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La. Protests Hark Back to '50s, '60s
La. Protests Hark Back to '50s, '60s
Friday September 21, 2007 3:16 AM
By MARY FOSTER
Associated Press Writer
JENA, La. (AP) - Drawn by a case tinged with one of the most hated symbols of Old South racism - a hangman's noose tied in an oak tree - thousands of protesters rallied Thursday against what they see as a double standard of prosecution for blacks and whites.
The plight of the so-called Jena Six became a flashpoint for one the biggest civil-rights demonstrations in years. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate.
"Mychal Bell should not have been tried as adult" judges decision
Conviction in Jena case overturned
Judges rule teen should not have been tried as adult in racially tinged case
The Associated Press
Sept 15, 2007
JENA, La. - A state appeals court Friday tossed out the aggravated battery conviction that could have sent a black teenager to prison for 15 years in last year's beating of a white classmate in the racially tense Louisiana town of Jena.
Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time of the December beating, should not have been tried as an adult on the battery charge, the state Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Lake Charles ruled.
Bell is one of six black Jena High School students charged in an attack on fellow student Justin Barker, and one of five originally charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder.
