges against white youths in Jena in earlier incidents in the town.

The only defendant tried so far has had his convictions thrown out, one by the trial judge and the other by the Louisiana Court of Appeal in Lake Charles, both on grounds that the defendant should have been tried as a juvenile, not as an adult. The defendant in that case, Mychal Bell, remains incarcerated while the District Attorney considers whether to appeal, or to try Bell as a juvenile.

Background

The "white tree" incident

At Jena High School, about 10% of enrolled students are African Americans and more than 85% are white. Early reporting asserted that students of different races seldom sat together, although this has been disputed. According to early reports, black students typically sat on bleachers near the auditorium, while white students sat under a large tree, referred to as the "white tree" or "prep tree", in the center of the school courtyard. On September 22 2007, however, the Associated Press reported that, according to teachers and administrators at the school, the tree in question wasn't a "white tree", as students of all races had sat under it at one time or another.

A school assembly was held on August 31, 2006. What was said has been reported in different versions. According to some reports, a black male freshman student asked the principal whether he could sit under the "white tree". According to U.S. Attorney Donald Washington, a Bush appointee who is himself black, the question was posed in a "jocular fashion". The principal told the students they could "sit wherever they wanted." One source has reported that the freshman and his friends then sat under the tree.

The following morning, nooses were discovered hanging from the tree. Reports differ whether there were three — believed by some to be code for the Ku Klux Klan — or two. A black teacher described seeing both white and black students "playing with [the nooses], pulling on them, jump-swinging from them, and putting their heads through them." One source, The Jena Times, has said that the nooses came down "immediately" at "7:15 a.m."

The school disciplinary process which followed is unclear. It has been reported that Jena's principal learned that three white students were responsible and recommended expulsion, that the board of education overruled his recommendation, and that Superintendent Roy Breithaupt agreed with the overruling. It was initially reported that the punishment was reduced to three days of in-school suspension. According to the Associated Press, however, the three students were isolated at an alternative school for a month, and then spent two weeks on in-school suspension.

The school superintendent was quoted as saying, "Adolescents play pranks. I don't think it was a threat against anybody." Black residents of Jena claim that this decision stoked racial tensions that led to subsequent events. The school later had the tree cut down.

U.S. Attorney Donald Washington stated, the FBI agents who investigated the incident and the federal officials who examined it found that the hanging of the nooses "had all the markings of a hate crime." However, it could not be prosecuted as such because it failed to meet federal standards required for the teens to be certified as adults. District Attorney Walters stated that Washington had found no federal statute under which the teens could be prosecuted, just as he had found no applicable state statute."

In late July 2007, U.S. Attorney Donald Washington noted that of the more than 40 statements taken regarding the assault, none mentioned the noose incident. LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters has stated there was no linkage between the noose incident and the beating. "When this case was brought to me and during our investigation and during the trial, there was no such linkage ever suggested. This compact story line has only been suggested after the fact."

The "pen statement"

Police were called to the school several times in the days after the noose incident in response to a rash of interracial fights between students. The principal took action by calling an impromptu assembly on September 6, 2006, in which students segregated themselves into white and black sections. The Jena Police Department asked LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters to attend and speak at the assembly. Allegedly, Walters was unhappy with the request because he was busy preparing for a case and, upon arrival, felt that the students were not paying proper attention to him. He warned the students that he could be their friend or their worst enemy, and he stated that "[w]ith one stroke of my pen, I can make your life disappear." Though black students state Walters was looking at them when he made the comments, Walters and school board member Billy Fowler, also present, deny it.

Police began patrolling the halls of Jena High on September 7. The following day, the school received a report that a student had brought a gun on campus, prompting a total lockdown, though no gun was ever found.

Students attempt to address school board

On September 10, 2006, black students attempted to address the school board concerning the recent events but were refused because the board was of the opinion that the noose incident had been adequately resolved.

Jena High School arson

On November 30 2006, a wing of the main building of the high school was set on fire. That portion of the building was gutted and had to be later demolished. While arson was determined to be the cause, the arsonists have never been identified.

Fair Barn party incident

On Friday, December 1, 2006, there was a private party, attended mostly by whites but with some blacks, at the Jena Fair Barn. Five black youths, including 16-year-old Robert Bailey, Jr., attempted to enter the party at about 11 p.m. According to U.S. Attorney Washington, they were told by a woman that no one was allowed inside without an invitation. The five youths persisted, stating that some friends were already in attendance at the party. A white man, who was not a student, then jumped in front of the woman and a fight ensued. After the fight broke up, the woman told both the white man and five black youths to leave the party. Once outside, the black students were involved in another fight with a group of white men, who were not students. Police were called to investigate. Justin Sloan, a white male, was charged with simple battery for his role in the fight and was put on probation. Bailey later stated that one of the white men broke a beer bottle over his head, but there were no official records of Bailey receiving medical treatment for the injury.

