Jesse Ray Beard To Use Jena Six Defense Money For School

Hmmm, don't know how I feel about this yet. Check the story:

Beard using Jena Six defense funds for school
The Associated Press
Published: Saturday, August 16, 2008 at 11:31 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, August 16, 2008 at 11:31 a.m.

JENA, La. - The youngest defendant in the Jena Six case is using his share of money donated for defense attorneys to attend a private boarding school with a focus on college preparation.


Attorney C. David Utter said that since Jesse Ray Beard's defense was donated, the money was available for his education at Canterbury School in New Milford, Conn.

Beard is one of six black students who was accused of attacking a white student at Jena High School in 2006. He has been living with an attorney in New York, and was released from house arrest on unrelated juvenile charges earlier this month so he can attend the boarding school.

The white student's lawyer says the defense fund money - from donors including rocker David Bowie, who gave $10,000 - could go for restitution, rather than Canterbury's tuition, which is almost $40,000 a year.

Harry Lemoine Jr. represents Justin Barker and his parents in a lawsuit against the parents of all six Jena High School students accused of beating Barker and the four students who were legally adult at the time of the alleged attack.

"I am following up on this," Lemoine said Thursday. He said he will look into legal uses of the money.

Beard is among five of the six students awaiting trial. Mychal Bell pleaded guilty to a juvenile charge.

The charges originally filed against the six youths brought international attention and more than 20,000 people to the rural LaSalle Parish town for the largest civil rights march in decades.

In the summer's last months, Yeager let Beard live with attorney Alan Howard while taking English, working as an intern at Howard's firm and participating in a physical fitness routine.

Beard "is an engaging young man, with none of the negative qualities attributed to him by certain media reports," Howard wrote to Yeager.

He participated in a football camp led by Canterbury's coach, and applied to the school.

"Jesse Ray impressed me as a respectful and clear-thinking young man," coach Tom Taylor wrote to Yeager.

Utter said Beard also has a scholarship and more money is being raised for the rest of the cost. He is director of the Juvenile Justice Program of Louisiana and said that program held the money for Beard.

http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20080816/APN/808160907

Some things that come to mind:

1. Doesn't he still need the money for legal defense seeing as apparently the right to a speedy trial has been stricken from the constitution, and he's still under the prosecution of an open case?

2. How much of the defense funds is he using for school?

3. How much defense money does he have?

4. At least the money is going towards something productive, such as education, and I don't think in general people mind that? But still, why such an opulent school?

Judge Mauffray Thrown Off of Jena 6 Case

From the Associated Press:

NEW ORLEANS - The judge overseeing the criminal cases for the remaining Jena Six defendants was removed against his will Friday for making questionable remarks about the teenagers.

Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. had acknowledged calling the teens "trouble makers" and "a violent bunch" but insisted he could be impartial. Judge Thomas M. Yeager, who was asked by defense attorneys to review the case, found there was an appearance of impropriety and recused Mauffray.

"The right to a fair and impartial judge is of particular importance in the present cases," Yeager wrote.

As Jarret at Jarett-Carter.com says:

Mauffray’s removal comes not a moment too soon. While most of the attention is focused on his remarks, the matters of inappropriate charges being levied against the teenagers and the unlawful trial of Mychal Bell fly relatively under the radar. While these charges and decisions were ultimately overturned, it took thousands of black folks across the country rallying for justice to inspire movement; an accepted practice in 2008 by both sides, but one that should only be used in cases of emergency in 2008 and beyond.

This is exactly right, and I will add the infraction of Mauffray having been overturned for his illegally allowing Bell to tried as an adult. Then Mauffray first still wouldn't let Bell out of prision, then when he was forced to; Mauffray vindicatively revoked Bell's parole based on the same incident that he was tried on, which had been overturned. He does this 10 months after the incident, for which he had been the presiding judge all along; only after he could not get Bell any other way. His prejudice and personal animos are evident.

This is all a great vindication of what we the Jena 6 protestors have said all along. This was a biased, narrow-minded, over-reaching prosecution; in which the defendants had little chance of a fair trial from day one. This proves, contrary to the naysayers, why our fight was right, and that it was productive: Bell's free, and racist/biased judge is off the case. That's our money and pressure that facilitated these things.

Barron Pikes Tasered While Handcuffed - It Needs To Stop

I've been posting here about Mychael Bell's Cousin, Barron Pikes being tazed to death in Winnfield Louisiana; so I wanted to duplicate the text of a post that I did at BlackPerspective.net here:

We have followed some incidents of tazing at BlackPerspective.net for awhile now.



