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.
Showing posts with label Court. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Court. Show all posts
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
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
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
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Plea For Michael Bell Is Not the End of Fight For Equal Justice
For Immediate Release
Mychael Bell Plea Not the End of Fight For Justice
Contact: D. Yobachi Boswell 615-478-5204 * LionRunner777@yahoo.com
On yesterday, Monday December 3, District Attorney Reed Walters offered a plea deal to Mychael Bell in the Jena 6 Case, dropping the conspiracy charge; leaving Mr. Bell an 18 months sentence on second degree battery. The sentence also includes time served, and is to run concurrent with his present parole violation incarceration.
While we are delight that an overzealous and malicious prosecution that brought charges which would have made Mychael Bell eligible for approximately 100 years of incarceration will now see the young man out of Juvenile corrections by next summer, to resume his young life; let it be understood that the Afrosphere Jena 6 Coalition remains steadfast in our position that this prosecution was unjust, we remain steadfast in fighting against injustice in this particular case for the other 5 young men, and we will continue to fight against unequal justice in the legal system across the country; which are primarily racially and socio-economically based.
Attorney, and noted “AfroSpear” Blogger Francis L. Holland, Esq states “AfroSpear bloggers and our audiences will continue to assert our role as forceful advocates of equal justice for Blacks in the American justice system…we will continue to insist that ALL ADULT AND JUVENILE CHARGES AGAINST ALL 6 DEFENDANTS be dropped and foreclosed for the future, and that de jure and de facto segregation be ended at Jena High School...we have to ask ourselves whether the final result in this criminal case is what it would have been if Mychal D. Bell were white. We know that it isn't. Black young people in Jena should not go to jail while white students commit the same acts with impunity."
There is a greater issue highlighted here of how the legal system overcharges people to force them into a corner to take a lesser deal, in order not to risk being convicted on higher trumped up charges, and to point the finger at others who may very well be innocent; in order to save themselves.
It highlights the criminalization of Black youth to get them in the system, because once there in the system of incarceration and parole they are virtually a ward of the state; and this provides needed bodies for the for-profit prison industrial complex to make money. They can’t profit unless they have a continued stream of bodies in the cells.
What’s most interesting here is if D.A. Reed Walters actually believed that Bell and others attempted to kill Justin Barker, how could he possibly settle for 18 months? He tried to lock Bell down for 100 years and then when that didn’t fly legally; 22 year.
In Reed Walters own Op-ed piece in the New York Times on September 26, when defending his actions as being from a purely legal standpoint, he states himself that “a district attorney cannot take people to trial for acts not covered in the statutes.”
If he doesn’t really believe, and further did not have the evidence to support the charge that six Black students attempted to commit murder, and that there was a conspiracy; how could he have ever rightfully charged the former, and how could he have ethically and legally tried Mychael Bell on the latter.
Those of us in the Afrosphere Jena 6 Coalition and others will continue to stand up against unequal justice. We will Fight, and we will Win! video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7253600219767288651
Afrosphere Jena 6 Coalition
D. Yobachi Boswell, Coordinator
BlackPerspective.net and TheJena6Blog.blogspot.com
Mychael Bell Plea Not the End of Fight For Justice
Contact: D. Yobachi Boswell 615-478-5204 * LionRunner777@yahoo.com
On yesterday, Monday December 3, District Attorney Reed Walters offered a plea deal to Mychael Bell in the Jena 6 Case, dropping the conspiracy charge; leaving Mr. Bell an 18 months sentence on second degree battery. The sentence also includes time served, and is to run concurrent with his present parole violation incarceration.
While we are delight that an overzealous and malicious prosecution that brought charges which would have made Mychael Bell eligible for approximately 100 years of incarceration will now see the young man out of Juvenile corrections by next summer, to resume his young life; let it be understood that the Afrosphere Jena 6 Coalition remains steadfast in our position that this prosecution was unjust, we remain steadfast in fighting against injustice in this particular case for the other 5 young men, and we will continue to fight against unequal justice in the legal system across the country; which are primarily racially and socio-economically based.
