A Louisiana judge tossed the conviction against teen tried as adult in the Jena 6 case. CNN REPORTS:
Bob Noel said the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Lake Charles threw out the conviction for second degree battery against Mychal Bell, saying the charges should have been brought in juvenile court. “We’re happy now, but tomorrow is another day,” Noel told reporters.
The future of the case against Bell is up to the district attorney, who must decide whether to refile the charges in juvenile court, Noel said.”We have to wait and see what the other side’s going to do, how they’re going to react,” he said.
Bell’s defense team would be filing a motion to get him out of prison, where he has been since his arrest in December, Noel said.
“The primary concern is to get Mychal Bell out of jail and into school where he needs to be,” he said. [ READ MORE ]
Bell was facing up to 15 years in prison for nothing but a school yard fight.
IN RELATED NEWS: Michael Baisden, The Color of Change, and major civil rights leaders had been planning a rally on September 20th in support of the teens and word is the rally will still take place.
AL SHARPTON
“Although there will not be a court hearing, we still intend to have a major rally for the Jena Six and now hopefully Mychal Bell will join us,” Sharpton said in an e-mailed statement.
REV. JESSE JACKSON
“The pressure must continue until all six boys are set free and sent to school, not to jail.” [ READ MORE ]
(UPDATE): I apologize to those of you who thought the unedited post was misleading. I was going by early reports and didn’t realize the full story wasn’t printed yet. We have edited the post. Please contact me if you have any questions.
YES!!! This is a HUGE victory!!! Thank you for posting this because you know it will be next week before we see this on CNN.
Thank God =]
I might still go though….
That is good to know! We need to see more JUSTICE!
Thank God almighty … Free! Thank you CL ….Always on point!
Anyway, this is So good. I wonder if all the attention brought to this case had something to do with his charges getting lessened? I’m sure it did. I’m happy for the young man and his family.
Wonderful!!!
#5
You know it did. All of those supporters goin’ down there on the 20th is starting to make some people a bit nevous.
thank you guys for posting the news on this..this is something serious you guys..I’m glad they reduced his sentence
God Bless,
1 down and 4 to go ……. Although i don’t know all the intimate details about the case but from what i have read about it they need to throw this B>S out of court alltogether …. Yall keep praying for justice
YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING A BOUT. NOW WE HAVE TO PRAY FOR THE OTHERS TO COME OUT
We still can’t sleep on this one, justice has not been completely served! The Bell can be re-charged with a different crime stemming from the incident, so we can’t lessen the pressure on Jena or take our eyes off the ball just because we’ve been thrown a bone. We cannot relent until all charges are dropped and all six young men are able to return to school and rightfully resume their lives!
this is good..
#11
You’re right.
Praise the good lord!…
I AMMM SOOOOOO HAPPY CAUSE THOSE PEOPLE WERE SOOO WRONG FOR TRYNA LOCK UP THAT LIL BOY FOR THAT LONG
There’s very little to celebrate when you consider the dynamics of this situation. This was a type A example of the abuse and systematic double-standard of the LAW and the blind eye turned by law enforcement and the media. The fact of the matter is that had this one case not gotten exposure, all 6 of those young men would be tried as adults and going to state prison for going back and forth with white boys. For every exposure of a case like this there are probably 1000 going on across the U.S. that will never be exposed. Hopefully the Lord is with these brothers.
Hooray victory it’s a damn shame our people still have to address nonesense at this magnitude. i hope this is a learning experience for us to support,ban,rally together when the need!
I highly agree w/ Rev. Jesse Jackson’s quote above… Praise God for Mr. Bell’s overturn on the conviction but let’s remember the others. We still got fight on our hands. We HAVE to let “them” know that we won’t stand for any injustice towards our ppl.
This is great news but it also shows that black people in this country still has a loooooooonnnnnnnnngggggggggg way to go with the justice system.
I got goosebumps when I heard the news earlier today!!! God is good, but we still must not sleep. We are so powerful as a people!! See how much our unified voice can do? In 1967, this may have made more sense, but I can’t believe that in 2007, we’re still having to rally for equality. We must not rest because we’ve been given a pacifier. We still have to let everyone know that what is going on in Jena is NOT A GOOD LOOK. WE HAVE TO LET EVERYONE FROM JENA TO DC KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT A GOOD LOOK. If you believe in equality for all people, regardless of your race or ethnicity, please take a stand, and still come to Jena on September 20.
