Cam'ron Giles
Sep 21st, 2007, 07:59 PM
Bail denied for only Jena beating suspect in jail
Ruling comes day after civil rights demonstration in La. town
JENA, La. - Bail was denied Friday for a black teenager whose arrest in the beating of a white classmate led to this week's huge civil rights demonstration in the central Louisiana town of Jena.
The bond hearing for Mychal Bell, one of the group known as the “Jena Six,” was held this afternoon in a juvenile court in Jena.
Lawyers would not comment because juvenile court proceedings are secret. But John Jenkins, the father of one of Bell's co-defendants, said Bell's bail request was denied.
Bell's mother left the courthouse in tears and refused to comment. A man accompanying her said "denied" as they walked out.
Bell, now 17, is the only one of the six defendants to be tried so far. He was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery, but his conviction was overturned last week by a state appeals court. The court said Bell, who was 16 at the time he was charged in a fellow student’s beating, could not be tried as an adult on that charge.
Bell had been on probation at the time of the beating and remains in jail. The other five defendants were free on bond.
Thousands of demonstrators from around the country converged on Jena on Thursday in support of the six defendants in the case.
Ruling comes day after civil rights demonstration in La. town
JENA, La. - Bail was denied Friday for a black teenager whose arrest in the beating of a white classmate led to this week's huge civil rights demonstration in the central Louisiana town of Jena.
The bond hearing for Mychal Bell, one of the group known as the “Jena Six,” was held this afternoon in a juvenile court in Jena.
Lawyers would not comment because juvenile court proceedings are secret. But John Jenkins, the father of one of Bell's co-defendants, said Bell's bail request was denied.
Bell's mother left the courthouse in tears and refused to comment. A man accompanying her said "denied" as they walked out.
Bell, now 17, is the only one of the six defendants to be tried so far. He was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery, but his conviction was overturned last week by a state appeals court. The court said Bell, who was 16 at the time he was charged in a fellow student’s beating, could not be tried as an adult on that charge.
Bell had been on probation at the time of the beating and remains in jail. The other five defendants were free on bond.
Thousands of demonstrators from around the country converged on Jena on Thursday in support of the six defendants in the case.