Now with the Afrosphere Action Coalition and other blog comrades, we’re making a concerted push to make sure the public is aware of the abusive, liberal and unnecessary use of tazering that is causing damage and death to people who are not even engaged in violence – from pregnant women, to suicidal bridge jumpers, to handcuffed nearly unconscious victims, to the wheelchair bound victims.

Extra-Judicial Electracution should not be the first resort everytime somebody doesn't jump as fast as a cop would like; it should only be the last resort short of needing to use a gun.

We have had a number of recent incidents that have pushed this issue to the forefront:

Tazering an unarmed sucidial man off a bridge

Man tazed to death after shoptlifting a grocery story gift cared because he was speaking too "loudly".

Louisisna man tasered to death while in handcuffs; 9 times

Enoght Is Enough




A Polish man going to Canada to live with his mother was tasered to death just because he didn’t speak English and was dazed and frustrated after spending almost an entire day in airport customs with no direction on where to go so he could be picked up by his mother. Instead of helping him, police killed him:

Officer To Be Indicted In Tazering Death of Barron Pikes (Jena 6 Cousin)

Ten day ago I posted about Mycheal Bell's Cousin being Tazered To Death In Louisiana; in which I posted a piece by the Chicago Tribune's Howard Witt.

Witt's follow up piece came out yesterday about the pending indictment hearing of the police officer who tazed Barron Pikes to death; which you can see below.

But first I want to encourage any bloggers to participate in tomorrow's Day of Blogging Against Extra-Judicial Electrocution and to post this widget on your website:



Indictment sought for police Taser death in Louisiana
By Howard Witt | Tribune correspondent
4:53 PM CDT, July 28, 2008

HOUSTON - Seeking to defuse growing racial tensions in the small Louisiana town of Winnfield, the local district attorney announced Monday that he will seek an indictment against a white police officer for the death of a black man who was shocked nine times with a Taser device while handcuffed in police custody.

Winn Parish District Atty. Chris Nevils said he would convene a grand jury Aug. 12 to consider possible charges against the officer, Scott Nugent, 21, who was fired from the Winnfield Police Department following the death of Baron "Scooter" Pikes.The grand jury will also examine the conduct of two other officers who were present during the incident, Nevils said.

Pikes, 21, died Jan. 17 within 39 minutes of being arrested on a drug possession warrant. Winnfield police claimed Pikes told them he suffered from asthma and was high on crack cocaine and PCP, but the local coroner found that Pikes had been healthy and had no drugs in his system. He ruled the death a homicide.

"Now is the time to take this case to the grand jury for a determination about whether charges should be brought," Nevils said in a statement. "I know there are strong feelings on both sides of this matter. But my obligation, and that of the grand jury, is to objectively sort through the facts and make a decision that is in the best interest of justice. That is what we intend to do."

Nevils' decision came a little more than a week after the Tribune published the first full account of the case amid fears expressed by the victim's family and civil rights groups that the incident would be covered up in a town with a florid history of backroom dealings and political corruption.

Read the rest of the article here.

Yobachi On Black Talk Radio To Discuss Jena Six Update

"Have You Forgotten the Jena Six?"



If the player above doesn't work for you for some reason, you can go here to hear it off of the source website.

I was interviewed in this radio broadcast by Scotty of One Black Man's View. He also intertwined some good audio clips from the Congressional hearing on nooses and from other things.

Below are links that I reference in the interview from The Jena 6 Blog and else where:

My interview with Mychael Bell's lawyer: Mychael Bell Is Indeed Free – July 2008 Jena 6 Update

Mycheal Bell's Cousin Tazered To Death In Louisiana

Another Delay For the Jena Six - Judge Mauffray Hearing

Black Teens SIX Times More Likely to be Sentenced to Jail than White Teens

Here's a link to the Black Talk Radio network's site.

Mychal Bell Is Indeed Free – July 2008 Jena 6 Update

...actually, he’s been free for a long time.

Before I get to this piece, you might want to see the notice in my previous post regarding my appearance on internet radio this evening to discuss the Jena 6, including the contents of this article. Edited to add: Here is that broadcast

Bell's lawyer, Lewis Scott, did me the pleasure of speaking with me yesterday afternoon.

Mychael Bell has been living in foster care with a family in Monroe Louisiana since January, and attending Carrol high school. From when I first heard the term "foster care" months back I thought and had it described to me as a half-way house or a group home; but Scott explains that Bell is "under the supervision of Office of Youth Development", which is a division of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.

Scott detailed the different levels of custody that a convicted juvenile of Bell's status could be subject to from detention center incarceration down to release, and says that the foster system supevision is where Bell was appointed; describing him as having a curfew and other legal restrictions equivelent to what you would expect a teenagers limitations to be in a good home.

