Charges Reduced in ‘Jena 6′ Attack
Daily News > – Sep 4, 2007 – by SCHEME MAG 
JENA, La. (AP) — Prosecutors on Tuesday reduced the attempted murder charges against two more teenagers among the “Jena Six,” a group of black high school students who were arrested following an attack on a white schoolmate.
Five of the teens were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, carrying sentences of up to 80 years in prison. The sixth faces undisclosed juvenile charges. Civil rights advocates have decried the charges as unfairly harsh.
On Tuesday, charges against Carwin Jones and Theo Shaw were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy. That same reduction was made earlier for Mychal Bell, who was tried and found guilty and could be sentenced to 22 1/2 years at a hearing Sept. 20.
Also awaiting trial are Robert Bailey Jr. and Bryant Purvis, who still face attempted murder charges, and the unidentified juvenile. The attack on Justin Barker, 18, came amid tense race relations in Jena, a mostly white town of 3,000 in north-central Louisiana where racial tensions have grown since incidents that started last school year at Jena High. After a black student sat under a tree on the school campus where white students traditionally congregated, three nooses were hung in the tree.
Students accused of placing the nooses were suspended from school for a short period. The six black students were accused of beating and kicking Barker on Dec. 4. A motive for the attack was never established. Barker was treated at a hospital emergency room and released after about three hours.
Shaw’s attorney, George Tucker, said Tuesday that he still doesn’t believe his client will get a fair trial in Jena. Shaw himself has dreams of attending Grambling State University. “Just drop all the charges and let us go on with our lives,” the teenager told CNN Tuesday.
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Fuck this country in so many ways this story is the shit that should get the race off are ass and demand some type of equality
I can understand the aggrevated assault charges, but conspiracy??? Also, considering the Mychal Bell was found guilty on both accounts, the likely hood of the others found innocent is slim to none. It seems like the Jena is a biased town on both sides, the lawyers need to take the pending trails to another town and selected a more diversed jury (the first case had an all white jury).
Conspiracy is the agreement between two or more individuals to engage in an illegal act. With a conspiracy all the actors in the conspiracy are liable for each others actions. For instance, if three people decide to rob a bank A, B, and C. A and B go inside and C waits in the car. During the robbery B shoots and kills a teller. When A,B,C are charged they will be charged with first degree murder, armed robbery, as well as conspiracy. A and C will be charged with murder also even though they did not pull the trigger.
So applying this to the Jena 6 case the conspiracy charge allows the State to charge all 6 with the same charge aggravated second degree battery, even though their actual role in the attack may have been extremely limited.