Posted on 09/04/2007 8:52:18 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
JENA, Louisiana (CNN) -- Mychal Bell was like a lot of boys his age, his mother says.
The always-smiling 16-year-old often spent weekends on the couch, munching Little Debbie snack cakes, watching football and dreaming of a day he might join his heroes in the NFL.
That was before police arrested the star running back and five other teens -- dubbed the "Jena 6" -- on attempted murder and conspiracy charges after a December 4, 2006, fight at the local high school.
Bell, now 17, sits in a cell in Jena, Louisiana, waiting to learn later this month if he will spend the next two decades in prison.
"He's not the same. He's grown up a lot since he's been in there. He's not the same ol' smiling Mychal he used to be," his mother, Melissa Bell, says. "I pray that the judge will go easy on him."
Mychal Bell wasn't convicted for attempted murder. The charges were diluted to aggravated battery and conspiracy, but undiluted is the outrage over the fates of Bell and the rest of the Jena 6.
Many in this sleepy town of 3,000 are calling Bell's July conviction a case of Jim Crow justice.
They question why Bell's public defender never called a witness in the trial. They question the all-white jury that took three hours to convict him. They question charges they say are wildly overblown. They question why the teen was tried as an adult.
And they say the fight never would have happened if not for the nooses.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
As usual...written as a race baiting article from some journa hack...trying to humanize the perp. and deflect attention away from the actual violence of the crime comitted.
I read this story earlier on CNN.com...just tripe.
He got his wish.
The school screwed up by not doing more to punish the kids who put up nooses. However, to say that lack of action is what led to the assault is a bit weak. If 4-5 white kids stomp a black kid then it’s racial injustice and time to roll out the race pimps. When it happened here the kids were treated like the criminals they are but people want to excuse their behavior because of what other people did.
Bingo... A violent crime is a violent crime race should never be a factor.
Oh, not true. There’s always an excuse for when Homies run wild.
On one hand the parents say they are innocent, on the other they say that the victim “hurled†racial epithets. Where would they get this information if not from the attackers. I also find it unlikely that a kid that’s alone is going to take on six members of the football team.
Every criminal always has an excuse, no matter the circumstances.
However, if you can tell the news media that white kids in the Deep South hung nooses from a tree in retaliation against black kids who had done nothing more than sit in a public area, and that they received a slap on the wrist - that gives you much more mileage.
What those morons did was incendiary and was designed to set off a race riot.
How many times are we going to see this same incident involving this town rewritten and presented to the public as if it’s a new occurance. They [the usual suspects] have been shopping this one around forever, it seems.
If the jury had done the right thing and convicted the four officers who beat Rodney King, the riots never would have happened. That doesn’t justify the riots, however.
Of course, a lot of that was the prosecutors’ fault for going for aggravated assault convictions instead of ordinary assault.
Only Bell remains in jail, on a $90,000 bond, and the judge has refused to lower it, citing Bell's criminal record, which includes four juvenile offenses -- two simple battery charges among them.
Keep in mind, that he was found guilty of aggregvated assault and conspiracy, not attempted murder. He participated in a plan to jump a white kid six on one and beat him up. Aggregvated battery and conspiracy sounds right- they may not have intended to kill him and the victim appears not to have any lasting damages, but they very well could have- both the victim and the attackers got lucky. In any case the pity party for the Jena 6 does not appear to be justified, IMO.
No mention of the major beating these young men gave their victim because he was white. I saw the pics last night on CNN they were brutal.
Worth repeating. This BS puff piece tries to make the thug sound like a good, normal kid, but good, normal kids don’t have four offenses on their criminal records, including at least two violent offenses.
An eternal truth: If you want an accurate story, NEVER go to the defendant’s mother.
Exactly.
I saw this story on CNN 6 weeks ago. (the only time I have watched CNN in years)
I got your sarcasm. ;) I was talking about his family and the media saying that he was just a kid that was railroaded by the racists in town.
Best movie line ever:
“I know you’re just a reporter, but you were a human being once.”
I saw the pictures as well, and that wasn’t a
major beating”; I’ve looked worse after exuberant recreation. You fail to mention he was treated and released and attended a school function later that very same day.
