Jena 6 Defendant Jesse Ray Beard Motions To Have Judge 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.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 plead guilty



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.