YESTERDAY, the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal vacated the conviction of Mychal Bell, one of the six young men accused of assaulting and beating Justin Barker in a high school fight last December. Bell had been charged and convicted with aggrevated second degree battery, after the district attorney reduced the initial charge of attempted second degree murder. Bell had been charged and convicted as an adult, but according to Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr., Bell should have been tried as a juvenile, an opinion that had been echoed by numerous legal commentators and bloggers.
The ball is now back in the court of the LaSalle Parish district attorney, who may decide to leave Mychal Bell alone, charge him as an adult with attempted murder, or charge him as a juvenile with battery.
Considering the judge’s decision to vacate this conviction against Bell, I find it even more difficult to acknowledge the presence of any cogent “legal strategy” employed by the district attorney, as some have previously suggested. But at this point, given the available information, I hope the district attorney decides to look once again at the evidence in order to determine whether he is ethically and professionally obligated to charge Mychal Bell with a crime. I know some of this is a recapitulation of a previous article, but consider this:
– The only witness who claimed to see Mychal Bell kicking Justin Barker, the crime for which he was eventually convicted, was Justin Cooper, who happens to be one of the young men admittedly responsible for hanging nooses on a tree in the school’s courtyard, a clear and present sign of racial intolerance intended to intimidate and terrorize African-American students who had hoped to enjoy the shade of the tree only a day before.
– Although four students (of the over forty who provided written statements) claimed Bell “threw the first punch,” most of their accounts are riddled with inconsistencies and questionable statements allegedly made outside of school. It seems that the most reasonable testimony was offered by Coach Benjy Shaw, who reported, “I saw Malcolm Shaw hit Justin Barker with his right fist to the right side of Justin’s head, right around the temple,” Lewis wrote. “Justin went down face first, knocked out . . .”
– Most eyewitness accounts describe Barker falling down after a single punch, and Barker has not been able to identify his assailant, which lends credibility to the idea that Barker was suddenly struck from behind.
– As referenced in a previous article, Friends of Justice also reported, “Most eye witnesses can’t identify a single assailant by name. Most of the students who gave eyewitness statements after the December 4 altercation at the school make references to ‘a bunch of black kids’.
THE decision to vacate this charge does not, as others have claimed, prove that those who were alarmed by the nature and the extent of the charges leveled against those six young men were simply overreacting. For many of those closely involved in this case, any semblence of faith in the fairness of the judicial system may have been eroded when Mychal Bell was convicted of those charges in as an adult, despite the fact that Louisiana law clearly states Bell should have been charged as a juvenile and despite the multiple conflicting and ambiguous witness statements. I quote again from the Associated Press:
Under Louisiana law, a juvenile charged with aggravated battery may be charged as an adult only if the attack involved a firearm, but murder and attempted murder charges can be brought in adult court.
Perhaps this is why Reverend B.L. Moran reminded people that the battle is just beginning. Although Mychal Bell’s conviction was thrown out, the case is still very much alive, and five other young men continue to await their day in court, while the rest of the nation looks on.
CenLamar 
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