Please read the latest Jena Six post here.

Update: Specifics on how the all-white jury was selected are here. Short version, it was demographics, not anything sinister. Bell’s lawyer says he believes the trial will be fair. Something that “feels” unfair but isn’t – Bell’s parents were required to leave the courtroom as potential witnesses, but Justin Barker, potential witness and the victim of the beating who is also up on a gun charge for having a rifle and bullets in his truck on campus, was permitted to stay in the courtroom “because state law says victims are allowed to view all court proceedings.” It’s a good example of all the overlap in this case. There are also some good photos in that article, and a photo gallery here.

The Chicago Tribune, who was the first paper to give this story coverage outside of the local area, follows up with Charge reduced in ‘Jena 6′ case – Change made on day jury was to be picked

HOUSTON — The district attorney prosecuting a racially charged beating case in the small Louisiana town of Jena abruptly reduced attempted-murder charges Monday against a black high school student accused of attacking a white student, drawing cautious praise from civil rights leaders who contend the charges were excessive and part of a pattern of uneven justice in the town.

Mychal Bell, 16, a former Jena High School football star, and five other black students had been facing the potential of up to 100 years in prison if convicted of attempted murder, conspiracy and other charges for the December beating of the white student, who was knocked unconscious but not hospitalized. The incident capped months of escalating racial tensions at the high school that began after several white youths hung nooses from a tree in the school courtyard in a taunt aimed at blacks.

But as jury selection was about to begin in Bell’s case Monday, District Atty. Reed Walters reduced the charges to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery, which together carry a maximum of 22 years in prison. Walters, who is prosecuting Bell as an adult, also offered the teenager a plea agreement including a suspended sentence, which Bell’s father said the youth rejected.

I believe D.A. Reed Walters is getting nervous. He thought he could Nifong these boys, and it’s backfiring on him. While he had more to go on than Nifong, because in this case the fight he’s prosecuting actually took place, I don’t believe he ever dreamed that his uneven prosecution of people involved in the racial violence in Jena, LA would become so widely known. For example, if he had thought for a moment that his failure to arrest the white man who threatened black students with a shotgun, while charging those students who then disarmed him with battery and theft, would become known, would he have acted differently? I believe he would have.

Now Walters reduced the charges and offered a suspended sentence in exchange for a plea – he just wants this to all go away. I don’t think it will.

The Times Picayune reports on the jury selection.

JENA, La. (AP) — The district attorney and defense lawyer went through about 60 people — all white — before they were able to seat a six-person jury and one alternate in the case against the first of a group of black students accused of beating a white schoolmate amid escalating racial tensions at a central Louisiana high school.

Five women — two housewives, a bank teller and two registered nurses — and a lineman for the electric company are set to hear opening arguments Wednesday in the trial of 17-year-old Mychale Bell, who could be imprisoned until he is 58 if convicted.

“I’m sure I can get a fair trial,” said Blane Williams, Bell’s defense lawyer. “You can’t tell me there aren’t six people in this town who won’t listen fairly and do the right thing. I think people have a tendency to do the right thing.”

Bell will be imprisoned until he is 58 for a high school fight in which no one was seriously hurt. The victim was bruised, but up and about and attending a ring ceremony that night. This is a travesty. In his desperation, Walters may present a novel prosecution to justify keeping a kid in jail for a high school fight:

Bell and four other black students faced up to 80 years if convicted of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the December beating, which occurred several months after three white students were suspended for hanging nooses from a schoolyard tree.

But the district attorney on Monday reduced Bell’s charges to aggravated second-degree battery, and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery.

Aggravated second-degree battery involves use of a dangerous weapon, according to state statutes. Parents of the accused say they had heard no previous mention of a weapon.

But attorneys on both sides, during questioning of jurors, indicated prosecutors will try to say that something not usually thought of as a weapon — such as a ring or an ink pen — could be considered a dangerous weapon during a fight.

“We usually think of something like a gun, or knife as a dangerous weapon,” LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters told prospective jurors. “But a chair could be a dangerous weapon if I hit you over the head with it.”

I usually think of a government prosecutor as someone who fairly prosecutes crimes. I guess everyone’s assumptions are challenged sooner or later.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson’s Website, DeMediacratic Nation, Maggie’s Notebook, Right Truth, Big Dog’s Weblog, The Pet Haven Blog, , Webloggin, Stuck On Stupid, Leaning Straight Up, Cao’s Blog, The Amboy Times, The Bullwinkle Blog, Conservative Cat, Rightlinx, , third world county, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate’s Cove, Nuke’s news and views, The Pink Flamingo, Planck’s Constant, Right Voices, CatSynth.com, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.