May Jena Six Update

This Jena 6 update for May is brought to you by the folks at TownTalk.com:

Motions delayed for 3 'Jena Six' defendants
By Abbey Brown

JENA ­-- On May 2, 2007, close to 20 people gathered in front of the LaSalle Parish Courthouse shouting, "Free the Jena Six!" for the first time.

The crowd, mostly family and friends of the six teens charged in a December 2006 incident at Jena High School, vowed to continue protesting until the students saw justice.

But more than a year later, only one of those six has faced a jury. And Tuesday brought another delay when scheduled motions for three defendants were continued pending an appeal from the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal filed by their attorneys.

Those representing Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw said that 28th Judicial District Court Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. had previously denied motions before him to recuse himself as the trial judge in their cases without a hearing. The attorneys feel Mauffray has an unfair bias in the case, according to motions filed.

His denial to their recusal request has been appealed to the 3rd Circuit, so Mauffray said he won't hear other motions until that appeal is decided.

Some of the motions scheduled by the attorneys and LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters included change of venue, permission to conduct a poll for change of venue and intent to use Purvis' Texas assault charge in his trial for the Dec. 4, 2006, assault on Justin Barker.

The attorneys said they hoped Jones, Purvis and Shaw's cases could be consolidated with the only pending juvenile case -- Jesse Ray Beard -- since all have the same recusal of Mauffray appeal pending. No trial date has been set for Robert Bailey Jr.'s case either...

Tina Jones, Purvis' mother, said her son is doing well and will graduate from his Dallas-area high school on June 8. Just last week, he went to his first prom, she said. Purvis has been looking at colleges, and the University of Kansas is currently his first choice, Tina Jones said.

Jena 6 Defendant Jesse Ray Beard Motions To Have Jude and DA Removed

Jesse Ray is the defendent who was 14 at the time and was always being handle as a juvenile while D.A. Reed Walters attempted to try the others as adults.

I try to follow up with my contact at Town Talk about the on going status of this motion in the next week.

Motion to remove judge, DA in 'Jena Six' case filed
Town Talk staff

Attorneys for Jesse Ray Beard, the youngest of the six Jena High students who have become known as the "Jena Six," filed motions Tuesday to recuse 28th Judicial District Court Judge J.P. Mauffray and LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters.

The motion to recuse Walters said the prosecutor "has shown on numerous occasions that he is so prejudiced and harbors such personal bias against Jesse Ray (Beard) and the other five African-American youths now known as the Jena 6, that he is incapable of fairly and impartially performing his duties as the district attorney."

The motion to recuse Mauffray said he "has made numerous statements, on numerous occasions, in different procedural postures, to numerous individuals, which make clear he has pre-judged not only Jesse Ray (Beard's) guilt, but the disposition for Jesse Ray (Beard) as well."

In juvenile proceedings, as Beard's case will be handled, there isn't a jury, just the juvenile judge. In LaSalle Parish that person is Mauffray.
"Millions of people turned their attention to the Jena Six last year, but at the end of the day the system itself has to go on trial," James Rucker said in a press release.

Rucker is the executive director of ColorOfChange.org, the 400,000-member group that advocated on behalf of the Jena Six. "Reed Walters and Judge Mauffray have behaved outrageously at every turn and violated the most basic principles of justice. There can be no justice in Jena with these men as its agents."

Beard faces juvenile charges of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit the same in connection with the Dec. 4, 2006, attack on Justin Barker at Jena High that left Barker unconscious.

More Nooses: In Tennessee

I told you yesterday about the post Jena march noose hanger pleading guilty.

A commenter at another blog, who goes by the name Pelmo, responded to a post about a Black politician defending the confederate flag said in part that the whole noose thing late last year was hyped based on some "innocent Halloween" displays. That's odd, when many of the most reported cases of noose hangings took place in August and September; and were no where near any Halloween displays; such as the one that was hung from a Black college professor's door for instance, that no one would take credit for (not to mention others).

I guess these 3 following noose hanging incidents recently in my local area are all "innocent Halloween" displays as well; because nothing says Halloween like Spring weather, blatant racism and denailst defending it.

