by matttbastard
Close out the weekend properly with this fresh batch of primo posts (as always, props to the Bard’s female sibling):
Too Sense: White Cops Refer To Mostly Black Unit As “The Slave Ship” (h/t Racialicious)
All About Ra…

One of the local papers quoted Bell’s lawyer as also saying the revocation was unrelated to Barker’s beating. I didn’t note the link because otherwise the article didn’t add anything.

I would imagine that given the sketchy quotes from both lawyers that the judge reviewed their statements before their release to the media.

I’m sure a Congressional hearing can unseal a juvie record. They would almost have to if Bell’s ex-girlfriend and grandmother testify.

JENA, La. – A teenager at the center of a civil rights controversy is back in jail after a judge sentenced him on charges that were pending before the attack that put him in the national spotlight, his attorney said Thursday.
Mychal Bell, who along with five other black teenagers had been accused of beating a white classmate, went to juvenile court Thursday expecting another routine hearing, said Carol Powell Lexing, one of Bell’s attorneys.
Instead, after a six-hour hearing, state District Judge J.P. Mauffrey Jr. sentenced him to 18 months on two counts of simple battery and two counts of criminal destruction of property, Lexing said.”

The article is on the MSNBC website at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21038363/

Notice that Bell’s attorneys are free to discuss the sentencing.

I think the confusion may turn out to be that Bell was on parole for one of the previous offenses while sentencing was pending on one of the other offenses. The AP and Reuters will probably publish more details next week.

Doesn’t that strike you as inappropriate?

I really would like to know the whole truth. It is customary for parents to be allowed to speak about hearings. Why should Reed Walter’s assessment go uncorroborated?

As I suspected Blair, there is a single source for this analysis of the case. That source is of all people Reed Walters. Critical thinking suggests that I should trust his analysis of this case as much as I trust his assesment that Jesus prevented black folk from goin’ all crazy like in Jena. Come on.

“Walters said Bell’s sentence in juvenile court was postponed after he and five other black teen-agers were charged with attacking a white Jena, Louisiana, high school classmate in December 2006 after months of racially charged incidents in the central Louisiana town of 3,000.

“As I earlier pointed out, Mychal Bell had four dispositions, as they are known in Louisiana juvenile court, before the so-called Jena Six case occurred,” Walters said in a statement.

Walters declined further comment on Bell’s incarceration because juvenile cases are not public record under Louisiana law, as in most U.S. states.

“Mychal Bell, 17, was unexpectedly sent back to prison on Thursday after going to juvenile court in central Louisiana’s LaSalle Parish for what he expected to be a routine hearing, Carol Powell Lexing, one of his attorneys said.

Instead, state District Judge J.P. Mauffrey Jr. decided Bell had violated probation and sentenced him to 18 months in jail on two counts of simple battery and two counts of criminal destruction of property, Lexing said.”

I look forward to seeing you source. Thanks.