Infamous District Attorney speaks in The New York Times

[admin]

Justice in Jena By Reed Walters

THE case of the so-called Jena Six has fired the imaginations of thousands, notably young African-Americans who, according to many of their comments, believe they will be in the vanguard of a new civil rights movement. Whether America needs a new civil rights movement I leave to social activists, politicians and the people who must give life to such a cause.

I am a small-town lawyer and prosecutor. For 16 years, it has been my job as the district attorney to review each criminal case brought to me by the police department or the sheriff, match the facts to any applicable laws and seek justice for those who have been harmed. The work is often rewarding, but not always.

I do not question the sincerity or motivation of the 10,000 or more protesters who descended on Jena last week, after riding hundreds of miles on buses. But long before reaching our town of 3,000 people, they had decided that a miscarriage of justice was taking place here. Their anger at me was summed up by a woman who said, “If you can figure out how to make a schoolyard fight into an attempted murder charge, I’m sure you can figure out how to make stringing nooses into a hate crime.”

That could be a compelling statement to someone trying to motivate listeners on a radio show, but as I am a lawyer obligated to enforce the laws of my state, it does not work for me.

I cannot overemphasize how abhorrent and stupid I find the placing of the nooses on the schoolyard tree in late August 2006. If those who committed that act considered it a prank, their sense of humor is seriously distorted. It was mean-spirited and deserves the condemnation of all decent people.

But it broke no law. I searched the Louisiana criminal code for a crime that I could prosecute. There is none.

Similarly, the United States attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, who is African-American, found no federal law against what was done.

A district attorney cannot take people to trial for acts not covered in the statutes. Imagine the trampling of individual rights that would occur if prosecutors were allowed to pursue every person whose behavior they disapproved of.

The “hate crime” the protesters wish me to prosecute does not exist as a stand-alone offense in Louisiana law. It’s not that our Legislature has turned a blind eye to crimes motivated by race or other personal characteristics, but it has addressed the problem in a way that does not cover what happened in Jena. The hate crime statute is used to enhance the sentences of defendants found guilty of specific crimes, like murder or rape, who chose their victims based on race, religion, sexual orientation or other factors.

Last week, a reporter asked me whether, if I had it to do over, I would do anything differently. I didn’t think of it at the time, but the answer is yes. I would have done a better job of explaining that the offenses of Dec. 4, 2006, did not stem from a “schoolyard fight” as it has been commonly described in the news media and by critics.

Conjure the image of schoolboys fighting: they exchange words, clench fists, throw punches, wrestle in the dirt until classmates or teachers pull them apart. Of course that would not be aggravated second-degree battery, which is what the attackers are now charged with. (Five of the defendants were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder.) But that’s not what happened at Jena High School.

The victim in this crime, who has been all but forgotten amid the focus on the defendants, was a young man named Justin Barker, who was not involved in the nooses incident three months earlier. According to all the credible evidence I am aware of, after lunch, he walked to his next class. As he passed through the gymnasium door to the outside, he was blindsided and knocked unconscious by a vicious blow to the head thrown by Mychal Bell. While lying on the ground unaware of what was happening to him, he was brutally kicked by at least six people.

Imagine you were walking down a city street, and someone leapt from behind a tree and hit you so hard that you fell to the sidewalk unconscious. Would you later describe that as a fight?

Only the intervention of an uninvolved student protected Mr. Barker from severe injury or death. There was serious bodily harm inflicted with a dangerous weapon — the definition of aggravated second-degree battery. Mr. Bell’s conviction on that charge as an adult has been overturned, but I considered adult status appropriate because of his role as the instigator of the attack, the seriousness of the charge and his prior criminal record.

I can understand the emotions generated by the juxtaposition of the noose incident with the attack on Mr. Barker and the outcomes for the perpetrators of each. In the final analysis, though, I am bound to enforce the laws of Louisiana as they exist today, not as they might in someone’s vision of a perfect world.

That is what I have done. And that is what I must continue to do.