I guess the Holocaust didn't happen either.

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Noose found in another Mid-State school

Another noose has been found in the bathroom of a Mid-State school

A student at Gallatin High School discovered the noose, which was made out of paper towels, Tuesday morning in one of the boys' bathrooms.

The school's principal told News 2 several racial slurs were also found, directed toward an African American administrator.

Schools officials sent a letter home to parents notifying them of the incident, as well as notifying local police.

The incident comes one week after a similar incident in Franklin.

A noose was found in a bathroom at Poplar Grove Middle School. Racist graffiti was also found written on the walls in two separate bathrooms, on two separate incidents.

Franklin police now patrol the school.

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Go here and click on the link entitled "Racial issues arise at Williamson Co. school" for video about confederate flags and and a noose hung from a students vehicle at school this past Friday.

Here's an article about the same story's after effects: Confederate flag banned at Independence High

Jena 6 March Noose Hanger Pleads Guilty

If you recall, after the September 20th march in Jena, we (the marchers) rendezvoused in Alexandria; about 40 minutes west. There that night a noose threat incident took place.

I was there when this incident happened, as myslef and about 100 others from Nashville were waiting for our bus drivers to finish getting some sleep before heading back to Tennessee. I wrote about it here, this blog did not exist yet. Now the 'adult' noose hanger has been charged.



Teen pleads guilty in nooses display after 'Jena 6' rally
The Associated Press
12:35 AM CDT, April 26, 2008

ALEXANDRIA, La. - A teenager pleaded guilty Friday to using nooses to threaten marchers after the "Jena Six" rally last year, federal prosecutors said.

Jeremiah Munsen, 19, of Colfax, could get up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine, authorities said. Sentencing was scheduled Aug. 15.

Federal prosecutors dropped a felony conspiracy charge that carried up to 10 years in prison. Interference with the federally protected right to travel, the charge to which Munsen pleaded guilty, is a misdemeanor.

"The defendant today took responsibility for committing a federal hate crime by using a powerful symbol of hate to intimidate a group of interstate travelers because of their race," U.S. Attorney Donald W. Washington said in a statement.

On Sept. 20, Munsen and a juvenile from Dry Prong hung nooses off the back of a pickup truck and drove around downtown Alexandria near a crowd waiting for buses that would take them back to Tennessee after one of the nation's largest civil rights demonstrations.

rest of the article


Also, it's curious that there is never anything in the press reports; nor apparently in this indictment about the shot gun that they had in the truck. I have original video of police pulling the shoot gun out.

Howard University Paper Takes Students Lowered Temperature On Jena 6

After High Temperatures, Jena Outrage at a Low Fever

Hundreds of students gathered in Cramton Auditorium to rally for teenage boys in Louisiana -- more commonly known as the Jena "6" on Sept. 5, 2007.

Student leaders, along with representatives from African-American progressive organizations gave stirring speeches. Adorned in "Free the Jena '6'" T-shirts, the campus of Howard University was reminiscent of the days of Stokely Carmichael and other revolutionary figures. The spirit to effect change was contagious as students embarked on their journey to Jena, La. But now, after Howard received such accolades for organizing the fight for the Jena "6," the fight seems to be over. Jerome Brooks, of Bay St. Louis, Miss. who was a member of the planning committee for the trip to Jena, said that Howard students are essentially over it. "It was great to see students around the nation mobilize in order to seek justice for the proper punishment for the Jena "6," but there has not been a push to end the clear segregation and mistreatment of African Americans in Jena," said Brooks, a sophomore biology and political science double major. "The politics are the same as they were before the case." Following the rally that had an estimated 20,000 people in attendance, a defense fund was established by Color of Change, an empowerment organization with a desire to mobilize the black community. Close to $300,000 was raised in order to secure payment for attorneys and other legal fees.

But the segregated environment of Jena continued when the FBI became aware of a white supremacist Web site that listed the names, addresses and phone numbers of the Jena "6" and their closest family members and friends.

