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Friday, September 21, 2007

Jena Six



Six were arrested, 5 have been released on bail because their families raised the money.

Since the appeals court overturned his conviction, Mychal Bell is still being held with bond set at $90K.


"The black teen at the center of a furor over legal racism remained behind bars – though charges against him were thrown out Friday - because the judge and prosecutor didn’t come to a bail hearing yesterday, his lawyer said.

“We showed up. There was nobody there,” said Bob Noel, lawyer for 17-year-old Mychal Bell of Jena, La. “No DA, no judge.”

A woman who answered the phone at District Attorney Reed Walters’ office said he had no bail procedure on his calendar.

An appeals court on Friday threw out the conviction of Bell, who was charged as an adult with attempted murder last year for punching a white classmate in a schoolyard scuffle. The charges were later reduced to aggravated battery, a charge the appeals court said should have been dealt with in juvenile court.
Noel had filed a motion to have Bell released - or his $90,000 bail reduced - while the prosecutor mulls whether to appeal the overturning of Bell’s conviction. He has two weeks to decide." Helen Kennedy, New York Daily News

Just wondering ...

Why doesn't Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King III, and other notables that have spoken out on the J-6 and attended the protest yesterday, kick in a few bucks and get Mychal out of jail?

9 comments:

Joan said...

I can't speak for MLK III but do the two others get along? I guess they are together at these P.R. events.
It's just a bad situation down there. We had the Duke Lacrosse incident near here. Of course it started in one direction and ended in another.

Nancy said...

Joan: Yeah, it sure is bad there.

I am just questioning that one little part ... are they there to stir the pot or to really help this boy?

If it's to help HIM, get him out, back to his house and family while the courts and lawyers sort out this whole mess.

Jessie said...

I think MLK III was going to show up, but I don't know if it happened. I remember hearing it on the news earlier this week. Being from Atlanta, this has been on the news nonstop pretty much. Alternately speaking, all protestors could kick in some money and at least raise half, then have the big names pay the other half, split three ways. But then, I tend to the think the three people mentioned love the idea of stirring the pot more than doing what needs to be done. Better press if they stir the pot. But then, I don't really announce that opinion down here. I tend to think there are better options, and more legal channels. Like say bailing the kid out.

Nancy said...

Jessie: Yeah, this was just my sarcastic way of saying to some pot stirrers, present at the protest or just verbal ... put your money where your mouth is.

Jami said...

Oh, but they're just poor preachers and such. You know they don't make that kind of money ... do they?

Nancy said...

jami: yeah, kinda what I was thinking too.

Jessie said...

I hate saying it, but I look at those three and are ashamed we're in the same species. On more than one occasion. Instead of making everything a PR event, let's just fix the world for a minute. How about that? Let's do the work and then get credit for it.

Oh, right. Earth logic keeps screwing me up, doesn't it? Darn it. I need to stop using that stuff. It's very bad for me.

Anonymous said...

I had said the exact same thing in my post about this:

http://marqueslyons.blogspot.com/2007/09/jena-6.html

It's the one thing I had been wondering about too. Stop yappering and bail the kid out!

Nancy said...

Marques: ^5 , and I think their agenda is more about themselves than really helping people.