Few reporters have attached much significance to the recent recusal of Jena Judge J.P Mauffray.  Sherrell Wheeler Stewart is a blessed exception.  When I talked to Sherrell on Saturday morning it was clear she had talked to virtually every person associated with the struggle for justice in Jena . . . DA Reed Walters included.

I should clarify the remarks ascribed to me.  I refer to the “lynch mob mentality” that existed in Jena when I first arrived in town in January of 2007.  A quick perusal of the Jena Times made it clear that the defendants now known as the Jena 6 were in deep jeopardy. 

I had no problem with the idea that, if guilt could be demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt, these kids needed to be held accountable for their actions.  But the charges filed by DA Walters had the defendants facing between 25 and 100 years in prison without parole.  Even if these charges were considerably reduced, I feared that young lives would be destroyed.

Some suggest that would have been a good thing.  Toby Keith was on the Colbert Report this Monday singing the song he recorded with Willie Nelson a few years ago: “Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses”.  I like the song but had never listened to the lyrics.  Even a lefty like Nelson interpreted the country anthem as a gentle, tongue-in-cheek poke at red neck rage.  Steven Colbert likely did the same.  But the lyrics are really scary.  Here’s a sample:

Well a man come on the 6 oclock news
Said somebodys been shot, somebodys been abused
Somebody blew up a building
Somebody stole a car
Somebody got away
Somebody didnt get too far yeah
They didnt get too far

Grandpappy told my pappy, back in my day, son
A man had to answer for the wicked that he done
Take all the rope in texas
Find a tall oak tree, round up all of them bad boys
Hang them high in the street for all the people to see that

Chorus:

Justice is the one thing you should always find
You got to saddle up your boys
You got to draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles well sing a victory tune
Well all meet back at the local saloon
Well raise up our glasses against evil forces
Singing whiskey for my men, beer for my horses

The song recommends hanging as the remedy of choice for stealing a car and, one assumes, for every other criminal offense.  The boys in the saloon do their part by cheering on the hangman.  The “lynch mob mentality” celebrated by Toby Keith’s song was alive and well in Jena when I first arrived.

Unfortunately, a vocal minority really thinks this way (Jena isn’t unique); just read the “comments” section at the end of any news story featuring crime and punishment.

The folks who allegedly jumped Justin Barker were being portrayed as grown men; dark, sinister cretins lurking in the shadows, waiting for a white man, any white man, to saunter past.  It was even suggested by a local minister that Jena’s traditional innocence was being swept away on the Katrina flood waters.  Thugs from the 9th Ward of New Orleans, the minister said, had invaded a once-peaceful community.

 The notion that the assault on Barker was in any way associated with the fire that engulfed the school a few days earlier, or with a weekend of white-initiated racial violence, was rejected out of hand.  Nobody even addressed the possibility that the beef between Barker and his assailants could be traced back three months to the day when school administrators dismissed a hate crime as an innocent prank.

After interviewing everyone willing to speak with me (and a few who weren’t) it was clear that the violence at the high school could have been avoided.  The Jena 6 weren’t a street gang; they were adolescent athletes exposed to a toxic social brew beyond their understanding or control.

I have always argued that the culpability of the Jena 6 can only be evaluated against the full historical backdrop.  That said, I give you read Ms. Stewart’s report.

Judge Removed in Jena Six Case; 5 Youths Still Face Trial

Date: Monday, August 04, 2008
By: Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com

The LaSalle Parish, La., judge who had presided in the cases of the Jena Six was removed from that role, a change that legal observers and advocates said should signal a new day for the remaining five defendants who were the subject last year of national attention and civil rights marches.

“I think what will happen now is that these young men will be allowed to have a fair trial,” said Daryl Washington, deputy chief of staff for the National Bar Association, the largest organization of black lawyers in the country. “Now a new judge will be appointed. He’ll know that he is under the scope and the chances will be better for a fair trial,” Washington told BlackAmericaweb.com.

The six black youths received stiff charges following a Dec. 4, 2006 school fight with a white student that came after months of racial tension in the tiny Louisiana town of Jena. One of the youths, Mychal Bell, was convicted and later reached a plea agreement requiring him to serve 18 months in juvenile custody.
Jesse Ray Beard, Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis, Theo Shaw and Carwin Jones still await trial.

Initially, all but Beard were charged as adults and their bonds ranged as high as $135,000. The potential maximum sentences on those felony charges could have been as high as 75 years, attorneys have said.

Those charges have since been reduced.

No charges were brought against whites who hung a noose at the school earlier that year, an incident which students and townspeople say touched off the following months of tension.
Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr., the only judge in the parish, had acknowledged calling the teens “trouble makers” and “a violent bunch” but insisted he could be impartial. Defense attorneys disagreed and asked that he be removed.

Judge Thomas M. Yeager, who was appointed by the state Supreme Court to decide whether Mauffray should be taken off the case, found there was an appearance of impropriety. Mauffray was removed from the case on Thursday.

Attempts by BlackAmericaweb.com to reach Mauffray were unsuccessful. He has not returned previous call placed to his office.

The recusal can be appealed, and the LaSalle Parish district attorney said he would decide soon whether to pursue that route.

“Whatever ultimately happens concerning the judge, this does not mean these cases go away,” District Attorney Reed Walters said in a prepared statement provided to BlackAmericaweb.com. “It will just take longer to get them to trial. However, I may seek to have the decision overturned by taking a writ to the Court of Appeals.”

Walters has characterized the fight as an “assault” and said the six youths used dangerous weapons – their sneakers – to beat Justin Barker, who had to be taken to the hospital for treatment.

The Rev. Alan Bean, director the advocate group Friends of Justice, said removing the judge from the case was just the first step needed to ensure that the youths get a fair trial.

“The trials need to be moved to another venue. Because of the attention placed on this, I don’t think anyone in the parish can claim to be objective,” Bean told BlackAmericaweb.com.

“They all have been caught up in a lynch mob mentality that prevailed in Jena,” Bean said. “They thought of these young men as thugs, unlike none Jena had ever experienced and they treated them in court as dangerous adults.”

Bean also wants to see Walters removed from the case. The district attorney, he said, has not acted in the best interest of justice in matters related to the Jena youths.

“He (Walters) has to realize that no one takes him seriously as an objective prosecutor,” Bean said. “If another prosecutor is brought in, I believe they can reach a plea agreement that will be acceptable to all parties.”

James Rucker, director of Color of Change, said though there hasn’t been much talk about Jena in recent months, there still is a need to do everything possible to resolve matters there so that the young men can get on with their lives.

“Their lives still hang in the balance,” Rucker told BlackAmericaweb.com.

In addition to the trials that still await five of the defendants, the family of Justin Barker, the young man with whom their fought, has filed a civil suit.

The outcome in the Jena Six cases is something that is being observed around the country, said Richard Cohen, director of the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center. That organization has helped staff the defense for two of the young men and also assisted in some other legal matters, he said.
“You don’t have to look far to see the disparity in the treatment of blacks and poor in the justice system,” Cohen told BlackAmericaweb.com.

“There is a little Jena in a lot of places.”