July 27, 2007
July 26, 2007
Charge Reduced on Jena 6 case (Chicago Tribune)
Change made on day jury was to be picked
By Howard Witt | Tribune senior correspondent
June 26, 2007
HOUSTON - The district attorney prosecuting a racially charged beating case in the small Louisiana town of Jena abruptly reduced attempted-murder charges Monday against a black high school student accused of attacking a white student, drawing cautious praise from civil rights leaders who contend the charges were excessive and part of a pattern of uneven justice in the town.
Mychal Bell, 16, a former Jena High School football star, and five other black students had been facing the potential of up to 100 years in prison if convicted of attempted murder, conspiracy and other charges for the December beating of the white student, who was knocked unconscious but not hospitalized. The incident capped months of escalating racial tensions at the high school that began after several white youths hung nooses from a tree in the school courtyard in a taunt aimed at blacks.
But as jury selection was about to begin in Bell's case Monday, District Atty. Reed Walters reduced the charges to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery, which together carry a maximum of 22 years in prison. Walters, who is prosecuting Bell as an adult, also offered the teenager a plea agreement including a suspended sentence, which Bell's father said the youth rejected.
Trials for the other five accused in the case have been delayed, and it was not clear whether Walters intended to reduce the charges against them as well. Walters did not speak to reporters in Jena or return calls seeking comment.
The case against the "Jena Six," as the defendants have come to be called by their supporters, received national notice after it was featured in a May 20 Tribune report that detailed how racial animus had divided the mostly white central Louisiana town of 3,000 and erupted into repeated incidents of violence between blacks and whites.
"It certainly looks like the district attorney responded to the scrutiny the media has brought to this case," said Alan Bean, a civil rights activist in Tulia, Texas, who, along with representatives of the ACLU and the NAACP, has been sharply critical of the charges against the black youths. "I don't think he's gone far enough in reducing the charges, but we're certainly in a better place than we were."
Bell's father, Marcus Jones, said Monday that even though his son has been jailed since December and unable to post $90,000 bail, he preferred to take his case to a jury rather than plead guilty to a felony.
"The DA is trying to use my son as a scapegoat for these ridiculous charges," Jones said. "He knows there's no proof showing that my son and those other kids were trying to kill that boy. It was a simple high school fight. How can you turn that into attempted murder?"
Darrell Hickman, an attorney for one of the other youths charged in the case, said he expected the charges against the other defendants would eventually be reduced as well. And he asserted that even the reduced charges would be hard to prove.
"I think the district attorney is still overreaching," Hickman said. "The new charge is aggravated second-degree battery, which requires use of a weapon. There's no evidence that any weapon was involved."
Check out: www.colorofchange.org
By Howard Witt | Tribune senior correspondent
June 26, 2007
HOUSTON - The district attorney prosecuting a racially charged beating case in the small Louisiana town of Jena abruptly reduced attempted-murder charges Monday against a black high school student accused of attacking a white student, drawing cautious praise from civil rights leaders who contend the charges were excessive and part of a pattern of uneven justice in the town.
Mychal Bell, 16, a former Jena High School football star, and five other black students had been facing the potential of up to 100 years in prison if convicted of attempted murder, conspiracy and other charges for the December beating of the white student, who was knocked unconscious but not hospitalized. The incident capped months of escalating racial tensions at the high school that began after several white youths hung nooses from a tree in the school courtyard in a taunt aimed at blacks.
But as jury selection was about to begin in Bell's case Monday, District Atty. Reed Walters reduced the charges to aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated second-degree battery, which together carry a maximum of 22 years in prison. Walters, who is prosecuting Bell as an adult, also offered the teenager a plea agreement including a suspended sentence, which Bell's father said the youth rejected.
Trials for the other five accused in the case have been delayed, and it was not clear whether Walters intended to reduce the charges against them as well. Walters did not speak to reporters in Jena or return calls seeking comment.
The case against the "Jena Six," as the defendants have come to be called by their supporters, received national notice after it was featured in a May 20 Tribune report that detailed how racial animus had divided the mostly white central Louisiana town of 3,000 and erupted into repeated incidents of violence between blacks and whites.
"It certainly looks like the district attorney responded to the scrutiny the media has brought to this case," said Alan Bean, a civil rights activist in Tulia, Texas, who, along with representatives of the ACLU and the NAACP, has been sharply critical of the charges against the black youths. "I don't think he's gone far enough in reducing the charges, but we're certainly in a better place than we were."
