FACING SOUTH - Online Magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies

Subscribe to RSS

Charges reduced for some Jena 6 defendants

We have reported here previously on the controversial case of the so-called "Jena Six," a group of black high school students in a Louisiana town who were arrested and faced unusually harsh charges after an assault on a white schoolmate. Charges against two of the Six -- Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw -- were reduced today from attempted second-degree murder to aggravated second-degree battery. But it's doubtful that gives great comfort to them and their loved ones: Mychal Bell, another of the Six who was tried on those same reduced charges in June and convicted by an all-white jury, still faces as much as 22 years in prison when he is sentenced later this month, even though he was a juvenile at the time the incident took place. Robert Bailey Jr. and Bryant Purvis still face attempted murder charges, and another youth faces undisclosed juvenile charges. Bailey also faces firearm theft charges for wrestling away a gun from a white youth who brandished it during an argument outside a local convenience store and refusing to return it. The white youth was not charged.
user-pic
By Sue Sturgis on September 5, 2007 12:38 AM
Add a Comment: 0 | Recommend: Vote 0 Votes | Email this entry

Leave a comment