Reducing the Charge to the Highest Crime

Jena Prosecutor Breaches Stratosphere of Irrationality

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Star-Telegram caption reads: “Another charge reduced in 'Jena 6' case” (09/11/07). It appears that LaSalle Parish, Louisiana is rapidly gaining becoming the Idiot Capitol of America.

Think about it. It is not enough to charge six African-American high school youths with “attempted second degree murder” for a school yard fight, but to reduce the charges to “aggravate battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery” is proof positive that District Attorney Reed Walters is out of his mind if he thinks that he can mix and match contrived criminal charges to his own likings.

If “attempted second degree murder” don’t fly and he can’t try the kids as adults and give each of them up to 50 years, then Walters simply does the next best stupid thing: Charge them with “aggravated battery and conspiracy” and give them up to 15 years.

I wonder how many district attorneys around the country think the same way. Exactly! Too many! And, this is exactly why we have such a disparity in justice along racial lines.

There is something about a southern small town mindset. Maybe it comes from inbreeding. But obviously the DA is totally oblivious to public opinion, not only from around the country, but also around the world. While the world is screaming “Injustice”, this knucklehead is nitpicking which charges he can rationalize prosecuting.

Walters charges Robert Bailey, Jr., one of the six youth, with “aggravate battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated battery”, even after the judge threw out the “conspiracy” conviction on Mychal Bell, another one of the youths. If the conspiracy charge does not stick to one, how can it stick to another?

Now don’t try to confuse me with the facts. The whole world knows who did what. Sure, six black students ganged up on one white student at school. But that was not where the whole thing started. It started when a group of white students draped three nooses over a tree in front of the school to intimidate black students who wished to integrate the segregated sitting area. School officials called it a “prank” rather than a “hate crime”. Then white students assaulted a black student and nothing was done. Again, a white student pulls a shotgun on a group of black students and no charges were brought, except against the black student who seized the weapon from the would-be assailant.

Can there be any wonder why one of the young white pranksters got jumped?

Two wrongs don’t make a right, I've always been taught. And, three wrongs only make matters worse. This is why thousands of people are boarding up, headed for Jena, Louisiana, to protest the goings-on. It’s like the 1960s Freedom Riders all over again. Jena must have never learned her lesson.

Will the governess intervene? Or, will Kathleen Blanco find her favorite hiding spot under a tree somewhere?

Something tells me that Louisiana is backwood and retarded when it comes to problem-solving. Either that or this is a case of malicious prosecution.

Al Sharpton has called upon Governor Blanco to investigate the prosecution being waged by DA Walters. He, and Jesse Jackson, plans to join the throng of thousands of protesters from across the country on September 20, the day Mychal Bell is scheduled to be sentenced. Bell, who was convicted by an all-white jury, could receive up to 15 years and a $10,000 fine, while none of the white students who started the racial instigation will be charged with anything.

How obvious the injustice! Reed Walters must think that the rest of the world is stupid, or even worse, if he thinks that this type of unjust justice can go on forever without decent people saying anything.

The State of Louisiana is losing love as fast as it found it when Katrina blew through.