Attorney, and noted “AfroSpear” Blogger Francis L. Holland, Esq states “AfroSpear bloggers and our audiences will continue to assert our role as forceful advocates of equal justice for Blacks in the American justice system…we will continue to insist that ALL ADULT AND JUVENILE CHARGES AGAINST ALL 6 DEFENDANTS be dropped and foreclosed for the future, and that de jure and de facto segregation be ended at Jena High School...we have to ask ourselves whether the final result in this criminal case is what it would have been if Mychal D. Bell were white. We know that it isn't. Black young people in Jena should not go to jail while white students commit the same acts with impunity."
There is a greater issue highlighted here of how the legal system overcharges people to force them into a corner to take a lesser deal, in order not to risk being convicted on higher trumped up charges, and to point the finger at others who may very well be innocent; in order to save themselves.
It highlights the criminalization of Black youth to get them in the system, because once there in the system of incarceration and parole they are virtually a ward of the state; and this provides needed bodies for the for-profit prison industrial complex to make money. They can’t profit unless they have a continued stream of bodies in the cells.
What’s most interesting here is if D.A. Reed Walters actually believed that Bell and others attempted to kill Justin Barker, how could he possibly settle for 18 months? He tried to lock Bell down for 100 years and then when that didn’t fly legally; 22 year.
In Reed Walters own Op-ed piece in the New York Times on September 26, when defending his actions as being from a purely legal standpoint, he states himself that “a district attorney cannot take people to trial for acts not covered in the statutes.”
If he doesn’t really believe, and further did not have the evidence to support the charge that six Black students attempted to commit murder, and that there was a conspiracy; how could he have ever rightfully charged the former, and how could he have ethically and legally tried Mychael Bell on the latter.
Those of us in the Afrosphere Jena 6 Coalition and others will continue to stand up against unequal justice. We will Fight, and we will Win! video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7253600219767288651
Afrosphere Jena 6 Coalition
D. Yobachi Boswell, Coordinator
BlackPerspective.net and TheJena6Blog.blogspot.com
Monday, December 3, 2007
In Jena 6 Case Mychael Bell Makes Plea Deal
I reported earlier today on The Jena 6 Blog that Bell was probably near a deal; now it seems official.
According to this CNN article the deal should have him out by june of ’09 – a far cry from the 100 plus years district attorney Reed Walters initially wanted, and even from the 22 years he wanted when he was forced by lack of a case to drop the conspiracy to commit murder; but still illegally prosecuted Bell as an adult.
Bell was convicted of felony aggravated battery by an all white jury containing members with alleged ties to the Judge and the DA, back in July. While waiting on sentencing, facing 22 years, the conviction was overturned by the 3rd circuit court of appeals because Bell was not eligible to be tried as an adult, but they ruled he could be retried as a juvenile.
After Judge Mauffrey, the same Judge who allowed Bell to be illegal tried in the first place, tried to deny Mychael Bell a release on bail for a week; he was then freed 13 days after the overturning of his conviction.
Then, in a surprise to all legal watchers of this case, Bell was put back in jail by yet the same judge for a parol voilation based on the same actions his conviction was overturned on. He was out for only 15 days on house arrest. He went to a routine hearing for his parol in relation to an earlier case than the Jena 6 incident, and Judge Mauffrey surprisingly revoked his parole and put him in jail for 18 months on October 11th.
I spoke with Alan Bean of Friends of Justice, this evening; the social advocacy organization for the falsely accused who pushed the Jena Six story into the public eye. He says from what he's heard from direct contact with people in the court room, he was in Lafeyette today, not in Jena as I had thought; that the CNN reporting that Bell would be out by June sounds about right. He's being told 6 - 8 months. I'll have more of my interview with Mr. Bean in the next day or two either here at The Jena 6 Blog or at BlackPerspective.net
Having recieved conflicting reporting, I'm not sure if it is a misdemeanor deal for the 6 to 8 months, or a felony deal that is adding 6 to 8 months to the 9 plus he's already served from the time he was arrested in December 2006; where he is getting credit for time already served.
According to this CNN article the deal should have him out by june of ’09 – a far cry from the 100 plus years district attorney Reed Walters initially wanted, and even from the 22 years he wanted when he was forced by lack of a case to drop the conspiracy to commit murder; but still illegally prosecuted Bell as an adult.