Praise GOD.
But, this is not over until the young brothers are completely exonerated.
judah
Friday, September 14, 2007
There’s very little to celebrate when you consider the dynamics of this situation. This was a type A example of the abuse and systematic double-standard of the LAW and the blind eye turned by law enforcement and the media. The fact of the matter is that had this one case not gotten exposure, all 6 of those young men would be tried as adults and going to state prison for going back and forth with white boys. For every exposure of a case like this there are probably 1000 going on across the U.S. that will never be exposed. Hopefully the Lord is with these brothers.
________________________
Oh, there is plenty to celebrate, for much of the same reason you suggest we shouldn’t. There are a lot of cases that never get the attention and therefore many young brothers and sisters are falsely accused and imprisoned. But in addition to the change in this case, we should celebrate the fact that when folk did mobilize and focused on raising awareness of this injustice – there was a change…
And we can celebrate that a lot more people understand …. that we are our brothers keepers.
Maybe we can’t help everyone, but we helped THIS ONE.
Let’s keep it going guys!! See what happens when we all take a stand
yesssssssssssss
god bless us all
&& ii really hope that everyones effort will continue to make changes regarding the jena6
plz keep supporting this as if these kids were yur own fam kuhsz if yu live down south…….ayyyy….it cuda been
God works in mysterious ways.
This is great news, but they need to continue with this like they said until justice is served coreectly for all 6 young men. But this is really great news.
This is far from victory. It should have never came to this!! While I am glad that these young men have been “freed”, this nation needs to address this maddness!!!!
correctly
THANK GOD. NOW WE NEED HIM TO TAKE CARE OF THE OTHERS TOO. CONTINUE PRAYING FOR THESE YOUNG KIDS
That’s what Im talking about. But they still have atleast 5 more trials to go through I read. Whatever, they need to cut the bull and throw all the cases out. There shouldnt have been a f*cking case to begin with. I hope Mychal can move on with his life and move on to bigger and better things. I hope he goes to the NFL like he wanted to. Im just glad he free.
*Rubs temples* Black people still have so much to do and so far to go.
yay!!!!!!
yah baybee!!!!!!!
ty Jesus
all of need to pray and thank God for this miracle
I signed the petition that was floating around the net. Good job people. This is why we must ALWAYS take a stand against injustice. When we put the pressure on, we can and in most cases make a difference, even if it’s a little one, it’s still progress.
THAT IS SOME POSITIVE NEWS BUT HE STILL HAS SOME OTHER B.S. CHARGES TO FIGHT OFF…
It wasn’t the prosecutor who reduced the charge but the Appeals Court.
What’s good about this is that he couldn’t be charged as an adult and he now has a right to trial in the Juvenile Court system.
So he and his other defendants are still not out of the woods just yet.
So this fight is far from over.
NO IT HAS NOT. THEY ARE IN COURT RIGHT NOW TRYING TO HAVE HIM TRIED AS A JUVENILE.
JUSTICE HAS NOT BEEN SERVED YET.
PRAISE GOD….This is a big step to overcome but their are still more hurdles ahead in having the charges dropped on the other young men. Im going to the rally next thursday with my college, FAMUUUUUUU. Its gonna be a nice lil ride from Tallahassee to Jena but well worth it…We need to show out in numbers so all who can come….PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE COME AND SUPPORT!!!!
Please be clear – the charge against Mychal Bell was only reduced. He still faces charges as a juvenile. This is a good first step, but this is far, far from over.
In fact people need to be more vigilant, because you can best believe that the lawmakers and lawfakers in Jena are not to happy that they were pressured into reducing the charges. So they may be determined to punish him as extensively as they can even as a juvenile.
They all need to be completely exonerated, and they may take a little at a time, but every little bit helps.
and i was written. there are strength in numbers. i’m glad the numbers where for something worth while. however, the ‘figh’ it isn’t over until ish like this isn’t require to bus our asses to the back woods of what ever state because of subpar treatment.
