JENA, La. (AP) – 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.
Like the other five, he originally had 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.
Conviction of attempted second-degree murder requires 10 to 50 years at hard labor without suspension, probation or parole. Aggravated second-degree battery can be punished with up to 15 years at hard labor and a $10,000 fine. A conspiracy conviction carries up to half the maximum penalty for the associated crime, or 7 1/2 years and a $5,000 fine in this case.
At Monday’s hearing, the judge set Nov. 26 as Bailey’s trial date, but defense attorney Jim Boren of Baton Rouge 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 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.