Scott reports that Bell's mother has regular visitation, and that his grandmother may be moving to the same Monroe neighborhood as his foster home soon.

School

As stated previously he's been attending regular public school since January, even going to the prom this spring. The once star running back for Jena High who'd receive numerous recruitment letters from universities around the country before the December 2006 beating of Justine Barker at Jena high, is receiving interest again from some schools within the state of Louisisana.

Better than his football fortunes though, he finished this past semester with a 3.1 GPA. He's already classified as a Senior, and if he were to take a full load in the fall, he can graduate in December. His natural graduation date would have been this May.

Speaking of fall plans, and returning to football, Bell is hoping to play at Carroll high; but still must receive clearance from the school system. Scott told me that there's "still an issue for eligibility" relating to the number of consecutive semesters in school. But he doesn't handle that type of issue, so he was not able to specifically recite the school system policy on that.

While some are not interested in having Bell around, and some Jena 6 supporters not interested in what he does athletically, just academically; Carroll High's Coach Jackie Carroll is pretty damn excited about the prospect.

Why we're just finding out

Now, as to why no one in the media or in the activist really knew Bell's status all these months; well, because that's how his attorney Lewis Scott intended it. He says he felt bad when he was often asked about it since he wasn’t revealing the information; because he felt it more important that Bell have the opportunity to become re-acclimated to normal life without the media in his face. He says he wanted to correct the misinformation out there but that, "the lawyer's duty is to the client and not the public. I felt a little hurt when people were asking."

Scott continues, "he wasn't a kid really ready for all that" [the media exposure]. " He’s hoping to see Bell become more “outgoing” and “assertive” when talking to people. He feels that he’s not progressed in that regard to the degree that Scott would have liked to have seen at this point. I asked Mr. Scott is that due to his inherent personality, or to the trauma of the events of the last year and a half, and he replied “both”.

Scott relates that even in Jena, the racial stuff was not normally omnipresent, and not stuff Bell normally dealt with before the familiar litany of events that started with the tree controversy in 2006. Further Scott relates that Bell’s status as a star athlete made him somewhat of a town hero, along with “when you have a coach that doesn’t put up with it [racism], you’re kind of insulated from all that”.

“There is nothing in his life that would equip him to deal” with the media and so forth; so therefore Scott felt it was best to keep him out of that spot light and give him space to adjust.

Bell, though not incarcerated in neither on parole is not clearly of sentence either. As state previously, he’s custody status is one of being under the supervision of the Office of Youth development. Scott hopes to have clear within the next month.

Also, in regards to his plea bargin, Bell is not required to testifying against other Jena 6 members.

Victory

This pleasant outcome for a young man who just over a year ago was looking at charges amounting to 100 years; is certainly about his life, and not we the activist and protesters.

Nevertheless, there is a lesson here for both naysayers who said we couldn’t help him in the first place, and even for the ones who thought we could; but because he wasn’t freed the next day thought that we ended up wasting our time.

A simple equation for you: Prosecutor wanted 100 years. When that didn’t fly, he still tried for 22. We said free now.

He got out 4 months after the march. 22 years * 12 months = 264 months. 4/264 = 0.015

That is, 4 months is 1.5% the time of 22 years. That means we got 98.5 percent of what we wanted. That’s not only a win, that’s a land slide of epic proportions; an overwhelming thrashing; and elephant stepping on an ant. Even if you want to count in these next 6 months of him being under corrections supervision, it’s still an epic land slide of 96.3%.

I, my blogs, and the Afrosphere Action Coalition remain committed to seeing a just resolution in the cases of the other 5 Jena 6 members – and I am proud to have stood up for them and what was right, whether they be model citizens or not.

We will fight, and we will (already have) win. [great march pictorial put to music]

The Jena 6 Blog Will Appear on The Black Talk Radio Network

I will be on appearing on the Black Talk Radio network's internet radio program tonight via blog talk radio; by invite of One Black Mans Veiw.

We will be discussin up dates on the Jena Six and related issues, including my recent posting of the NAACP's financial disclosure on the issue, and yesterday's interview with Mychael Bell's attorney Lewis Scott.

Click here to listen to the show. You can also call in and join the discussion.

It starts at 8 easter, 7 central this evening, Wednesday July 24.

Show Info:

Time: July 24, 2008 from 8pm to 9:30pm
Location: One Black's Man View
Website or Map: http://www.blogtalkradio.co...
Contact Info: 1-(646) 478-5242
Event Type: Live, Internet, Broadcast
Organized By: One Black Man