The war is not over yet! We still have to put full force on the situation until ALL charges are dropped! That DA needs his a** disbarred with a little bit of jail time in their too! Then the war will truly be over!
Dunbar Village anyone?
I’m so happy that this happened, but it’s not over…we still need to keep the pressure until they are completely free of charges because anything beyond a simple suspension is way too harsh especially the boy went to a party that same night. I hope everyone continues to keep up the fight and not loosen up cause they only lightened his sentence cause they think it will stop us and shut us up. I love black people and how we stick together.
This is good news. Actually it was on CNN and they are saying that they have been on this story from the beginning…well I guess you have to give them props for reporting on it at all. The charge reduction is in a lot of online newspapers as breaking news!
AAAAAAAAAAMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The media coverage really helped. This is one case where Big AL and his boy
Jessie did the damn thing. HOLD YA HEADS JENA 6!!!!
reducing the sentence isnt good enough. im still upset that other incidents like this got off so easy. they need to drop all charges to make things better…where is the fuckin justice man. then we can say we trust our justice system
I’ve read several comments about how CNN or other news outlets have not been covering this story. I don’t agree and I feel like CNN has done a great job of covering this story and others concerning the African American community. Some times I wonder do my people even read newspapers or watch the news, and just make blanket statement about what they think is going on.
Also, the writing on this post by the CL staff is misleading. The conviction was overturned today, as opposed the reduction in charges for Bell the post claims.
Accuracy=Credibility
I have been listening to this on the Michael Baisden show and I am appauled at this whole situation. I never knew the whole story until I went on his website and read about this. It makes me angry that they (sorry excuse of a school system) want to put this young men away yet the white students got in school suspension and no charges? It’s even more wrong that this school saw this a a PRANK! Where’s the logic in that screwed up town? If I could go there I would, and I will keep thouse kids in my thoughts. They just need guidance and strong postitive mentors, not 22 years in jail for a school fight and get locke up in the jail system. Michael Baisden is giving this some much needed talk time that’s for sure.
we have gotta KEEP THE ATTENTION FOCUSED on JENA! we haven’t won yet!!
I missed this on the news because my coworkers were talking. Thank God
There’s really nothing special about this. It’s very common in the legal system for the prosecutor to initially go for the gravest charges possible and then later on lower them once the defendent is backed in a corner.
Anyway, the little dumbass is still gonna get jail time. And you know what? He deserves it. Violence is NOT the answer to racism, and we as a people need to stop condoning shit like that in response to racism. I don’t care how racist the city of Jena is, that did NOT give Mychal Bell and his 5 idiot friends the go-ahead to jump that boy *from behind* and beat him unconscious (hell, for all they knew at the time he COULD have been dead). Whether or not you want to blame it on the boy being racist; whether or not you want to call it a school-yard fight, those boys committed an act of extreme violence and they should not escape punishment for it. It’s incidents like this that really piss all over Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his NON-VIOLENT desegregation movement.
It’s unfortunate that racial tensions in Jena excalated to the point where 6 boys are facing jail time, but you know what? As sad as it is those white boys only put the nooses in the tree. But it was Mychal Bell and his friends that chose to hang themselves with them.
46.
ESD_PHD
Friday, September 14, 2007
I’ve read several comments about how CNN or other news outlets have not been covering this story. I don’t agree and I feel like CNN has done a great job of covering this story and others concerning the African American community. Some times I wonder do my people even read newspapers or watch the news, and just make blanket statement about what they think is going on.
Also, the writing on this post by the CL staff is misleading. The conviction was overturned today, as opposed the reduction in charges for Bell the post claims.
Accuracy=Credibility
I agree. I read this at another website. The CONVICTION WAS OVERTURNED, not reduced to lesser charges. Im glad you caught that mistake #46. I was wondering what people on here were talking about?
“There’s really nothing special about this. It’s very common in the legal system for the prosecutor to initially go for the gravest charges possible and then later on lower them once the defendent is backed in a corner.”
