Tag: Jena Six

Jena Six defendant Mychal Bell has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. He will get an 18 month sentence to a juvenile facility and receive credit for time served. He will serve about 8 more months before being released.

Bell's attorneys said they agreed to the plea bargain to spare the former high school football star the danger of being convicted of more serious charges and also to win early release from juvenile custody.

In October, Mauffray sentenced Bell to 18 months in a juvenile facility for four prior juvenile convictions for battery and destruction of property. But under the terms of Monday's plea agreement, that time will be served concurrently with the new 18-month sentence for the Dec. 4 attack, and Bell will get credit for the nine months he spent in jail while awaiting trial. His attorneys said he could be released by June.

The D.A. is trying to work out plea deals for the remaining defendants.

Bump and Update: Here's the hearing transcript (pdf.)

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The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing yesterday about the Jena 6 case.

Al Sharpton again called for more hate-crime laws. That's not the issue. Nor is the issue whether the "noose incident" justified the beating of a white student.

The issue is whether the Jena 6 defendants were treated more harshly because they are black.

That question still begs an answer.

Jena Six defendant Mychal Bell was sentenced to 18 months in jail today on a prior juvenile charge. His parents were ordered to pay court costs and witness fees. The prior case involved two counts of simple battery and two counts of criminal destruction of property.

Bell was on probation and had incurred new charges prior to the December 4 incident which resulted in six defendants being charged with felonies.

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Jena Six defendant Mychal Bell has been released on bond pending trial.

He will be tried in juvenile court. It's where charges should have been brought in the first place.

The number of law-bloggers hesitant to chime in on the Jena 6 case is growing. One reason given: The facts are not only confusing, but in several significant instances, in dispute. ESPN has this pretty good primer but it's hard to get the narrative from just one source, there are just too many variations.

Earlier this week there was Instapundit and Orin Kerr. They are now joined by Ann Althouse.

So, are the facts confusing or too disputed to pass judgment? Yes and no.

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Jena Six defendant Mychal Bell was not released on bail today.

The hearing was not open to the public. Yesterday, a Louisiana appeals court ordered that a hearing occur within 72 hours to determine if Bell could be released. The hearing was held today.

I'm wondering whether a probation revocation proceeding is pending that's preventing his release. According to this source, he was put on probation for a Dec. 2005 battery and it's not up until Jan. 2008. Any one of his subsequent convictions for either the July, 2006 or September, 2006 offenses could trigger a probation revocation proceeding.

I'm not familiar with the juvenile statutes in Louisiana, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's no bail on a first appearance on a probation violation, pending a probable cause hearing. Here's Bell's criminal record (same link):

• a battery Christmas Day 2005, for which he was put on probation until Jan. 18, 2008
• criminal damage to property that occurred on July 25, 2006.
• a battery Sept. 2 and criminal damage to property Sept. 3 (probably 2006)

The Jena Six case is huge news today. Here's some links to today's articles.

• Jena Six News Page

• New York Times

• CNN Jena Six Page

• Al Sharpton wants a Congressional inquiry.

• Friends of Justice account of Mychal Bell's trial (very compelling)

• Update: Christy at Firedoglake has a thoughtful post on the Jena Six

Note: I have removed the link to the Jenna Times page because I found the coverage selectively inclusive -- meaning it omitted important details which in my view, prevents a full, unbiased and accurate understanding of the events that have transpired.