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"Jena Six" Defendant's Conviction Overturned

Michael David Murphy/www.whileseated.org Melissa Bell, mother of Mychal Bell, who had been tried as an adult in the "Jena Six" case, is interviewed June 25 outside the LaSalle Parish Courthouse.

By Darryl D. Smith, Ural Garrett and Tiffani J. McDaniel
Black College Wire

After months of widespread criticism, the conviction of "Jena Six" member Mychal Bell has been overturned. The Louisiana state appeals court tossed out the aggravated battery conviction that could have sent Bell to prison for 15 years. Bell was charged after the beating of a white classmate in Jena, La.

Bell was 16 at the time of the December beating, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Lake Charles, La., said on Sept. 14 that he should not have been tried as an adult on the battery charge.

Bell is one of six black Jena High School students charged in an attack on fellow student Justin Barker, and one of five originally charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder.

Some call the December beating a brutal attack and others say it was a schoolyard fight.

While teenagers can be tried as adults in Louisiana for some violent crimes, including attempted murder, aggravated battery is not one of those crimes. 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 defendant was not tried on an offense which could have subjected him to the jurisdiction of the criminal court," the three-paragraph ruling said.

The case "remains exclusively in juvenile court," the Third Circuit ruled.

The charges brought widespread criticism from figures ranging from the Rev. Jesse Jackson to the Rev. Al Sharpton to Martin Luther King III. All are still planning to be in attendance for a peaceful rally in support of the teens on Sept. 20, which was to be the sentencing date for formerly convicted Bell.

Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, said he has spoken with rally and march organizers, and plans are for people to continue to come to Jena even though Bell's sentencing will not be held, according to the local newspaper, the Alexandria Town Talk.

Jackson said the issue wasn't over, as all of the defendants are still awaiting court proceedings. It won't be over, he said, until all are back in school and not in jail, the newspaper reported.

Students from several area universities planned to be in attendance, including Grambling State University, along with universities from afar such as Howard University.

Shortly after the news broke, students from Grambling State voiced their pleasure over the overturned convictions.

"I thought that it was wrong for what they did to them in the first place," Krystle Cravens, a sophomore nursing major, said. "I'm very excited. That's good news. I was in support of the Jena Six."

Deshon Beard, a freshman from Jena, was also happy.

"It will give him a chance to go to college and show his talents now," Beard said. Bell was an all-state football player as a sophomore.

For others, the overturned conviction was symbolic.

"I felt that it's victorious for African Americans all over the world," Andria Warren said. "It also sends a message that you can't do wrong and get away with it."

At Southern University in Baton Rouge, the Pan Hellenic Council and the Student Government Association held an informational meeting on the case on Sept. 10.

The main speaker was Addie L. Mills, a fundraiser coordinator for the young men involved.

"My son grew up with all of these young men and they are all close to me," Mills said.

An alumna of Jena High School, Mills said that when she attended, she didn't sit under the "white" tree, and was ashamed that the practice of reserving space under that tree for whites only lasted as long as it did.

According to accounts of the developments, the Jena Six case began on Aug. 31, 2006, when a black student in Jena asked permission to sit underneath what was understood to be the "white" tree at school — and he did. The next day, three nooses were found hanging from the tree.

"A lot of white kids won't be classmates with black kids until high school in Jena," Mills said. "When you take those white kids into interracial school they don't know the importance of nooses and how they hurt blacks."

Albert Samuels, an associate professor in Southern's political science department, called the case a metaphor for race relations in America.

"Jim Crow didn't die; it regrouped and got smarter," Samuels said.

The following night, a candlelight vigil took place on Southern's campus. The SGA has arranged for a bus for students who want to participate in the rally in Jena.

Many students are fearful of missing class, since some teachers will not be excusing students.

"Our students want to participate and that students should be allowed to be excused because we are at an HBCU," Jared Crawford, a junior political science major from Lake Charles, La., said.

In Nashville, Tennessee State University graduate Kenneth Caine is spearheading efforts to raise awareness of the Jena events.

Caine, chairman of the Nashville Black Covenant Coalition, is asking for men and women to unite and protest the inequality.

The organization is accepting donations to fund the Sept. 20 trip to Jena.

"We have raised $1,900 but we are trying to raise $3,000," Caine said.

Hodari Brown, a senior political science major at Tennessee State, said he thinks the events that happened in Jena could very well occur in Nashville, though it is more than 600 miles away.

"Students need to go down there and participate in the rally that they are having," Brown said.

Aletha Kern, a junior information and computer science major at Tennessee State, agreed.

"Racism still exists and this is a prime example of such," Kern said. "We, as college students, have to open up our eyes, ears and mouths in order to put a stop to what is happening."

Darryl D. Smith, a Grambling State University student, writes for the Gramblinite. Ural Garrett of Southern University writes for the Southern Digest and Tiffani J. McDaniel of Tennessee State University writes for the Meter. Gramblinite reporter Rae Dawn Johnson contributed. To comment, e-mail [email protected]

Posted Sept. 17, 2007