Convenience store incident

On Saturday, December 2 2006, another incident involving Bailey occurred at a local convenience store. A white student who had attended the Fair Barn party encountered Bailey and several friends. Reports from the involved parties are conflicting, but indicate that an argument occurred, the white student produced a shotgun from his pickup truck, and that the gun was ultimately taken away from him by Bailey and his friends. Local police reported that the accounts of the white student and black students contradicted each other and formed a report based on testimony taken from eyewitnesses. The white student claimed that Bailey and his friends shouted and ran after him, that he ran to get his gun, and that the students wrestled it away from him. According to the black students, as they left the convenience store, they were confronted by the white student with a shotgun. They then claimed to have wrestled the gun away from him and fled the scene. After hearing from an uninvolved witness of unspecified race, the police charged Bailey and two others with three counts: theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery, and disturbing the peace. The white student who produced the weapon was not charged.

Jena Six legal case

The attack on Barker

On December 4, 2006, 17-year-old Justin Barker, a white Jena High School student, was assaulted at school. He was struck on the back of the head and knocked down by a black student. According to some witnesses, a group of black students then repeatedly kicked him.

According to the district attorney, Barker was blindsided by Mychal Bell, knocking him down, and then kicked repeatedly until an uninvolved student intervened. However, Coach Benjy Lewis, the only adult witness to the incident, didn't place Bell in the attack and stated that another student, Malcolm Shaw, was the initial attacker. Lewis was never called to testify in Bell's trial.

Some individuals have stated that Barker had mocked Robert Bailey, Jr., who had allegedly been beaten up by a white man the previous Friday. Barker denies that.

Barker's injuries

A doctor treated Barker, who was left unconscious after the attack, at the local hospital. He was released after two hours of treatment and observation for a concussion and an eye that had swollen shut. The emergency physician's record shows that he also had injuries to his face, ears and hand. He was able to attend his school's Ring ceremony that evening, though he later testified, "I waited 11 years to go to it. I wasn't going to let that get in my way," and that he ended up leaving early due to pain.

During the trial, Barker also testified that his face was badly swollen after the attack and that he suffered a loss of vision in one eye for three weeks. He also stated that he suffered recurring headaches and forgetfulness since the attack, though medical tests have not detected a definitive cause or proof of this statement. A nurse testified that Barker had a previous history of migraines.

Trial, prosecution, and legal proceedings

The police arrested the six students, eventually dubbed the "Jena Six", accused of the attack. Five of them (Robert Bailey, Jr., then 17; Mychal Bell, then 16; Carwin Jones, then 18; Bryant Purvis, then 17; and Theo Shaw, then 17) were charged with attempted second-degree murder. Mychal Bell was charged as an adult. The sixth student, Jesse Ray Beard, was charged as a juvenile because he was 14 at the time.

Mychal Bell trial

On June 26, 2007, the first day of trial for defendant Mychal Bell, Walters agreed to reduce the charges for Bell to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery. A charge of aggravated battery requires the use of a "deadly weapon". Walters therefore argued that the tennis shoes that Bell was wearing and used to kick Barker with were deadly weapons, an argument with which the jury ultimately agreed. Witness accounts conflicted over his role, if any, in the attack. Public defender Blane Williams, himself a black man, had urged Bell to accept a plea bargain, did not challenge the composition of the jury pool, and rested the defense case without calling any witnesses.

There was a six-member all-white jury, although blacks were included in the jury selection process. The 150-person jury call included black citizens, but none of the 50 potential jurors who showed up were black. One of the seated jurors was a high school friend of the victim's father. The jury found Bell guilty, and he faced the possibility of up to 22 years in prison. The judge scheduled sentencing for September 20 2007.

Following the trial, Bell's new defense attorneys, Louis Scott and Carol Powell-Lexing, requested a new trial on the grounds that Bell should not have been tried as an adult and that the trial should have been held in another parish. A request to lower Mychal Bell's $90,000 bond was denied on August 24, 2007, due to his juvenile record. Bell had been put on probation for a battery that occurred December 25, 2005, and he was subsequently convicted of another battery charge and two charges of criminal damage to property while still on probation.

On September 4, 2007, a judge dismissed the conspiracy charge on the grounds that he should have been tried as a juvenile, but let the battery conviction stand. However, on September 14, 2007, Louisiana's Third Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Bell's battery conviction, also ruling that he shouldn't have been tried as an adult. Louis Scott, Bell's attorney, has indicated that the ruling dismissed the charges for now, but that the prosecutor could appeal or refile the charges. The La Salle Parish district attorney, J. Reed Walters, has said that he will appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

Following an order by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal, a hearing was held on September 21, 2007, to determine whether to set bond for Bell. The judge in the hearing denied the request for Bell to be freed while his appeal is being reviewed. A motion by Bell's attorneys to have Judge J.P. Mauffrey recused was also denied.