Bell was convicted of felony aggravated battery by an all white jury containing members with alleged ties to the Judge and the DA, back in July. While waiting on sentencing, facing 22 years, the conviction was overturned by the 3rd circuit court of appeals because Bell was not eligible to be tried as an adult, but they ruled he could be retried as a juvenile.
After Judge Mauffrey, the same Judge who allowed Bell to be illegal tried in the first place, tried to deny Mychael Bell a release on bail for a week; he was then freed 13 days after the overturning of his conviction.
Then, in a surprise to all legal watchers of this case, Bell was put back in jail by yet the same judge for a parol voilation based on the same actions his conviction was overturned on. He was out for only 15 days on house arrest. He went to a routine hearing for his parol in relation to an earlier case than the Jena 6 incident, and Judge Mauffrey surprisingly revoked his parole and put him in jail for 18 months on October 11th.
I spoke with Alan Bean of Friends of Justice, this evening; the social advocacy organization for the falsely accused who pushed the Jena Six story into the public eye. He says from what he's heard from direct contact with people in the court room, he was in Lafeyette today, not in Jena as I had thought; that the CNN reporting that Bell would be out by June sounds about right. He's being told 6 - 8 months. I'll have more of my interview with Mr. Bean in the next day or two either here at The Jena 6 Blog or at BlackPerspective.net
Having recieved conflicting reporting, I'm not sure if it is a misdemeanor deal for the 6 to 8 months, or a felony deal that is adding 6 to 8 months to the 9 plus he's already served from the time he was arrested in December 2006; where he is getting credit for time already served.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Judge Rejects Double Jeopardy Motion in Jena 6 Case
[of course this is the same judge that illegal tried Mychael Bell as an adult in the first place, got overturned, tried to keep Bell in prision with no conviction, got overturned on that, then 10 months after the incident violated Bell's parole in an act of revenge]
Reported by: Associated Press
Nov 9, 2007 07:15 AM CST
A state district court has rejected a motion to dismiss juvenile charges against a teenager at the center of a civil rights controversy.
Attorneys for Mychal Bell, one of six black teens accused of beating a white school mate, said that trying Bell again amounted to double jeopardy. Carol Powell Lexing says her client already has been tried in adult court and they contend he can't be tried for the same case twice.
State District Judge J.P. Mauffrey Junior rejected that motion yesterday. Lexing said they will appeal.Bell is the only one of the Jena Six to stand trial. He was convicted in adult court in June for aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. The convictions were later overturned and the case sent to juvenile court. Bell, now 17, was ordered to jail last month for a probation violation in an unrelated juvenile court case.
The beating of a white student at Jena High School in LaSalle Parish drew national attention, with civil rights leaders decrying the severity of the charges against the accused teens, who are black. The injuries to the white student were not considered life-threatening.
The school had been in a state of racial tension when the attack occurred. In one incident, a hangman's noose was hung in a tree on campus and the alleged culprits -- who are white -- were not charged.
http://www.kplctv.com/global/story.asp?s=7335487&ClientType
Reported by: Associated Press
Nov 9, 2007 07:15 AM CST
A state district court has rejected a motion to dismiss juvenile charges against a teenager at the center of a civil rights controversy.
Attorneys for Mychal Bell, one of six black teens accused of beating a white school mate, said that trying Bell again amounted to double jeopardy. Carol Powell Lexing says her client already has been tried in adult court and they contend he can't be tried for the same case twice.
State District Judge J.P. Mauffrey Junior rejected that motion yesterday. Lexing said they will appeal.Bell is the only one of the Jena Six to stand trial. He was convicted in adult court in June for aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. The convictions were later overturned and the case sent to juvenile court. Bell, now 17, was ordered to jail last month for a probation violation in an unrelated juvenile court case.
The beating of a white student at Jena High School in LaSalle Parish drew national attention, with civil rights leaders decrying the severity of the charges against the accused teens, who are black. The injuries to the white student were not considered life-threatening.
