Villagers, there was some positive news for those of us concerned about justice in the Jena Six trials that are
still ongoing down in Louisiana. Judge J.P. Mauffray, the judge overseeing the trial of Mychal Bell, one of the teenage defendants in the racially charged Jena 6 case in Louisiana, reversed course and agreed to open Bell's upcoming juvenile trial to the public.The lawsuit asserts that the judge's earlier decision to close all the proceedings in Bell's case runs counter to Louisiana juvenile laws and provisions of both the Louisiana and U.S. Constitutions.
"Judge Mauffray does acknowledge that [sections of the Louisiana Children's Code] permit or require adjudication, disposition and modification hearings in those specified cases to be public, and he intends to comply with applicable law," Mauffray's attorney, Donald Wilson, wrote in response to the lawsuit.
Bel
l, 17, is scheduled to go on trial Dec. 6 on charges of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy for his alleged part in an attack on a white student at Jena High School last December. Bell was initially tried and convicted of the charges as an adult, but an appellate court threw out the conviction, ruling that Bell should have been prosecuted as a juvenile.Kudos to Howard Twitt (Chicago Tribune senior correspondent) for continuing to share his drumbeat on the Jena Six story.