On September 26, 2007, Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco announced that the prosecution would not appeal the appellate ruling, but would try Bell as a juvenile. An announcement by District Attorney Walters was to follow on the 27th.

The other five

On September 4, 2007, charges against Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy, as were those of Robert Bailey, Jr., on September 10.

Despite the overturning of Mychal Bell's conviction, the charges against the other four teenagers remained unaffected because they were over seventeen at the time of the incident, thus making them adults under Louisiana law.

Public Response

The case has brought considerable public comment and even demonstrations from those who argue that the charges against the Jena Six were disproportionate to the crime and racially motivated. Some have cited data from the the Urban League, which has noted that the average African American male convicted of aggravated assault (the charge against the Jena Six) serves 48 months in prison, one third longer than a comparable white man. Many commentators and news sources have cited data from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Urban League indicating that an African American male who's arrested is at least three times more likely to go to prison than a white male convicted of an identical crime.

The case has brought considerable public comment and even demonstrations from those who argue that the charges against the Jena Six were disproportionate to the crime and racially motivated. Some have cited data from the the Urban League, which has noted that the average African American male convicted of aggravated assault (the charge against the Jena Six) serves 48 months in prison, one third longer than a comparable white man. Many commentators and news sources have cited data from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Urban League indicating that an African American male who's arrested is at least three times more likely to go to prison than a white male convicted of an identical crime.

Petition

In the wake of these events, an online petition circulated claiming over 410,188 signatures as of September 23 2007. The petition calls for a review of the events by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department in order to determine whether there were any civil rights violations during the trials.

Defense fund

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) established a fund to help pay attorney fees. The NAACP noted on its website, in a section labeled "The Facts" that "On Monday, December 4 2006, a white student who allegedly had been racially taunting black students in support of the students who hung the nooses got into a fight with black students." On September 18, musician David Bowie donated $10,000 to it and made a statement, "There is clearly a separate and unequal judicial process going on in the town of Jena. A donation to the Jena Six Legal Defense Fund is my small gesture indicating my belief that a wrongful charge and sentence should be prevented."

Rallies

Rallies in support of the Jena Six and all African Americans in the United States who have been unfairly treated by the justice system were held in Jena on September 20 2007, the date when Bell was scheduled for sentencing. Because of the rallies' large expected size (estimates up to 40 to 60 thousand) Jena High and schools on the south side of LaSalle Parish were closed.

Talk show host Michael Baisden and the Rev. Al Sharpton at the front of the Sept. 20th, 2007 march on Jena, Louisiana.

Among those in attendance were civil rights activists Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Martin Luther King III, rappers Mos Def and Salt-n-Pepa, and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. Rapper-actor Ice Cube, who also attended, funded buses to shuttle protesters from California. Darryl Hunt, an African-American who was wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of a young white newspaper reporter in 1984, was scheduled to be a keynote speaker.

The more than 10,000 demonstrators assembled were addressed by Darryl Matthews, General President of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. In his speech, entitled We Demand Justice for the Jena 6!, Matthews stated "It is sobering to know that in 2007 Martin Luther King’s dream of equal treatment, respect, fairness and opportunity is still not realized."

Self-avowed white supremacists

Richard Barrett, who attended the September 20 rallies to protest the demonstrators and is the leader of the white supremacist group the Nationalist Movement, recently published interviews he conducted with Justin Barker and Murphy McMillin, the mayor of Jena. Both deny having knowledge of Barrett's association with white supremacy. In one of the interviews, McMillin praised efforts by groups organizing counter-demonstrations and insisted that Jena is being unfairly portrayed as racist. Barrett, who conducted the interview by memory, quoted McMillin as saying, "I am not endorsing any demonstrations, but I do appreciate what you are trying to do. Your moral support means a lot." However, McMillin has denied making the latter part of the comment.

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke has publicly given support for Jena's "white residents". Duke carried a clear majority of the vote in Jena for his unsuccessful bid for Governor during the 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election.

Threats

On September 22, 2007, the FBI opened an investigation of a white supremacist website that listed the addresses of five of the Jena Six and the telephone numbers of some of their families "in case anyone wants to deliver justice." According to an FBI spokeswoman, the website "essentially called for their lynching." The site is registered to William A. "Bill" White of Roanoke, Virginia, who claims to be the commander of the American National Socialist Workers Party.

Al Sharpton has stated that some of the families have continuously received threatening and harassing phone calls.

Congressional hearings

On September 25, 2007, Representative John Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced that he would hold congressional hearings on what he described as "the miscarriages of justice that have occurred in Jena, Louisiana," with the goal of pressuring the U.S. Department of Justice into taking what Chairman Conyers deems to be appropriate action.

See also

• List of racism-related topics
• Racism in the United States
• Southern United States