[enpowermentnow]

Justice in Jena By Reed Walters

THE case of the so-called Jena Six has fired the imaginations of thousands, notably young African-Americans who, according to many of their comments, believe they will be in the vanguard of a new civil rights movement. Whether America needs a new civil rights movement I leave to social activists, politicians and the people who must give life to such a cause.

I am a small-town lawyer and prosecutor. For 16 years, it has been my job as the district attorney to review each criminal case brought to me by the police department or the sheriff, match the facts to any applicable laws and seek justice for those who have been harmed. The work is often rewarding, but not always.

I do not question the sincerity or motivation of the 10,000 or more protesters who descended on Jena last week, after riding hundreds of miles on buses. But long before reaching our town of 3,000 people, they had decided that a miscarriage of justice was taking place here. Their anger at me was summed up by a woman who said, “If you can figure out how to make a schoolyard fight into an attempted murder charge, I’m sure you can figure out how to make stringing nooses into a hate crime.”

That could be a compelling statement to someone trying to motivate listeners on a radio show, but as I am a lawyer obligated to enforce the laws of my state, it does not work for me.

I cannot overemphasize how abhorrent and stupid I find the placing of the nooses on the schoolyard tree in late August 2006. If those who committed that act considered it a prank, their sense of humor is seriously distorted. It was mean-spirited and deserves the condemnation of all decent people.

But it broke no law. I searched the Louisiana criminal code for a crime that I could prosecute. There is none.

Similarly, the United States attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, who is African-American, found no federal law against what was done.

A district attorney cannot take people to trial for acts not covered in the statutes. Imagine the trampling of individual rights that would occur if prosecutors were allowed to pursue every person whose behavior they disapproved of.

The “hate crime” the protesters wish me to prosecute does not exist as a stand-alone offense in Louisiana law. It’s not that our Legislature has turned a blind eye to crimes motivated by race or other personal characteristics, but it has addressed the problem in a way that does not cover what happened in Jena. The hate crime statute is used to enhance the sentences of defendants found guilty of specific crimes, like murder or rape, who chose their victims based on race, religion, sexual orientation or other factors.

Last week, a reporter asked me whether, if I had it to do over, I would do anything differently. I didn’t think of it at the time, but the answer is yes. I would have done a better job of explaining that the offenses of Dec. 4, 2006, did not stem from a “schoolyard fight” as it has been commonly described in the news media and by critics.

Conjure the image of schoolboys fighting: they exchange words, clench fists, throw punches, wrestle in the dirt until classmates or teachers pull them apart. Of course that would not be aggravated second-degree battery, which is what the attackers are now charged with. (Five of the defendants were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder.) But that’s not what happened at Jena High School.

The victim in this crime, who has been all but forgotten amid the focus on the defendants, was a young man named Justin Barker, who was not involved in the nooses incident three months earlier. According to all the credible evidence I am aware of, after lunch, he walked to his next class. As he passed through the gymnasium door to the outside, he was blindsided and knocked unconscious by a vicious blow to the head thrown by Mychal Bell. While lying on the ground unaware of what was happening to him, he was brutally kicked by at least six people.

Imagine you were walking down a city street, and someone leapt from behind a tree and hit you so hard that you fell to the sidewalk unconscious. Would you later describe that as a fight?

Only the intervention of an uninvolved student protected Mr. Barker from severe injury or death. There was serious bodily harm inflicted with a dangerous weapon — the definition of aggravated second-degree battery. Mr. Bell’s conviction on that charge as an adult has been overturned, but I considered adult status appropriate because of his role as the instigator of the attack, the seriousness of the charge and his prior criminal record.

I can understand the emotions generated by the juxtaposition of the noose incident with the attack on Mr. Barker and the outcomes for the perpetrators of each. In the final analysis, though, I am bound to enforce the laws of Louisiana as they exist today, not as they might in someone’s vision of a perfect world.

That is what I have done. And that is what I must continue to do.

The fall guy will be the United States attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, who is African-American Atty Donald Washington. A bush appointed man.

