Mychal Bell, 17, originally was charged as an adult with attempted murder in the beating of Justin Barker in December 2006. That charge was reduced before a jury convicted him in June of aggravated second-degree battery.
What!? How?
The charges against Bell and five other black students, who became known as the "Jena Six," led to a civil-rights demonstration in Jena in September.
Oh, race, that's right.
Read all about it.
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The problem is not the reduction was racially motivated but that the original sentence was racially motivated. It was easy for the DA to characterize these black students beating up white students as attempted murder when it was really in response to racist actions by the white students against the black students.
I don't excuse the violence, but it took civil rights leaders and community and national pressure for the courts to actually give this boy a second look with a law that treats people equally.
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