Bell's father, Marcus Jones, said Monday that even though his son has been jailed since December and unable to post $90,000 bail, he preferred to take his case to a jury rather than plead guilty to a felony.
"The DA is trying to use my son as a scapegoat for these ridiculous charges," Jones said. "He knows there's no proof showing that my son and those other kids were trying to kill that boy. It was a simple high school fight. How can you turn that into attempted murder?"
Darrell Hickman, an attorney for one of the other youths charged in the case, said he expected the charges against the other defendants would eventually be reduced as well. And he asserted that even the reduced charges would be hard to prove.
"I think the district attorney is still overreaching," Hickman said. "The new charge is aggravated second-degree battery, which requires use of a weapon. There's no evidence that any weapon was involved."
Check out: www.colorofchange.org
Rangle's Second Chance Act building strength
Congressman Bob Filner Gives Rangel's Second Chance Act Big Boost
Charles Benninghoff
July 18, 2007
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Rehabilitated Project announced that Congressman Bob Filner (D-CA) has agreed to become a cosponsor of H. R. 623, the "Second Chance Act for Ex-Offenders of 2007", a bill before Congress authored by Charlie Rangel (D-NY). He made the announcement by sending a sponsor letter to The Rehabilitated Project ("TRP") in which he thanked the TRP for bringing the bill to his attention and he added, "I share your interest in reducing recidivism and helping ex-offenders succeed."
Becoming a cosponsor of the Second Chance Act is right in line with his character. Congressman Filner, who has a 45-year history of being in the forefront of progressive political causes, first caught the nation's attention in 1961 when he was a "Freedom Rider" and was jailed in Alabama for two months during the tempestuous Civil Rights Era of the 1960's. As a student, he worked as a member of the Cornell Daily Sun, the student newspaper and graduated from Cornell in 1963 with a degree in chemistry. He also earned his doctorate in history of science from the same school six years later. Shortly after earning his PhD, he moved to San Diego, becoming a history professor at San Diego State University. He resigned his position in 1992 to run for Congress.
Filner, a fearless campaigner and one of a mere handful of the original, remaining Freedom Riders, was long interested in politics, serving as a staffer for Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota in 1975 and for Congressman Don Fraser, also of Minnesota, in 1976. He also served as a staffer for Congressman Jim Bates from the San Diego area in 1984.
He now is the ranking Congressional Member on the Veterans Affairs Committee where he is deeply involved in working to resolve the current issues which American veterans are suffering under due to the consequences of the Iraq War.
Rangel's Second Chance Act is designed to reduce recidivism by striking at the heart of the beast - employment. As Rangel stated on the floor of Congress, the American penal system literally drives good people into prison because they are forced to disclose prior convictions, even if decades old and unrelated to the proposed employment. HR 623 would permit expungement of a criminal conviction after an ex-offender has completed all of the imposed sentence, 1,000 hours of community service, stayed off drugs and sober and finished up high school or an equivalent GED course.
Upon passage, HR 623 will allow first-time, non-violent ex-offenders to prove by clear and convincing evidence to their federal sentencing judge that they have been rehabilitated and deserve re-entry into society. The bill also places several additional burdens of the ex-offender, including satisfying all requirements of their sentence and parole, that they have obtained a high school or GED equivalency degrees and have remained free of drug and alcohol dependency. Perhaps the most rigorous requirement is that they complete a full year of community service in order to get any relief.
Commenting on all of these conditions that must be satisfied, Rangel stated, “… this bill would apply only to individuals who have clearly demonstrated their commitment to turning themselves into industrious members of our communities.”
HR 623’s terms require that law enforcement would at all times have access to the facts surrounding the criminal conviction. And, if there is any subsequent state or federal conviction, the effect of H R 623 would be entirely negated and the prior conviction could be used as a sentencing enhancement if applicable.
The reality is that there are limited prospects for persons with criminal records. Each time they acknowledge their criminal pasts on job applications, they are likely to be turned away. H.R. 623 would remove this barrier of the past and lower the rates of recidivism by offering these individuals real opportunities for gaining legitimate employment, Rangel stated.
