Jena Louisiana Trial, Jena Six

Hearing scheduled for removal of judge

Received by Newsfinder from AP
May 29 2008, 12:02:22 Eastern Time

By MARY FOSTER
Associated Press Writer

JENA, La. (AP) _ Lawyers for Jesse Ray Beard, the youngest member of the ``Jena Six,'' will be in court Friday to argue the judge overseeing the trial should be removed.

According to the motion to remove state District Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr., the need for fairness and the appearance of fairness is crucial in the remaining five cases against black teens accused of beating a white schoolmate in 2006.

``In a community like Jena and LaSalle Parish, where one race constitutes the vast majority of the community and the jury pool, it is vital that a fair, unbiased judge preside so that the defense has a meaningful, constitutional option of requesting a judge trial if it determines that community passions might unfairly infect a jury trial,'' the motion reads.

``We just want a fair trial,'' said David Utter, Beard's lawyer.

In separate motions, lawyers for the other remaining defendants _ Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw _ also have asked that Mauffray be removed from the case. It was unclear whether a decision from Friday's hearing, which is only on the motion for Beard, would immediately affect the other cases.

Mauffray denied earlier motions to remove himself.

The Louisiana Supreme Court ordered state District Judge Thomas Yeager to preside at Friday's hearing.

Beard, a juvenile, and five other black teens, were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder after a white student was beaten and kicked at Jena High School. Justin Barker spent several hours in the emergency room after the December 2006 attack, but was discharged and attended a school event later in the day.

Only one of the defendants has been tried.

Mychal Bell originally was charged as an adult with attempted murder. The charge was reduced before a jury convicted him last June of aggravated second-degree battery. In September, an appeals court overturned the verdict and ordered Bell tried as a juvenile.

Bell then pleaded guilty to a juvenile charge of second-degree battery. He now lives in Monroe, La., with a foster family and is attending school.

The charges against the teenagers sparked a massive civil-rights demonstration last September in Jena, a town of about 3,000 in central Louisiana.

The march by thousands, which drew attention from national civil rights leaders and was covered widely by news organizations, drew fire from local residents who said the town was unfairly branded as a center of racism.

AP-CS-05-29-08 1202EDT