[MongoSlade]

Funny how many details he left off! A tennis shoe is the deadly weapon?! And how does one student break up such a brutal attack by 6. Looks like somebody is trying to put the Fox News spin on it. I hope people will stop trying convince others that there is racism in the US. Its a tremendous waste of time! If you have to prove it, they don't want to hear it anyway.

[zion]

UPDATE: FBI SAYS THEY WILL NOT SEEK CHARGES
AGAINST THE PUBLISHERS OF THIS WEBSITE

The Federal Bureau of Investigation told WREG-TV in Memphis today that they will not seek criminal charges or legal action against the American National Socialist Workers Party, LLC, or its Commander, Bill White.

"As I've said from the beginning, this nonsense about an 'FBI investigation' has been nothing but a farce cooked up by the Jew media to intimidate other whites who might be inclined to speak out," ANSWP Commander Bill White stated today, "We have not broken any laws and we have not done anything more extreme than any of the niggers who marched in the street to demand the right to lynch white people did last week."

This is at least the sixth time this year the FBI has chosen not to seek charges against White after he or his supporters have engaged in provocative activism. The first was after an ANSWP supporter, Eric Hunt, kidnapped famed Jewish liar Elie Wiesel. The second was after a group of niggers in Virginia Beach demand White be investigated for insulting them after they filed a false complaint of racial discrimination against their landlord. The third was after Roanoke Times editor Christian Trejbal published the names of Virginia Concealed Carry permit holder on the internet and received bomb threats. The fourth is after ANSWP supporters distributed literature outside the home of Leonard Pitts and allegedly made threatening phone calls to him. The fifth time was when the North Carolina NAACP demanded we be prosecuted for mass mailing 2000 fliers demanding an end to nigger crime in Henderson, North Carolina. Last year, this site's largest controvery occurred when the FBI refused to extradite White to Canada for allegedly plotting the assassination of Canadian anti-white lawyer Richard Warman.

Look at this website here:

http://www.overthrow.com

We need to put Bill White and this website on blast!!!! Come on family, we must get this website shut down!!!!!

This website list the names, addresses and phone numbers of the Jena 6, and is encouraging people to lynch them and their family.

WE MUST STOP THIS!!!!!!!!!!!! Support the Jena 6, No justice, No peace![/COLOR][/B]

[enpowermentnow]

Publish his address and phone number and all his relatives

[vlpryor]

Thank goodness for Kera and Rowland Martin for using professionalism, cause Petersen was a disgrace to his own self.

[enpowermentnow]

Thank goodness for Kera and Rowland Martin for using professionalism, cause Petersen was a disgrace to his own self.

Please don't forget him.....he is also a disgrace

[DOKB433]

This happen this evening from the State Capital in Baton Rouge. Let see how long it will take to release Mychal Bell.... DA Reed says he will not fight the courts discussion and move it to juvnile court.


Blanco announces Jena 6 case of Mychal Bell to be tried in juvenile court

By 2THEADVOCATE STAFF REPORT AND ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: Sep 26, 2007 - UPDATED: 6:20 p.m.


AP) -- Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco met Wednesday with the Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss six black teenagers - known as the "Jena 6" - who were initially charged with attempted second-degree murder after a white classmate was beaten.

Sharpton arrived at the Capitol to discuss a variety of issues surrounding the case, which last week sparked one of the biggest civil rights demonstrations in years.

More than 20,000 people converged on the small town of Jena to protest the case, and Sharpton said more protests may occur if Mychal Bell - the only teen convicted so far - is not released quickly.

Bell, now 17, was one of the six teens arrested after a December attack on Justin Barker, the culmination of several fights between blacks and whites.

Five of the teens initially faced attempted second-degree murder charges, though the charges for four of them have been reduced. One teen hasn't been arraigned, and the case of the sixth, handled as a juvenile, is sealed.

Bell, whose second-degree battery conviction was overturned after an apppeals court said he should have not been tried as an adult, remains in jail pending a possible appeal by prosecutors, a situation that Sharpton has said he hoped to address in the meeting with the governor.

Sharpton also has voiced concern over the safety of the families involved in the case after two of the teens' families received threats. Extra patrols by state and local authorities began several days ago, LaSalle Parish Sheriff Carl Smith said.