I just read through several other links, and apparently the charges were outright overturned in appeals court. Hmmmm, interesting turn of events I’d say. It’s highly unlikely that the prosecution is going to leave it at this, though.
It’s funny, though, how through all this Mychal Bell was painted to be an innocent victim of the system, when this could be his FIFTH conviction of a violent crime. Two counts of criminal damage to property and two counts of battery in the two years before all this even happened…and somehow we’re supposed to believe that Mychal Bell is innocent, good kid…
Smh @ # 50.
How bad did they beat this kid? Did he slip into a coma or what? What a mockery…this type of stuff just ticks me off.
Ditto @ 53. This is great news. Hopefully the others get the same treatment.
The charges have been dropped as an adult but he will still be charged as a juvenile dont get it twisted its a good day but we still have to pray the other charges get dropped, it was a schoolyard fight are they serious? Remember September 20th to where bLack for the Jena 6..Peace and Love..
So I guess its okay for some white boys to hang nooses on a tree, Jump that one black boy, and call somebody a n*gger. Yeah pittboi Im talking to you. I bet if somebody was to harass, beat you up because of your damn sexual orientation and color of your damn skin, I highly doubt you would be sitting there talking nonsense. Excuse me, but I know if some white punk called me a N*gger, best to believe Im my ass is going to be fighting. See what you dont seem to understand that all that ” Lets come together and stop violoence and racism” sh*t aint working. My teacher once told me that sometimes when people cant understand you verbally, then make them understand physically.
White people not hearing us and they are not trying to. You so under and up the white man’s ass, the sh*t is sickening. So some black boy should get time because of a fight. It just a shame he almost had to serve 22 damn years for a fight . So what if some punk ass white boy got beat up. That ass whipping has long been overdue. Should have a never called them black boys a N*gger, he should have just kept that to himself. Please, give me a break with the “he was unconscious, he could have died”. Sick of white people, what goes around comes around. And who the hell gave you the go-head to punish somebody. The lord will punish those who deserve it. I hate it even more that if you were put in the same exact situation, you act like you would have done nothing. Probably would have to. Whatever man. I hope Mychal comes out of jail and not have to go through anymore drama. And if there is drama, atleast he know black people like me are still there to support and help him.
Excuse my typos.
Totally in agreeance with SADE…
But best believe, this isnt over, they’re gonna try some slick shit down there. Promise ya’ll that. These bastards think they gon pull a fat one…
I hope ya’ll all signed that petition…..
No, it’s not ok for for white people to hang nooses in trees (that’s the only part of this whole thing that I feel was actually handled improperly. The school board should have stayed out of it and let the principal DO HIS JOB when expulsion was recommended). And no, it’s not ok for that white boy to attack that black kid at that party (which he WAS charged for by the way). But does that make it right for Mychal Bell and his friends to attack some white kid from behind and beat him until he’s unconscious? No, it doesn’t. Does it make them above the law? No, it doesn’t. And does it help our cause? NO, it DOESN’T. Yeah, some white people will always be racist, but violence won’t change that. If anything, it’ll just make it worse.
You say what goes around comes around, and you say that if it had happened to you you would have been fighting as well. Well, I guess your ass would be on trial then, too, because battery is battery. That kid may have been a racist punk, but Mychal Bell and his friends made the *decision* to physically attack him. And you know what? That’s their choice to make, but now the law has stepped in and they have to face the consequences for their actions. These boys are not innocent. Especially Mychal Bell, committing violent crimes since the age of 14. A damn shame. When did black people become the race of excuses? “If it were you, you would have done it too!” Please, get that mess out of here. Don’t pretend to know me OR what I’d do. And for your information, if that HAD been me, I would have been one of the SMART black kids who organized the sit-in under the tree, and not a dumbass letting my testosterone get to me, getting into fights, and giving white people a legally-sound REASON to lock my ass up. Giving that racist kid a REASON to laugh at my ass, because while his wounds have healed, those dumbass kids are facing jail time. See how violence doesn’t work here?
“And who the hell gave you the go-head to punish somebody. The lord will punish those who deserve it.”
LOL–I should be asking you that question, since you’re the one claiming that the white boy’s punishment (the ass whooping), was “overdue”. You’re a hypocrite.