Reply #9: Motions to Throw Out Conviction of Mychal Bell

[flashl]

Judge to Hear Arguments on Motions to Throw Out Conviction of Jena Six’s Mychal Bell

By: Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com

A Louisiana judge is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday on motions to toss out the conviction of Mychal Bell, the only one of six black teens to be convicted after facing charges of beating a white student in the small town of Jena following a series of racially charged incidents in 2006.

The other five -- Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis, Carwin Jones, Theodore Shaw and one who has not been identified because he is a juvenile -- still await trial.

“Mychal was a juvenile at the time of the incident. This should have been handled in juvenile court. It is or opinion that the whole trial was null and void, and we are seeking a ruling that the conviction is null and void,” Bell’s attorney Louis Scott told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

If the motion to toss out the convition fails, Scott said he will seek to get a new trial.

In the meantime, Bell’s father, Marcus Jones, said he tries to keep his son’s spirits up.

“We prepare for the worse,” Jones told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

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I am glad that these kids are finally getting the type of support that may keep them from the horrors of enhanced prison sentences.