After the demonstration, it was later reported that a Web site featuring a swastika and racial slurs had posted what purported to be the addresses of five of the six teens and phone numbers for some of their families "in case anyone wants to deliver justice."

The Louisiana State Police has sent three investigators to help local law enforcement look into any possible threats, said Lt. Lawrence McLeary, an agency spokesman.

The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI are aware of the threat allegations and are investigating, said Brian Roehrkasse, a justice department spokesman.

[jaitheboss]

I told people years ago that the KKK and white supremists were grooming their offsprings to take power in the coming years all over this country. They are in jobs like Reed's all over this country, set to jail every black man and boy they can lock up (guilty or not) He says he is prosecuting because of the way the laws are on the books now? Well, in that case every interracial marraige in that state is illegal, because that law is still on the books, I remember in 1968 I was told I could not marry a quadroon because I was "too black" and it would be illegal for us to marry. These people have an agenda and we must counter-act on their manifesto!

[jaitheboss]

Five Truths That Make You Victorious
Cultivating the Character of Greatness, now and forever

The character of greatness must be measured in two ways, else the measurement is flawed. First, and by far most popular of all, is by one's ability to succeed in times of trial where others may fail. But of no less importance, and perhaps foundational to any form of greatness, is one's willingness to start over in spite of failure, when success seems farthest away.

For further understanding. . .

Five Truths That Make You Victorious
When those familiar feelings wash over us that we have somehow failed at something, or that we are sure to face defeat should we endeavor to claim some personal higher ground, we can do much better than allow ourselves to be carried away by these dark waves. We can call upon the following five light-filled truths to realize new self-victory. Study these friendly facts until they tell you why the whole idea of failure, including the painful sense of self it creates, is a lie you need no longer live with.

Truth 1

The truth is... nothing in life can stop you from starting your life all over, at anytime, because the true fabric of life is a cosmic weave of ceaseless beginnings. That's right. Your power for starting over is backed up by Reality itself, which will place its supreme strength on the side of whoever chooses it over self-ruinous states. All that is needed to put the power of this ever-renewing truth to work in your life is for you to consciously agree to view any unwanted or unhappy moment not as some unavoidable ending, but as the temporary and passing condition that it really is.

Truth 2

The truth is... just as the our own physical eye can't see itself other than by gazing upon a reflection of itself, we can't see our psychological self other than by gazing upon those mental images of our own creation. So, when "seeing" a failure in our mind's eye, we need only remember in that very moment this Truth: It is we ourselves who put it there! Now, instead of feeling defeated by how we picture ourselves, we can see through this defeated feeling itself by daring to see all the way back to how this painful painting came into existence in the first place.

Truth 3

The truth is... that just as it is impossible to feel ourselves a "failure" without having first condemned ourselves for some shortcoming, to do so tells of a secret self-duality that is the seed of defeat. Study the following truth closely: In order to see ourselves as being "small," we must be standing over ourselves at the same time. Now see that neither of these selves within us can exist in our mind's eye without the other, and that being self-divided like this, we must feel as though we are going to topple over and fall. But seeing the truth that we are neither of these inter-dependent selves unites us in a higher understanding that is fail-safe.

Truth 4

The truth is... the painful identity that results from thinking of yourself as a failure can exist only for as long as you cling to some self-created, self-sinking label. The only reason you won't abandon this sinking ship of yourself is because in its cargo hold is stored all your cherished ideas about what it means to be a success. The discovery of this truth reveals that the only weight dragging you under is your best ideas about how to sail through life.

Truth 5

The truth is... even the most superficial glance at the world in which we live shows us, beyond any doubts, that there is nothing living that is not a work-in-progress. This encouraging fact of life reveals a great secret from which we can draw true comfort in times of our trials. Even when it feels like life might just break us, these same trying moments are only part of the Truth's broader plan to make us stronger, wiser, and more willing to delve into the truth of our existence.

[Cecilia247]

Justice in Jena By Reed Walters

THE case of the so-called Jena Six has fired the imaginations of thousands, notably young African-Americans who, according to many of their comments, believe they will be in the vanguard of a new civil rights movement. Whether America needs a new civil rights movement I leave to social activists, politicians and the people who must give life to such a cause.

