Jena 6 Judge Removed From Case

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 06:58:25 PM EST
Tags: Jena 6 (all tags)

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The judge in the Jena 6 case has been removed due to inappropriate comments about the arrested teens.

Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. had acknowledged calling the teens "trouble makers" and "a violent bunch" but insisted he could be impartial. Defense attorneys disagreed and asked that he be removed. Judge Thomas M. Yeager, who was appointed by the state Supreme Court to decide whether Mauffray should be taken off the case, found there was an appearance of impropriety.

"The right to a fair and impartial judge is of particular importance in the present cases," Yeager wrote.

Where the case stands now: [more...]

Jesse Ray Beard, Robert Bailey Jr., Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw now face aggravated second-degree battery charges. Beard is charged as a juvenile.

Mychal Bell is the only member of the group that has been tried. He was originally charged as an adult with attempted murder. The charge was reduced before a jury convicted him last June of aggravated second-degree battery.

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Jena 6 Judge Removed From Case | 2 comments (2 topical)

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I'm sure there is more behind this (none / 0) (#1)
by Jef on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 05:19:02 PM EST

If the attorneys thought he would have given them a good trial, they would have kept him on regardless of the comments. Since you can't say that you would prefer another judge for one reason or the other, you have to point to something, i.e. these comments.

http://www.jackventurilaw.com

Or. . . (none / 0) (#2)
by atlanta lawyer on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 09:46:31 PM EST

they were maybe just preserving the record.

I once had a murder case where we had a hard time deciding whether or not to move for a severance from the codefendants. In the end, we decided there was no way in hell the judge would grant it, so why not push it, get denied, and have an appealalbe issue if we lost. They may have thought their chances for a disQ was slim to none.