.
www.rawstory.com
Jena 6 teen ordered back behind bars just two weeks
after release on bond
Jason Rhyne
Published: Friday October 12, 2007
Two weeks after seeing his conviction overturned for the beating of a white classmate, black Louisiana high school student Mychal Bell — one of the so-called Jena 6 teens whose incarceration sparked a national protest — is back behind bars.
Bell has been sentenced to 18 months in a juvenile facility following a closed hearing in which Judge J.P. Mauffrey ruled that the teen was in violation of probation set as the result of four prior juvenile offenses, CNN reports. Judge Mauffrey is the same judge that originally presided over the Bell trial…
“We feel this was a cruel and unusual punishment and is a revenge by this judge for the Jena Six movement,” said [Reverend Al] Sharpton. “His parents were also charged with the cost of all court costs and witness costs and will have to pay for him in the facility…”
Related Posts
Article: A White Person’s Meditation on the Jena 6
(re: education law, etc.)
Music: Jena, Take Your Nooses Down – John Mellencamp
Filed under: progressive politics, social & economic justice, US Politics Tagged: | Criminal Justice, Education Law, Jena 6, Mychal Bell
The Associated Press has published conflicting accounts of Mychal Bell’s sentencing, but Reuters gets it right. Mychal Bell’s alleged involvement in the Jena Six beating incident played no role in Judge J.P. Mauffrey’s decision to sentence him to 18 months in a juvenile detention facility. Prior to the Jena Six incident, Bell had been convicted of battery and placed on parole. While on parole for this first offense, he committed a second offense. He was convicted a second time of battery and found guilty of violating his parole on the first offense. However, his sentencing for the second offense was postponed when he became implicated in the Jena Six beating. When his conviction as an adult in connection with the Jena Six beating was overturned, the postponed sentencing for his second convction moved forward. The attorneys present at the sentencing hearing say that the Jena Six incident was never mentioned at the setencing hearing.
Blair wrote:
“Mychal Bell’s alleged involvement in the Jena Six beating incident played no role in Judge J.P. Mauffrey’s decision to sentence him to 18 months in a juvenile detention facility.”…
“The attorneys present at the sentencing hearing say that the Jena Six incident was never mentioned at the sentencing hearing.”
Ummmm…it was the same judge. So, ummm…I guess that the Jena 6 incident (and publicity) did play a role. Unless the judge is very forgetful.
But, I would ask: What is your interest in raising questions about a 17 year-old-boy in LA? Don’t you think that the judge and the government have enough power that they don’t need you to pile on?
Thanks,
Kimberly
Kimberly, what questions is Blair raising? Seems to me like he’s just posting about the Reuters story. And “pile on”? I think if you batter a woman (as ESPN reported Bell did), you get jail time at a minimum.
The Judge in Jena need to be removed from the case..period. We don’t need a racist judge sitting on the bench any where in America. There needs to be a federal investigation of these people that is in power and judging the lives of people based on the color of their skin. It cannot be tolerated anymore!