Jena 6 Plea Deal Emerges

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Mychal Bell, who is now 17, has agreed to a plea bargain with LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters. The plea deal dramatically reduces the originally trumped up charges against the youth who has come to be known as one of the Jena 6.
To the relief of many who have been watching this case unfold, Mychal Bell will get credit for the nine months he spent in jail awaiting trial, and his legal team advises that he could be released by June.

In addition Walters offered in a statement Monday that he hopes to have the remaining Jena 6 cases resolved "early next year."

"A trial would be very bad for the town, very bad for Reed Walters, very bad for anybody in Jena associated with the process, and it could turn out very bad for the defendants as well," said Alan Bean, head of the civil rights group 'Friends of Justice' who was the first activist to call attention to the Jena case. "It had the potential for being a perfect storm in which everybody lost."



Both sides of the argument agree.


Source: Electronic Village