The school had been in a state of racial tension when the attack occurred. In one incident, a hangman's noose was hung in a tree on campus and the alleged culprits -- who are white -- were not charged.
http://www.kplctv.com/global/story.asp?s=7335487&ClientType
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
The Jena 6 In Court - November 7th, 2007
Four of the Jena 6 Bryant Purvis, Robert Bailey Jr, Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw were arraigned today on charges of second degree aggravated battery. Purvis, who was previously charged with second degree murder had his charge reduced today.
According to the AP News: “Purvis is set to stand trial as an adult in March 2008. If convicted, he could be imprisoned for up to 22 years.”
Not at the Fight, and Not Arrested Until the Next Day:
Purvis has contended that he wasn’t even apart of the Justin Barker beating, and only saw the fight from a far. The fact that he wasn’t arrested on the spot the day of the fight tends to support this. He didn’t get arrested until the next day, from what I can glean is based on one witness saying they may have seen him in the fight. Though not at the fight, he was however the leader of the protest under the “white’s tree” that led this same DA, Reed Walters, to threaten to end protesting black student’s lives with a stroke of his pen.
I posted video of Tina Jones, Purvis’ mother, talking about this at the Jena March, with Purvis standing along side her.
According to the AP News article: Purvis' lawyer, Darrell Hickman, said Purvis was "30 feet away from the melee when it took place" and that the charges against Purvis should be dismissed. If they aren't, Hickman said he will seek a change of venue because of the intense emotions and attention tied to the case in Jena.
"There has just been too much that has gone on here in Jena," he said. "It would be impossible for everyone to put aside those feelings."
Purvis, who attended the hearing neatly dressed in a white shirt, black slacks and a necktie, was accompanied by his mother and brother.
Now a senior attending classes in Texas, Purvis said he's concentrating on his studies and basketball, and hopes to attend college.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LA_JENA_SIX_LAOL-?SITE=LABAT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
According to the AP News: “Purvis is set to stand trial as an adult in March 2008. If convicted, he could be imprisoned for up to 22 years.”
Not at the Fight, and Not Arrested Until the Next Day:
Purvis has contended that he wasn’t even apart of the Justin Barker beating, and only saw the fight from a far. The fact that he wasn’t arrested on the spot the day of the fight tends to support this. He didn’t get arrested until the next day, from what I can glean is based on one witness saying they may have seen him in the fight. Though not at the fight, he was however the leader of the protest under the “white’s tree” that led this same DA, Reed Walters, to threaten to end protesting black student’s lives with a stroke of his pen.
I posted video of Tina Jones, Purvis’ mother, talking about this at the Jena March, with Purvis standing along side her.
According to the AP News article: Purvis' lawyer, Darrell Hickman, said Purvis was "30 feet away from the melee when it took place" and that the charges against Purvis should be dismissed. If they aren't, Hickman said he will seek a change of venue because of the intense emotions and attention tied to the case in Jena.
"There has just been too much that has gone on here in Jena," he said. "It would be impossible for everyone to put aside those feelings."
Purvis, who attended the hearing neatly dressed in a white shirt, black slacks and a necktie, was accompanied by his mother and brother.
Now a senior attending classes in Texas, Purvis said he's concentrating on his studies and basketball, and hopes to attend college.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/L/LA_JENA_SIX_LAOL-?SITE=LABAT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Regarding Jena 6, U.S. Attorney Donald Washington Finally Admits The Hanging of the Noose Was A Hate Crime
In an article by Howard Witt, the writer who broke the Jena Six case nationally; he reports that Washington finally makes this admission in hearings before congress today.
Guess what his porported reasoning for not doing his job and protecting black kids from racial intimidations is according to Witt's writing, "because of the ages of the white youths involved."
Ain't that a bitch!
White kids get off scott free because of their age, but there was no forgoing, or the least bit of measured temperment when it came to prosecuting Michael Bell, Bryant Purvis, Carwin Jones, Theo Shaw, and . I guess no justice for Negroes on either end of the spectrum.
Where are all the annoymous people and others who routinely run here to tell me about how the noose hanging wasn't a hate crime and had nothing to do with the tention's that led to the Barker fight, just because the government says so. The goverment is saying the opposite now.
As I noted in the post The Claimed Facts, Are Not Necessarily the Facts In Jena 6 Case; "in Washington’s case, even though the FBI investigated and recommended the noose hangings be prosecuted as a hate crime; Washington refuses to do so just because the noose hangers don't have a prior record." This is what he said in an interview that aired on CNN on the day of the September 20 march.
