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Back in September of 2006, a black student, named Kenneth Purvis sought school permission to sit under the so-called “White Tree,” a gathering place for white students at Jena High School. Like most schools in America, the students at Jena self-segregated.
The school administration responded, “You can sit wherever you like.”
The day after Purvis and a few friends sat under the white tree, three nooses were found hanging from the tree – two black and one gold, which were Jena High’s school colors. THAT was the first bad judgment.
Three white students were charged with hanging those nooses and were suspended from school for three days. The school administration dismissed the nooses as a “childish prank,” without further comment. That was the second bad judgment in this situation.
The following day, black students staged a spontaneous protest rally under the tree where the nooses had been discovered lead in this protest. Several black male athletes took the same students who were eventually accused of attacking Justin Barker. This was yet a third bad judgment in this event.
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Shortly after that incident, District Attorney Reed Walters addressed an emergency school assembly called in response to the spontaneous student protest. With a dozen fully uniformed (and I’m assuming, armed) police officers in the auditorium, Walters warned protest organizers with the admonition, "I can make your lives disappear with a stroke of my pen."
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Walters has admitted under oath that he made this remark. His words were not aimed at the entire student body, nor at black students in general, he was speaking to the student athletes we now call the Jena 6. This was the fourth bad judgment in this case and appears to be an almost Nifongesque abuse of authority.
In several signed statements, numerous white and black students mentioned a series of verbal altercations during the lunch hour preceding the attack on Justin Barker. That was yet another bad judgment on the part of those students involved.
Three days before the lunchroom taunting, a black student named Robert Bailey and a few of his friends were invited to an all-white student party by some of their white friends. When Robert entered the building, he was punched in the face by a 22 year-old white male. In seconds, Robert was assaulted with beer bottles, punches and kicks in a virtual mirror image of the altercation that would occur at the high school three days later, with the major difference being that Robert Bailey remained conscious after the initial blow and was thus able to minimize the impact of the attack. He was neither hospitalized nor required medical treatment.
Despite the fact that the attacker in the assault on Robert Bailey was known, no charges were filed in that criminal offense. Both the assault and even worse, the failure to press charges on the part of Reed Walters, the Jena D.A. were critically bad judgments, making two such poor judgments for Mr. Walters, the Jena D.A.
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On December 4th, 2006 a white Jena High School student Justin Barker, 17, is beaten during a fight with black students. Barker was initially knocked unconscious and numerous black students than punched and kicked Barker while he was unconscious. He was treated and later released at a local hospital.
In this case, six black students -- 17-year-old Robert Bailey Jr., 17-year-old Theo Shaw, 18-year-old Carwin Jones, 17-year-old Bryant Purvis, 16-year-old Mychal Bell, and a 14-year-old boy -- are arrested in connection with the assault. All but the 14-year-old are charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder. All six are expelled from school.
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On June 26th, 2007, the very morning of Bell's trial, the district attorney reduces the charges against him to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. Bell is tried and convicted by an all-white jury. He faces up to 22 years in prison.
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On September 4th, 2007, a Louisiana District Court judge dismisses the conspiracy charge against Bell but lets the battery conviction stand, although he said Bell should have been tried as a juvenile. Charges against Jones and Shaw are reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. On September 10th, 2007 the Charges against Bailey Jr. are reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. On September 14th, 2007 the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeals reverses Bell's aggravated second-degree battery conviction, ruling that he had been tried improperly as an adult. The local district attorney may appeal to the Louisiana Supreme Court or refile the case in juvenile court.
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All of those show more poor judgment by Reed Walters, the Jena D.A.
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The Jena case has some similarities to the Duke Lacrosse scandal, in that a sitting District Attorney misused his powers – failing to charge the attacker of Robert Bailey and then over-charging the assailants of Justin Barker.
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Certainly, there is no question that the assault against Barker was more severe and as such, worthy of stronger punishment, but both crimes should’ve been vigorously prosecuted.
And in both cases, the students (the Duke-3 and the Jena-6) have wrongly been lionized by the misguided. In the Duke case, while the Duke Lax players were WRONGLY accused (not so in the Jena-6), they weren’t “great guys!” I’ve had numerous exchanges with those who lionized them and the fact is, they were engaged in under-age drinking and other “conduct unbecoming” students at Duke (including the hiring of a stripper). Durham D.A. Mike Nifong was the PRIMARY villain in that case, Crystal Gail Mangum was the willing dupe and the Duke LAX were all, in fact, wrongly accused.
In the Jena-6 case, there aren’t any WRONGLY accused, as all 6 of those black students assaulted Justin Barker. In THAT case, the Jena D.A. is guilty of (1) over-charging those students, with attempted second-degree murder charges, which he dropped just prior to trial and (2) failing to charge the white assailants of Robert Bailey, which was indeed a miscarriage of justice.
It's important to note that that’s where the comparison ends, while BOTH District Attorney’s made some egregious judgments, the Duke-3 were, in fact, wrongly accused, the Jena-6 appear to have all been directly involved in the assault on Justin Barker.
In fact, while the Duke-3 were the ONLY real “victims” of Mike Nifong, the abuses of Reed Walters have overshadowed the real victim in the Jena incident – Justin Barker. He was indeed the victim of a criminal assault.
