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Insult and Outrage

piny

So. Join the Virtual March on Jena.

There was this coda to the headline Jill posted a couple of days ago:

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.

Oh. Well then. I mean, what´s another few days after nine months?

And then this one. Here´s an article with a little more information:

Shortly before 11 a.m. today, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a bond hearing for a Jena teenager whose adult conviction for aggravated second-degree battery was overturned Friday.
The appellate court ordered the hearing for Mychal Bell to be held within 72 hours, according Bob Noel of Monroe, one of Bell’s attorneys. Although the conviction was overturned, Bell was still being held at a LaSalle Parish prison.

Call me cynical, but behavior like this doesn´t lead me to believe that Mr. Walters is gonna give up any chance to ruin lives. Bell´s trial is only the first. Robert Bailey Jr., Carwin Jones, and Theo Shaw have been arraigned on charges of battery and conspiracy, while Bryant Purvis still awaits arraignment, and Jesse Ray Beard is awaiting trial as a juvenile on charges that are unspecified (for us, that is, because he´s a juvenile).

And article about the non-virtual march. Jesus, is our president a doucheclump.

2 thoughts on Insult and Outrage

  1. Forgive me, but I’m having a hard time seeing exactly why everyone should be so outraged over this situation.

    Yes, it was unfair to let those punks who hung the nooses off with a slap on the wrist. And yes, it was grossly unfair for the district attorney to charge those African-American boys who ganged up on the white boy with attempted murder.

    But the DA reduced the charges to second-degree battery, which strikes me as entirely justifiable. Six of them beat another boy unconscious. If a gang of punks beat up my kid, you damn well bet I’d want their asses in jail, whatever their color.

    Not being a lawyer, I can’t speak to the question of adult vs. juvenile charges. But once that gets sorted out, I can’t see any reason for this prosecution not to go forward.

  2. He´s served nine months already.

    That is why everyone is so outraged: this teenager was charged as an adult with attempted murder. Even the battery charge is illegitimate; aggravated battery requires the use of a deadly weapon, and that category doesn´t include shoes. If there had not been enormous protests, it´s not clear that the prosecutor would have blinked. This punishment is hugely disproportionate to the crime, and the only reason for that is the race of the perpetrators.

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