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Jena Six

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This article documents a current court case. Information may change rapidly as the case progresses.

Jena Six refers to a group of six African American teenagers who have been arrested and charged with crimes related to their alleged involvement in the assault of a white teenager in Jena, Louisiana, on December 4, 2006. The incident is one of many racially charged events that have occurred in the town since what has been called a prank involving the "white tree" on the Jena High School campus. Critics of the case, including civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, have claimed that the arrests and subsequent charges were racially motivated.^[1]

The assault

On December 4, 2006, Jena High School student Justin Barker, age 17, was assaulted by other Jena High students. National Public Radio reported that earlier that day Barker, a white student, bragged about how one of his alleged attackers, Robert Bailey, Jr., had been beaten up by a white man the Friday before.^[2] Barker was then hit and kicked by a group of students and was temporarily knocked unconscious.^[3][2] He was examined by a doctor at the local hospital. After two hours of treatment and observation for a concussion and an eye that had swollen shut, he was released in time to attend the school's Ring ceremony that evening.^[4] In the meantime, the six students accused of the attack, eventually dubbed the "Jena Six",^[5] were arrested.

Preceding racial tensions

Racial tensions in Jena were at high levels prior to the Jena Six incident due to a number of racially charged events in the small town.^[2]

The "white tree" incident

At Jena High School, students of different races seldom sat together. Black students traditionally sat on bleachers near the auditorium, while white students sat under a large shade tree, referred to as the "white tree", in the center of the school courtyard.^[2]

During a school assembly on August 31, 2006, a black male freshman student asked permission from the principal to sit in the shade of the "white tree."^[3] According to the recounting of events given by U.S. Attorney Donald Washington, the question was posed in a "jocular fashion."^[6] The principal told the students they could "sit wherever they wanted."^[3]

The following morning, three nooses were discovered hanging from the tree. Anthony Jackson, one of two black teachers at the high school, recalled, "I jokingly said to another teacher, 'One's for you, one's for me. Who's the other one for?'" Jena's principal learned that three white students were responsible and recommended expulsion. The board of education overruled his recommendation, to which Superintendent Roy Breithaupt agreed. The punishment was reduced to three days of in-school suspension.^[2][4] The school superintendent was quoted as saying, "Adolescents play pranks. I don't think it was a threat against anybody."^[7] Black residents of Jena claim that this decision stoked racial tensions that led to subsequent events.^[4] The school district and parents who were aware of the incident did not report it to the police or any legal authority, though such incidents may be prosecuted as federal hate crimes by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.^[6]

In late July, U.S. Attorney Donald Washington noted the lack of connection between the noose incident and the beating at Jena High school, noting that the more than 40 statements all failed to mention the noose incident.^[6]

The "pen statement"

According to some accounts, on September 5, 2006, a number of black students organized a peaceful sit-in under the white tree in response to the commuted punishment of the perpetrators. The protest was then dispersed by police.^[8][9] U.S. Attorney Washington, speaking in July 2007, stated he could find no confirmation of this protest occurring. He could confirm that police were called to the school several times in the days after the noose incident in response to a rash of interracial fights between students.^[6]

The principal called an impromptu assembly on September 6, in which students segregated themselves into white and black sections. The Jena Police Department asked LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters to attend and speak at the assembly. Walters was unhappy with the request because he was busy preparing for a case and, upon arrival, felt that the students were not paying proper attention to him.^[6] Walters is alleged to have threatened the protesters if they didn't stop fussing over an "innocent prank" and to have stated, "See this pen? I can end your lives with the stroke of a pen." Black students state that Walters looked specifically at members of the black audience as he said this. Walters and school board member Billy Fowler, also present, deny that the comments were specifically directed at black students.^[2] Nevertheless, police began patrolling the halls of Jena High on September 7, and the school was declared to be in total lockdown the day after.^[10]

Student attempt to address school board

On September 10, several dozen black students attempted to address the school board concerning the recent events but were refused because the board was of the opinion that "the noose issue" had been adequately resolved.^[11] Racial tensions and fights continued through the fall but were held in check by the ongoing football season. The high school team was doing unusually well, in large part due to efforts of several star black players, and students were unwilling to do anything to upset the season.^[2]

Jena High School arson

On November 30, 2006, the main building of the high school was set on fire. The building was gutted and had to be later demolished. Blacks and whites accused each other of the arson.^[2][12]