I am a small-town lawyer and prosecutor. For 16 years, it has been my job as the district attorney to review each criminal case brought to me by the police department or the sheriff, match the facts to any applicable laws and seek justice for those who have been harmed. The work is often rewarding, but not always.

I do not question the sincerity or motivation of the 10,000 or more protesters who descended on Jena last week, after riding hundreds of miles on buses. But long before reaching our town of 3,000 people, they had decided that a miscarriage of justice was taking place here. Their anger at me was summed up by a woman who said, “If you can figure out how to make a schoolyard fight into an attempted murder charge, I’m sure you can figure out how to make stringing nooses into a hate crime.”

That could be a compelling statement to someone trying to motivate listeners on a radio show, but as I am a lawyer obligated to enforce the laws of my state, it does not work for me.

I cannot overemphasize how abhorrent and stupid I find the placing of the nooses on the schoolyard tree in late August 2006. If those who committed that act considered it a prank, their sense of humor is seriously distorted. It was mean-spirited and deserves the condemnation of all decent people.

But it broke no law. I searched the Louisiana criminal code for a crime that I could prosecute. There is none.

Similarly, the United States attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, who is African-American, found no federal law against what was done.

A district attorney cannot take people to trial for acts not covered in the statutes. Imagine the trampling of individual rights that would occur if prosecutors were allowed to pursue every person whose behavior they disapproved of.

The “hate crime” the protesters wish me to prosecute does not exist as a stand-alone offense in Louisiana law. It’s not that our Legislature has turned a blind eye to crimes motivated by race or other personal characteristics, but it has addressed the problem in a way that does not cover what happened in Jena. The hate crime statute is used to enhance the sentences of defendants found guilty of specific crimes, like murder or rape, who chose their victims based on race, religion, sexual orientation or other factors.

Last week, a reporter asked me whether, if I had it to do over, I would do anything differently. I didn’t think of it at the time, but the answer is yes. I would have done a better job of explaining that the offenses of Dec. 4, 2006, did not stem from a “schoolyard fight” as it has been commonly described in the news media and by critics.

Conjure the image of schoolboys fighting: they exchange words, clench fists, throw punches, wrestle in the dirt until classmates or teachers pull them apart. Of course that would not be aggravated second-degree battery, which is what the attackers are now charged with. (Five of the defendants were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder.) But that’s not what happened at Jena High School.

The victim in this crime, who has been all but forgotten amid the focus on the defendants, was a young man named Justin Barker, who was not involved in the nooses incident three months earlier. According to all the credible evidence I am aware of, after lunch, he walked to his next class. As he passed through the gymnasium door to the outside, he was blindsided and knocked unconscious by a vicious blow to the head thrown by Mychal Bell. While lying on the ground unaware of what was happening to him, he was brutally kicked by at least six people.

Imagine you were walking down a city street, and someone leapt from behind a tree and hit you so hard that you fell to the sidewalk unconscious. Would you later describe that as a fight?

Only the intervention of an uninvolved student protected Mr. Barker from severe injury or death. There was serious bodily harm inflicted with a dangerous weapon — the definition of aggravated second-degree battery. Mr. Bell’s conviction on that charge as an adult has been overturned, but I considered adult status appropriate because of his role as the instigator of the attack, the seriousness of the charge and his prior criminal record.

I can understand the emotions generated by the juxtaposition of the noose incident with the attack on Mr. Barker and the outcomes for the perpetrators of each. In the final analysis, though, I am bound to enforce the laws of Louisiana as they exist today, not as they might in someone’s vision of a perfect world.

That is what I have done. And that is what I must continue to do.

This dude made it seem like there was nothing done on the young man's part. Everybody plays apart! Now if these are the same young men who protested for the nooses being hung don't you think it's weird for them to just out of the blue beat some random dude up? There was a motive and obviously the young man did something to provoke whom ever beat him up! I'm not buying it.

[dd4525]

I have a question or rather theory that no one has seemed to bring up.