Agreed
“If 4-5 white kids stomp a black kid...”
Which is apparently what had happened to one of the now incarcerated youths. Yet his attackers were charge with simple assault, not aggravated. What disturbed me most about this story was the report on CNN where when interviewing a (white) townsperson, her comment was along the lines of, “I’m sorry it happened, but these boys just didn’t know their place.”
“An eternal truth: If you want an accurate story, NEVER go to the defendant’s mother.”
Or the victim’s.
Agreed, a three day suspension was ridiculously light. But Expulsion would have been to much. The kids should have been suspended for a week, and forced to apologize first in person to the kids who sat under the tree and then over the PA to the whole school.
However, to say that lack of action is what led to the assault is a bit weak.
If this had been a one on one fight like the old days (when you beat him enough to stay down) if would have been fine some punishment for the fight perhaps but no crime and, one could say, it would have been merely retaliatory. But the parents defending their hooligan kids performing a gang beating of someone already down for the count is just sad.
Pretty much everyone is a loser here, the white and black kids, the white and black parents, the community of Jena, all students at the school. The only winners are race pimps.
While I seriously doubt he was the angel his mother claimed him to be the time in prison will make him even worse.
Four days after the arson, several students jumped a white classmate, Justin Barker, knocking him unconscious before stomping and kicking him.
Barker was taken to the hospital with injuries to both eyes and ears as well as cuts. His right eye had blood clots, said his mother, Kelli Barker. Justin Barker was treated and released that day.
Anytime you are beat unconscious its serious.
What was incendiary, the blacks sitting under the tree or the whites hanging nooses from it?
Sitting down under a tree isn't incendiary - I can see how it would be construed as annoying in this context, but hardly incendiary.
Deep Impact, right?
That was a great line...
Oh, of course you have.
Based on my research and analysis I can definitively conclude that you are being used by the leftists in their efforts to destroy civilization.
Yawn. Civilization is not served by threatening to lynch people for the imagined crime of sitting under someone else's favorite tree.
Such death threats are barbaric - as was Mr. Bell's even more vicious behavior.
Congratulations on being a sanctimonious retard and a tool.
I feel sorry for your mother.
This incident will be repeated indefinitely until the next such incident comes along and/or is manufactured.
Authors Susan and Elliot made up their minds in the first few sentences so I didn’t bother reading the rest.
Rot in jail and have another little debbie.
Of course, a lot of that was the prosecutors’ fault for going for aggravated assault convictions instead of ordinary assault.
So the officers were innocent of the charges yet convicting them would have been the "right thing"? That's some great cogitatin' there kid!
If you cant call a bunch of idiotic white kids hanging nooses in a tree because someone sat under 'their tree' out for the garbage and race baiting it is than youre an even bigger tool of the left than someone who does.
CNN set out to "disturb" you. Thank you for your cooperation and obedience.
Convicting them of the lesser charge of assault would have been the right thing to do. Most juries are given an option to convict on a lesser charge.
One thing I can't stand is multiple people ganging up on one individual. Few things in life anger me more.
Really? He can't choose his behavior? Jail has straightened out more people than anything else we have besides God. What would be your solution? A good talking to and a $10 fine?
Your powers of discernment are astounding. The people of Jena should simply fire all of their local school administrators and let you run their lives via email. Clearly you are sufficiently gifted and wise to do so. It would be a blessing unto those stupid hicks.
I think maybe the main idea behind the sentence is to protect the other law-abiding citizens rather than to rehabilitate the criminal.
Sorry, but I believe in the 3 strike rule. He'd already gotten off with simple assault a couple of times before. Time for him to face the charge he earned.
I am far from convinced that your characterization bears an even passing resemblance to the actual facts of the case. But I understand that your "moral crusade" (which is in fact someone else's crusade to destroy civilization of which you are but an unwitting tool) is far too urgent to waste any time on such trivial excercises such as asking ourselves how it is we know that which we assume we know.
Was that jury given such an option? If your answer is "I don't know" then please consider this in light or your plain declaration that the jury did not do the right thing.
