Charges reduced for fourth ‘Jena Six’ member

JENA, La. — Prosecutors are continuing to reduce charges against black Jena High School students charged as adults in the Dec. 4 attack on a white student.

Robert Bailey Jr., one of the five teens charged as adults in the case, pleaded not guilty Monday to aggravated second-degree battery against Justin Barker, and to conspiring with the others to attack him.

Like the other five, he had originally been charged with attempted murder. That charge was dropped to the battery charge last week when Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw were arraigned, leaving Bryant Purvis the only youth yet to be arraigned and still charged as an adult with attempted murder.

A sixth is charged in juvenile court.

During a hearing last week for Mychal Bell, the only member of the “Jena Six” to be tried so far, defense attorney Bob Noel accused LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters of using “bait-and-switch” tactics to try Bell as an adult.

Under Louisiana law, a juvenile charged with aggravated battery may be charged as an adult only if the attack involved a firearm, but murder and attempted murder charges can be brought in adult court.

Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. threw out Bell’s conspiracy conviction because that is not a charge on which a juvenile may be tried as an adult. But he left the conviction for aggravated second-degree battery intact, saying a juvenile charged as an adult may be convicted of a lesser offense.

At Monday’s hearing, the judge set Nov. 26 as Bailey’s trial date, but defense attorney Jim Boren of Baton Rouge, La., said he would ask more time to prepare.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson joined Bell’s parents, Marcus Jones and Melissa Bell, for a juvenile court hearing on the conspiracy charge. Those hearings are confidential, so attorneys could not comment.

But Noel said he expects the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal to overturn bell’s battery conviction as an adult. “Hopefully, we will get a ruling on that prior to the sentencing,” scheduled for Sept. 20, he said.

Jackson, who has said the adult charges are excessive, urged the judge to send the six teens back to school, instead of to jail.

A suspended jail sentence for Bell and charges reduced to misdemeanors for the other defendants are necessary, Jackson said. And if not, a “major demonstration” spurred by the “national and international outrage” will follow on Sept. 20.

(Associated Press)