Louisiana Appellate Court Overturns Jena Six Defendant Case

Jena Louisiana--An appellate court has overturned a conviction of a racially-charged case (called the Jena Six) which involved a teenager. Jena is a sleepy town of in North Central Louisiana.


According to the Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Lake Charles, Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time of a December beating, should not have been tried as an adult a the battery charge. He was previously convicted for battery after a greater charge of second degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder was dropped.
The Court said, “"The defendant was not tried on an offense which could have subjected him to the jurisdiction of the criminal court," the three-paragraph ruling said.


The Appellate Court also said that the case "remains exclusively in juvenile court,".
Although the case has been overturned on a technicality, the case still reverberates across the state. Bell, a black person was charged for beating a white. He and teens who were called the “Jena Six” were charged with the adult charges.


The case has drawn the comments of Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton. Sharpton has planned to appear in Jena on September 20



http://www.bayoubuzz.com/News/Louisiana/Government/Louisiana_Appellate_Court_Overturns_Jena_Six_Defendant_Case__4664.asp