I said no such thing and Ill thank you not to put words in my mouth. The kids is responsible for his actions. I stated a pretty well know fact, when this kid goes in he is going to have to get tougher to survive, he is going to meet people who are going to be an even worse influence on him, and he will likely come out more dangerous than he is now. Does that mean he should not go in? Absolutely not he did the crime and hell have to do the time.
http://authorsden.com/visit/viewarticle.asp?AuthorID=17296&id=32666
The Battle Against Racism In Jena: Prejudicial or Preferential Treatment
By Eddie Thompson
Last edited: Thursday, August 30, 2007
Posted: Tuesday, August 28, 2007
The discovery that the Jena Six did not receive prejudicial treatment but instead received preferential treatment will come as a shock to those outside of Jena. The national media must resist the urge to edit sworn testimony, court records ,and FBI reports through the eyes of Oliver Stone to offer America what it wants: A scapegoat for its national sin of racism.
Slowly, grindingly so, the complexity of the Jena Six case is making its way to the media. The nasty little secrets that nobody cares to share with those outside the Jena family, especially to those lugging around cameras or notepads, is being aired. The stench of our dirty laundry is finally filling the nostrils of the state-wide media. Whether or not the national media has the attention span for details inconvenient to their purpose remains to be seen. If the emerging facts weaken the argument that a prejudiced district attorney in a racist, southern town railroaded six innocent black students, the national media may not have the stomach to report the shades of gray.
There’s a new team of lawyers in town to defend Mychal Bell, the first of the Jena Six tried for the December 4, 2006, attack on a fellow student at Jena High School. Led by Attorney Lewis Scott, the group of defenders who replaced Blaine Williams— the much maligned court-appointed lawyer who called no witnesses in his defense of Bell, whose case ended in a conviction of second degree battery and conspiracy to commit the same—are discovering the logic of his strategy. Riding a wave of attention and support for Mychal Bell among the national race-based community, Scott stated his intent to “flood that judge with motions” in an attempt to get Bell’s conviction overturned. These motions are having the unintended consequence of opening up for public consumption what the district attorney, the local school board, and other officials have not been willing or able to reveal: At least one of the Jena Six is a repeat offender with a troubling criminal record of violence and destruction.
In a front page article in the August 25 edition of the Alexandria Town Talk, banner headlines announced, “BELL DENIED BOND DUE TO CRIMINAL HISTORY.” The article went on to reveal that Bell has been convicted of five violent crimes, with hearings on at least three violations of parole pending. Of course, this does not include incidents that were “overlooked” or “smoothed over” without an arrest. The people of Jena are not surprised. This is a small town; nothing escapes notice here. We simply do not gossip about one of our own to outsiders, at least not on camera where the whole world, and more specifically, the gang down at the corner shop, will see. In fact, the record of Mychal Bell would still be a secret if Scott, in a moment of bravado, had not thrown down the gauntlet in front of the cameras of the world, declaring war against the district attorney and the local judge. By filing the bail reduction motion, he opened the gate for Bell’s criminal past to be exposed.
District Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr., is no local hick judge. He is an experienced, career judge with a mind as sharp as a tack. He has entertained lawyers with much more impressive pedigrees than Scott or his team; he will not be intimidated. Locally, he is considered to be a fair-minded judge—too fair-minded by some conservatives—who attempts to work with young people that appear before his court. Hopefully, Scott will learn this lesson before he does further damage to the cause of Mychal Bell. The motion to overturn the conviction and have Bell retried as a juvenile instead of an adult sounds like a wonderful idea. The problem with that is evident: The exact same judge who just presided over Bell’s conviction as an adult will be presiding over the case if it is thrown into juvenile court. With his criminal record as a juvenile, Bell’s conviction in the December 4 attack on Justin Barker would force Judge Mauffray to lock him up until he is 21 years old. That is a four year sentence for Bell. As an adult, Mychal Bell, whose juvenile record can’t play into consideration for sentencing, is a first time offender: It is very likely he could be sentenced less than a year, with time served counted towards his sentence. Judge Mauffray is noted for leniency with first time offenders.