Let's say Mychael Bell acted alone in this fight and due to his history and the supposingly knocking Justin in the head this justified an aggravated battery charge. Now add the other 5 boys. They had no history. There is no mention that any of them knocked Justin down. Why would they be charged with the same thing?

It was not coincidental that Mychael was tried and convicted first. This was a tactic so the other boys would later plead after seeing how much time Mychael was getting.

I know everyone is yelling free Bell but I truley marched last week for the other 5 boys who seem to be paying the price for Mychael's previous history. I believe they should be considered as individuals in their roles, if any, in the incident.

If Mychael is going to be tried as juvenile so be it, then charge him and quit holding him in jail without a charge. I dont know about the rest of the world but I would be scared to death if someone could lock me up without any charges!

DD

[Blackman7]

Blanco: No Challenge of 'Jena 6' Ruling

By DOUG SIMPSON
The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 26, 2007; 10:27 PM

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Wednesday that the prosecutor in one of the so-called "Jena 6" cases has decided not to challenge an appellate ruling that sends the case to juvenile court.

LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters had earlier said he would appeal the state appeals court's decision that 17-year-old Mychal Bell's second-degree battery conviction be set aside. The court ruled that Bell could not be tried as an adult.

Blanco said she had spoken with Walters and asked him to reconsider pushing to keep the case in the adult courts system. She said Walters contacted her Wednesday to say he had decided not to appeal the ruling.

"I want to thank him for this decision he has made," Blanco said.

Bell, who remains behind bars, was one of six Jena High School teens arrested after a December attack on a white student, Justin Barker. Five of the six teens initially were charged with attempted second-degree murder, though charges for four of them, including Bell, were later reduced. One teen hasn't been arraigned, and the case of the sixth, handled as a juvenile, is sealed.

Blanco made her announcement at a news conference with activists Martin Luther King III and the Rev. Al Sharpton. Sharpton said he hopes a bond will be set low enough to allow for Bell's release, and he thanked Blanco for getting involved in the matter.

"I want to congratulate her for showing leadership," Sharpton said. "And I want to congratulate the district attorney for good judgment."

Blanco said Walters gave her permission to announce his decision, and that he planned to discuss his decision publicly on Thursday. A phone call placed at Walters' home went unanswered Wednesday.

The case brought more than 20,000 protesters to the central Louisiana town of Jena last week in a marched that harkened back to the demonstrations of the 1950s and '60s.

Critics accuse local officials of prosecuting blacks more harshly than whites. They note that no charges were filed against three white teens suspended from the high school for allegedly hanging nooses in a tree on campus _ an incident that was followed by fights between blacks and whites, including the attack on Barker.

Walters has condemned the noose incident _ calling it "abhorrent and stupid" in a New York Times op-ed piece Thursday _ but said the act broke no Louisiana law.

In the article, Walters defended the aggravated second-degree battery counts most of those charged in the attack on Barker now face. He said Barker was "blindsided," knocked unconscious and kicked by at least six people, and would have faced "severe injury or death" had another student not intervened.

[sweet_marti39]

The fall guy will be the United States attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, who is African-American Atty Donald Washington. A bush appointed man.
you right, but he won't be the only one to fall this time

[uncdec01]

Bush is more devious than we realized, he put token black people that he knows he can control in strategic positions, so that people can always say It can't be racism because he or she is black.

[enpowermentnow]

Bush is more devious than we realized, he put token black people that he knows he can control in strategic positions, so that people can always say It can't be racism because he or she is black.

He stacked the supreme court he appointed all of his conservatives through out the justice system, so........it does not matter if the democratics control congress.......if he has methodically placed conservatives at the judiciary level......conservative supreme court

[sean456]

I appreciate the concern which is been rose. The things need to be
sorted out because it is about the individual but it can be with
everyone. Criminal Justice is a broad field that is concerned with the detection, apprehension, prosecution, adjudication, release, detention, correctional supervision or rehabilitation of persons accused or convicted of a crime.
=====
Sean
Criminal Attorney (http://www.legalx.net)