The Witt story is here: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2007/10/us_official_jena_nooses_were_h.html
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee asked the Uncle Tom, foot shuffling, Bush appointee, "Mr. Washington, tell me why you did not intervene? Six broken lives could have been prevented if you had taken action.”
Rep John Conyers summed up the whole issue of this Jena situation saying, “as we all know, it is illegal under the guarantees of our Constitution and our laws to have one standard of justice for white citizens and another harsher one for African- American citizens,”
Apparently, everybody doesn't know that; or, they simply don't care!
Guess what his porported reasoning for not doing his job and protecting black kids from racial intimidations is according to Witt's writing, "because of the ages of the white youths involved."
Ain't that a bitch!
White kids get off scott free because of their age, but there was no forgoing, or the least bit of measured temperment when it came to prosecuting Michael Bell, Bryant Purvis, Carwin Jones, Theo Shaw, and . I guess no justice for Negroes on either end of the spectrum.
Where are all the annoymous people and others who routinely run here to tell me about how the noose hanging wasn't a hate crime and had nothing to do with the tention's that led to the Barker fight, just because the government says so. The goverment is saying the opposite now.
As I noted in the post The Claimed Facts, Are Not Necessarily the Facts In Jena 6 Case; "in Washington’s case, even though the FBI investigated and recommended the noose hangings be prosecuted as a hate crime; Washington refuses to do so just because the noose hangers don't have a prior record." This is what he said in an interview that aired on CNN on the day of the September 20 march.
The Witt story is here: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2007/10/us_official_jena_nooses_were_h.html
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee asked the Uncle Tom, foot shuffling, Bush appointee, "Mr. Washington, tell me why you did not intervene? Six broken lives could have been prevented if you had taken action.”
Rep John Conyers summed up the whole issue of this Jena situation saying, “as we all know, it is illegal under the guarantees of our Constitution and our laws to have one standard of justice for white citizens and another harsher one for African- American citizens,”
Apparently, everybody doesn't know that; or, they simply don't care!
White Student Sues To Wear Her "Free The Jena 6" T-shirt
[Now this is what I'm talking about. It's good to see both someone White and someone Young getting down]
By TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press Writer
Tue Oct 9, 10:13 PM ET
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A student is suing her suburban Nashville school district for the right to wear a T-shirt with the words "Free the Jena Six," a reference to the black students in a Louisiana town accused of beating a white classmate.
According to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Nashville last week, Danielle Super came in to school late on Sept. 20 after having attended a march.
As she was waiting for her mother to sign her in, Smyrna High School assistant principal Jolene Watson told her she could not come into the school wearing the Jena Six T-shirt because it could "cause a problem."
After protesting the order, Super changed shirts and returned to school, the complaint states.
Super is seeking an injunction against the school that would allow her to wear the T-shirt. The complaint also asks for damages, although it does not specify an amount.
Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans said the only comment he was authorized to make on the pending litigation was that "we don't believe the school is in the wrong, and we are confident this will play out in our favor."
The T-shirt refers to six black students in Jena, La., accused of beating a white student unconscious in December.
The attack followed months of racial tensions after three white students were suspended, but not prosecuted, for hanging nooses from a tree on school grounds.
The case has garnered national attention and drawn protests from thousands, including civil rights activists such as Jesse Jackson. David Bowie donated to the teens' defense fund, and rocker John Mellencamp has written a song about it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071010/ap_on_re_us/jena_six_t_shirt_1
I posted a video report about this here: http://thejena6blog.blogspot.com/2007/09/some-good-jena-six-video-from-day-of.html
By TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press Writer
Tue Oct 9, 10:13 PM ET
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A student is suing her suburban Nashville school district for the right to wear a T-shirt with the words "Free the Jena Six," a reference to the black students in a Louisiana town accused of beating a white classmate.
According to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Nashville last week, Danielle Super came in to school late on Sept. 20 after having attended a march.
As she was waiting for her mother to sign her in, Smyrna High School assistant principal Jolene Watson told her she could not come into the school wearing the Jena Six T-shirt because it could "cause a problem."