Fair barn party incident

On Friday, December 1, there was a private party, attended mostly by whites, at the Fair Barn. Five black youths, including 16-year-old Robert Bailey, attempted to enter the party at about 11pm. According to U.S. Attorney Washington, they were told by a woman that they were not allowed inside without an invitation. The five youths persisted, stating that some friends were already in attendance at the party. A white man, who was not a student,^[6] then jumped in front of the woman and instigated a fight. After the fight was broken up, the woman told both the white man and five black youths to leave the party. Once outside, the black students were involved in another fight with a group of white men, who also were not students.^[6] Police were then called to investigate. Several months later, Justin Sloan, a white male, was charged with battery for his role in the fight and was put on probation. Bailey later stated that one of the white men had broken a beer bottle over his head,^[4] though there are no official records of medical treatment being given.^[6]

Convenience store incident

The following day, an incident apparently stemming from the Fair Barn fight occurred at a local convenience store. A student who had attended the party encountered Bailey and several friends. An argument ensued, after which the white student ran to his pickup truck and produced a pistol-grip shotgun. Bailey ran after the white student and wrestled him for control of the gun. Bailey's friends intervened in the scuffle and took the gun away. Bailey refused to return it and ultimately took it home with him. Local police reported that the accounts of the white student and black students contradicted each other and formed a report based on testimony taken from eyewitnesses. This resulted in Bailey being charged with three counts: theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace. The white student who produced the weapon was not charged.^[2][6]

Trial, prosecution, and legal proceedings

Five of the students - Robert Bailey, Jr., Mychal Bell, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis, and Theo Shaw - were initially charged with assault,^[13] though the sixth - Jesse Ray Beard - was charged as a juvenile because he was 14 at the time.^[14] However, District Attorney Walters increased the assault charges to attempted second-degree murder, provoking protests from black residents that the charges, which could result in the defendants being imprisoned past age 50, were disproportionate to the crime.^[4]

Mychal Bell trial

On June 26, 2007, the first day of trial for defendant Mychal Bell, Walters agreed to reduce the charges for Bell to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery.^[15] A charge of aggravated battery requires the use of a "deadly weapon". Walters thus argued that the tennis shoes that Bell was wearing and used to kick Barker were deadly weapons, an argument with which the jury agreed. Despite conflicting witness accounts on whether he was involved in the attack,^[16] Bell was found guilty and faced the possibility of up to 22 years in prison when he was to be sentenced on September 20, 2007.

The case sparked public outcry, as the court-appointed public defender, Blane Williams — an African-American — did not call a single witness in his attempt to defend Bell.^[16] As well, one of the members of the all-white jury was a high school friend of Justin Barker’s father.^[17] Bell's new defense attorneys, Louis Scott and Carol Powell-Lexing, requested that a new trial be held on the grounds that Bell should not have been tried as an adult and that the trial should have been held in another parish.^[18]

A request to lower Mychal Bell's $90,000 bond was denied on August 24, 2007, due to his juvenile record, which showed that he had been previously convicted of four other violent crimes. Bell was put on probation for a battery that occurred December 25, 2005, and he was later convicted of yet another battery charge and two charges of criminal damage to property.^[19]

On September 4, 2007, a judge dismissed the conspiracy charge but let the battery conviction stand, though he agreed that Bell should have been tried as a juvenile.^[20] However, on September 14, 2007, Bell's battery conviction was also overturned, as Louisiana's Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Lake Charles ruled that he shouldn't have been tried as an adult. Louis Scott, Bell's attorney, has indicated that the charges are dropped for now, but also has noted that the situation may change depending on what path the prosecution takes.^[21] The La Salle Parish district attorney, Reed Walters, has said that he will appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court.^[22]

A new bail hearing for Bell was scheduled for September 17.^[22]

The other five

On September 4, 2007, charges against Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy,^[23] as did Robert Bailey, Jr., on September 10.^[24]

Despite the overturning of Mychal Bell's conviction, the charges against the other four teenagers won't be altered because they were over seventeen at the time of the incident, making them adults under Louisiana law.^[21]

Public outcry

In the wake of these events, numerous groups in support of the "Jena Six" and against the way the cases were and are being handled have appeared on social networking site Facebook,^[25] as well as an online petition circulating boasting over 342,937 signatures as of September 19, 2007.^[26]

Even though Mychal Bell's conviction has been overturned, a rally is still scheduled for September 20, 2007, the day that he was scheduled to be sentenced on.^[27] Civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Martin Luther King III plan to attend,^[28] as does rapper and actor Mos Def.^[29] Darryl Hunt is scheduled to be a key speaker.^[30] Due to the large amount of people expected to arrive - up to 60,000^[28] - schools on south side of LaSalle Parish - the Jena side - will be shut down on September 20 and possibly on September 21.^[31] On September 18, musician David Bowie donated $10,000 to the Jena Six Legal Defense Fund. In a statement he said "There is clearly a separate and unequal judicial process going on in the town of Jena. A donation to the Jena Six Legal Defense Fund is my small gesture indicating my belief that a wrongful charge and sentence should be prevented."^[32]