From attempted murder to simple plea bargains. Oh what a difference a few years can make.
Likely most of you have forgotten the details by now. Let’s go back to 2006.
Six individuals (Robert Bailey, then aged 17; Mychal Bell, then 16; Carwin Jones, then 18; Bryant Purvis, then 17; Jesse Ray Beard, then 14; and Theo Shaw, then 17) were arrested in the assault on another student- a White student; the accused are Black.
The Jena Six case sparked protests by those viewing the arrests and subsequent charges, initially attempted second-degree murder (though later reduced), as excessive and racially discriminatory.
The assault in question was undoubtedly the culminating event in a string of racially tinged incidents at the high school and in the small town. The treatment received by the Jena 6 ignited a national fire storm about discrimination and disparate treatment of Blacks [vs Whites] in the criminal justice system.
The “victim” was not seriously injured, certainly not enough to warrant attempted second degree murder charges. While the nation cried out for justice, those controling the strings of the case [also White] refused to back down. Was it their faith to the law that caused this? Doubtful. More like an overzealous prosecutor, and a judge with a Nepoleon complex who was forced to recuse himself after making questionable statements about the defendents. Mercifully, he left the bench perminately in 2008.
Now, 3 years later, without much attention to how this painful drama has “ended”, comes this news:
Five members of the Jena Six pleaded no contest Friday to misdemeanor simple battery and won’t serve jail time, ending a case that thrust a small Louisiana town into the national spotlight and sparked a massive civil rights demonstration.
The five, standing quietly surrounded by their lawyers, were sentenced to seven days unsupervised probation and fined $500.
This is an injustice, pure and simple. An injustice.