After protesting the order, Super changed shirts and returned to school, the complaint states.
Super is seeking an injunction against the school that would allow her to wear the T-shirt. The complaint also asks for damages, although it does not specify an amount.
Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans said the only comment he was authorized to make on the pending litigation was that "we don't believe the school is in the wrong, and we are confident this will play out in our favor."
The T-shirt refers to six black students in Jena, La., accused of beating a white student unconscious in December.
The attack followed months of racial tensions after three white students were suspended, but not prosecuted, for hanging nooses from a tree on school grounds.
The case has garnered national attention and drawn protests from thousands, including civil rights activists such as Jesse Jackson. David Bowie donated to the teens' defense fund, and rocker John Mellencamp has written a song about it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071010/ap_on_re_us/jena_six_t_shirt_1
I posted a video report about this here: http://thejena6blog.blogspot.com/2007/09/some-good-jena-six-video-from-day-of.html
Friday, October 12, 2007
Mychael Bell of the Jena 6 is Put Back In Jail
Just yesterday, October the 11th; Mychael Bell was sentenced to 18 months by the same Judge who was overruled in claiming that he had adult jurisdiction on some of the charges in the school beating, and who tried to keep Bell locked up without bail even after all his convictions were vacated by the 3rd Circuit Court.
J.P. Mauffrey sentenced bail on a violation of probation from juvenile convictions that Bell incurred before the December 2006 fight with Justin Barker that led to attempted murder and conspiracy charges by extra-zealous prosecutor Reed Walters.
It's unknown specifically on what basis a probation violation was determined, and with it being a juvenile case, details are hard to come by as no one is really allowed to talk about it.
It seems that after Mauffrey and Walters were defeated on trying to illegally convict Bell as an adult, and then keep him imprison indefinitely without a conviction, they've trumped up a way to get him regardless, and show the world that they'll damn well do what they want to do.
Bell is now sentenced to a juvenile "detention center". He's already done 9 months in adult prison and doesn't seem to be getting any credit for time already served. I think it's clear that the prosecutor and the Judge have a vendetta, and are going to do anything they can to keep this young man imprisoned.
This seems to be a Moby Dick story, where Captain Ahab pursues a whale to the ends of the earth for revenge. A repeat of the Hurricane Rubin Carter story as portrayed in the 1999 movie The Hurricane, where a low down Trenton New Jersey cop arrest and gets a conviction on Carter at 12 and then he and the state legal apparatus spend the next 30 years forging fraudulent charges against Carter and doing everything they can to keep him in prison, no matter the evidence, to satisfy a racist grudge and to get stripes on the uniforms of their careers.
For More on Social Justic issues go to BlackPerspective.net
CNN story: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/11/bell.jail/index.html
J.P. Mauffrey sentenced bail on a violation of probation from juvenile convictions that Bell incurred before the December 2006 fight with Justin Barker that led to attempted murder and conspiracy charges by extra-zealous prosecutor Reed Walters.
It's unknown specifically on what basis a probation violation was determined, and with it being a juvenile case, details are hard to come by as no one is really allowed to talk about it.
It seems that after Mauffrey and Walters were defeated on trying to illegally convict Bell as an adult, and then keep him imprison indefinitely without a conviction, they've trumped up a way to get him regardless, and show the world that they'll damn well do what they want to do.
Bell is now sentenced to a juvenile "detention center". He's already done 9 months in adult prison and doesn't seem to be getting any credit for time already served. I think it's clear that the prosecutor and the Judge have a vendetta, and are going to do anything they can to keep this young man imprisoned.
This seems to be a Moby Dick story, where Captain Ahab pursues a whale to the ends of the earth for revenge. A repeat of the Hurricane Rubin Carter story as portrayed in the 1999 movie The Hurricane, where a low down Trenton New Jersey cop arrest and gets a conviction on Carter at 12 and then he and the state legal apparatus spend the next 30 years forging fraudulent charges against Carter and doing everything they can to keep him in prison, no matter the evidence, to satisfy a racist grudge and to get stripes on the uniforms of their careers.
For More on Social Justic issues go to BlackPerspective.net
CNN story: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/11/bell.jail/index.html
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