The FBI investigation surfaced after threats of lynching were received by the Jena "6" and their family members. Another member of the planning committee, sophomore finance major Brian Cox from Harrisburg, Pa. said conscious students are aware of what is currently happening with the Jena "6," as well as what is going on in Jena, La. "Students who were already actively involved with politics are aware of what is going on. For others, I think they were mainly involved only because of the hype surrounding the case, so they are completely over it now," Cox said. "But politically-aware students understand that Jena is still a conservative, Southern, Baptist town that has little to no plans on changing their politics."

The teens known as the Jena "6" have received less harsh charges and await trials scheduled for later this year.

http://media.www.thehilltoponline.com/media/storage/paper590/news/2008/04/04/NationWorld/After.High.Temperatures.Jena.Outrage.At.A.Low.Fever-3304453.shtml

March Update on the Jena Six

There's an absolute dearth of information on the Jena 6 these days, but I'm still working sources to find out the latest.

Abby Brown of TheTownTalk.com informs me that the March 24th trial of Braynt Purvis is not happening.

She states that:

"None of the Jena Six defendants have trial dates yet. The next hearing is May 6 and it is change of venue motion hearing for 3 of the defendants and the DA has also presented a motion to use Purvis' Texas arrest in the Jena Six case."

I will be contacting more sources about other facets of the Jena 6 in the coming days, and will report back when I have other information.

Louisiana Case Overturned by Supreme Court Due To Racial Bias

The Supreme Court decided in a 7 – 2 vote yesterday to overturn the conviction of a Black man tried in Jefferson County Louisiana, on the grounds that potential Black jurors were dismissed based on their race.

This case of racial discrimination in the jury selection in Louisiana highlights the very problem with an all white jury in the Michael Bell trial. All white juries may be appealed to on the basis of racial bias, as happened in this case; where such a tactic that has no place in the law, is not likely to succeed when a member of the racial minority is on the jury. Then, you actually have to argue the facts of the case.

At the very least jury's should not be gerryrigged to exclude certain races. It's illegal and violates democracy and justice.

Antonin Scalia and his lapdog Clarence Thomas are the only two justices to vote against overturning Snyder’s conviction.


Supreme Court overturns death penalty in Louisiana case
By James Oliphant | Washington Bureau
March 20, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned the guilty verdict and death sentence of a Louisiana man convicted of hacking his wife's lover to death, concluding that an African-American juror was unfairly excluded from the panel. The court ordered that the defendant, Allen Snyder, get a new trial.

In a 7-2 decision written by Justice Samuel Alito, the court said the state trial judge erred when he allowed prosecutors to strike an African-American college student from the jury. Prosecutors said at the time that they thought the student worried too much about missing school to be an effective juror, but the court ruled that this justification was a pretext, noting that the murder trial lasted only two days.

Deborah Denno, a law professor at Fordham University in New York, said that the decision highlights a growing interest within the court in the fairness of the death penalty. "This has been an unusual court in that it has been looking at a lot of death penalty [appeals]," she said.

The justices also are currently considering whether the lethal injection method used to execute prisoners in more than 30 states is unconstitutional. "It's a sign the court is acknowledging the problems with the death penalty in this country," Denno said.

Invoking O.J. Simpson

Jefferson Parish, La., where the trial took place, has a long history of controversy over the dismissal of black jurors. On appeal, lawyers for the defendant claimed that the prosecutor in the case eliminated all of the potential African-American jurors in preparation for inflaming the jury's racial passions. Several times the prosecutor compared the case to O.J. Simpson's. Snyder's trial was in 1996, just after the Simpson case garnered global notoriety.

At the jury selection phase of the trial, lawyers questioned 85 potential jurors. In a parish where one in every five people was black, nine potential jurors were African-American. Four were dismissed for cause, and the prosecutor used his peremptory challenges to strike the others. Snyder was then convicted and sentenced to die.

The striking of those final five jurors formed the basis of Snyder's appeal. But because the Supreme Court had to find racial bias in only one instance, it did not address the exclusion of the other jurors. Snyder remains in prison pending his new trial.

Read the rest of the article here