Blaine Williams, who claimed he put the best interest of his client before his own reputation as a trial lawyer in this case, certainly knew these things as he advised his client to plea bargain. Williams all but begged the public to examine his actions by stating in an interview, “My actions in this case may be the topic of review by law professors one day; it may become a case study.” Williams, a black lawyer, knew that reckless motions tossed around to catch the attention of a crusade hungry media would do his client no good. Hopefully, Lewis Scott, a white lawyer, will reach that conclusion quickly before Judge Mauffray, backed into a corner under the scrutiny of an international microscope, is forced to abandon his lenient nature and find a “middle-of-the-road” sentence for Mychal Bell.
What’s on the horizon? Shortly, people are going to start wondering how Mychal Bell and others could get away with a reign of terror that involved intimidation of fellow students and members of their own neighborhoods. Where were the coaches, the school officials, law enforcement, and parents? Why were these kids not restricted from extracurricular activity when caught in mischief? Why were they not suspended for at least one football game or from a few days of school for the troubles they caused? The cynics among us will conclude that a few battered boys and girls and a couple thousand dollars worth of vandalism and destruction is a small price to pay for touchdowns and victories on Friday night. The conspiracy theorists among us will conclude that a racist district attorney concocted the entire story to support his vendetta against an innocent black student.
The discovery that the Jena Six did not receive prejudicial treatment but instead received preferential treatment will come as a shock to those outside of Jena. The residents here heard whispers of this all along. Certainly, the adults and officials who “handled” these episodes will convince themselves that they had the best interest of the boys at heart, considering their potential as college or even professional athletes. Nobody held them accountable for their actions. Now, perhaps the people of Jena should hold these officials accountable. The national media will find it difficult to delve into those questions. Yet the facts are easily attainable. The story is detailed in the sworn testimony of the Bell trial, court records made available to the press, and the reports of the FBI who have been investigating this story since two weeks after the nooses showed up in a tree at Jena High School. The Jena Times, our local weekly newspaper that has been criticized for biased coverage, has thoroughly reported these documents. Some state outlets are partially presenting these facts. The national media must resist the urge to edit these reports through the eyes of Oliver Stone to offer America what it wants: A scapegoat for its national sin of racism.
Rumors will continue to abound. Every day there are new reports of the KKK showing up in town. One lady claimed she actually saw two white men with hoods in their hands enter the “Gotta Go” store to purchase gasoline. Someone at Wal-Mart heard that a black boy was beaten with brass knuckles by a couple of white kids after the football jamboree last weekend. Were any arrests made? A neighbor of someone who overheard a city official claims that one of the Jena Six, released on bond awaiting trial, was arrested again for breaking and entering. The scuttlebutt is that thousands of blacks and liberals from around the country are coming to Jena on September 20, the sentencing date for Mychal Bell, and will riot if he is not released. They say it will be Watts revisited.
The national media will be enticed by the rumor that the all white jury in Mychal Bell’s trial was not fairly chosen. An accusation has been made that the town officials have not purged the rolls from which potential jurors are called for seven years. Those black individuals who were issued summons to appear as potential jurors may no longer reside at the addresses listed. Bell may have had no hope of having a black juror at his trial. His best hope for overturning his conviction may be in this sloppy recordkeeping. And just what other trials involving minorities will be examined from the last seven years if Bell’s attorneys are successful? This slowly developing rumor is potentially the most explosive item so far involving the Jena Six.
The complexity of the Bell case mirrors life in general. Nobody in Jena wants to believe that six of our own children, who we’ve watched grow up in Little League and Sunday school, could have first planned, and then executed an attempt on the life of a fellow student. Nobody in Jena wants to believe that our duly elected district attorney, Reed Walters, would try to destroy the lives of six innocent students who we’ve come to respect as football stars that represent our high school every Friday night each fall. The truth probably falls somewhere in the middle. Second degree murder may be too harsh a charge but the Jena Six may still be guilty of criminal activity. In a complicated society, those two concepts are not mutually exclusive. My hope is that the lawyers for the remaining members of the Jena Six learn the lessons of Mychal Bell’s trial. My prayer is that God give Judge J.P. Mauffray the wisdom to find an acceptable medium between justice and mercy in the case of Mychal Bell and the Jena Six.
Rogue are you trying to pick a fight with me? Ill ask you..
Was three days appropriate when the school administrator wanted more?
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