In other developed countries, such as Australia – which enjoys a far lesser crime rate and a greatly smaller proportional prisoner population – ex-offenders are not even required to disclose a conviction unless it is directly relevant to the specific requirements of a prospective job, or involves child molestation, and even that requirement can dissipate with the passage of time since “relevancy” diminishes with continued good citizenship, according to the Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission.
“The unfortunate alternative is for society to continue to be victimized by ex-offenders who, having given up all hope of employment, resort to careers in crime. That means more broken homes, neglected children, poverty and additional burdens to taxpayers. ‘Second Chance’ is a critically important step toward rescuing our communities from the cycle of recidivism,” the Congressman added. In fact, the United States’ National Council on Crime and Delinquency states, “The US incarcerates at a rate 4 to 7 times higher than other western nations such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany and up to 32 times higher than nations with the lowest rates such as Nepal, Nigeria, and India…” and each of these countries has a crime rate but a small fraction of that of the United States.
Almost all American states have in place a system of expunging records or providing a meaningful chance for ex-offenders to rebuild their life. The federal government has no such system (See: A Federal Conviction – The Gift that Keeps on Giving). H.R. 623 will simply provide that federal ex-offenders have the same second chance as many state offenders.
Charles Benninghoff
July 18, 2007
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Rehabilitated Project announced that Congressman Bob Filner (D-CA) has agreed to become a cosponsor of H. R. 623, the "Second Chance Act for Ex-Offenders of 2007", a bill before Congress authored by Charlie Rangel (D-NY). He made the announcement by sending a sponsor letter to The Rehabilitated Project ("TRP") in which he thanked the TRP for bringing the bill to his attention and he added, "I share your interest in reducing recidivism and helping ex-offenders succeed."
Becoming a cosponsor of the Second Chance Act is right in line with his character. Congressman Filner, who has a 45-year history of being in the forefront of progressive political causes, first caught the nation's attention in 1961 when he was a "Freedom Rider" and was jailed in Alabama for two months during the tempestuous Civil Rights Era of the 1960's. As a student, he worked as a member of the Cornell Daily Sun, the student newspaper and graduated from Cornell in 1963 with a degree in chemistry. He also earned his doctorate in history of science from the same school six years later. Shortly after earning his PhD, he moved to San Diego, becoming a history professor at San Diego State University. He resigned his position in 1992 to run for Congress.
Filner, a fearless campaigner and one of a mere handful of the original, remaining Freedom Riders, was long interested in politics, serving as a staffer for Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota in 1975 and for Congressman Don Fraser, also of Minnesota, in 1976. He also served as a staffer for Congressman Jim Bates from the San Diego area in 1984.
He now is the ranking Congressional Member on the Veterans Affairs Committee where he is deeply involved in working to resolve the current issues which American veterans are suffering under due to the consequences of the Iraq War.
Rangel's Second Chance Act is designed to reduce recidivism by striking at the heart of the beast - employment. As Rangel stated on the floor of Congress, the American penal system literally drives good people into prison because they are forced to disclose prior convictions, even if decades old and unrelated to the proposed employment. HR 623 would permit expungement of a criminal conviction after an ex-offender has completed all of the imposed sentence, 1,000 hours of community service, stayed off drugs and sober and finished up high school or an equivalent GED course.
Upon passage, HR 623 will allow first-time, non-violent ex-offenders to prove by clear and convincing evidence to their federal sentencing judge that they have been rehabilitated and deserve re-entry into society. The bill also places several additional burdens of the ex-offender, including satisfying all requirements of their sentence and parole, that they have obtained a high school or GED equivalency degrees and have remained free of drug and alcohol dependency. Perhaps the most rigorous requirement is that they complete a full year of community service in order to get any relief.
Commenting on all of these conditions that must be satisfied, Rangel stated, “… this bill would apply only to individuals who have clearly demonstrated their commitment to turning themselves into industrious members of our communities.”
HR 623’s terms require that law enforcement would at all times have access to the facts surrounding the criminal conviction. And, if there is any subsequent state or federal conviction, the effect of H R 623 would be entirely negated and the prior conviction could be used as a sentencing enhancement if applicable.
The reality is that there are limited prospects for persons with criminal records. Each time they acknowledge their criminal pasts on job applications, they are likely to be turned away. H.R. 623 would remove this barrier of the past and lower the rates of recidivism by offering these individuals real opportunities for gaining legitimate employment, Rangel stated.
In other developed countries, such as Australia – which enjoys a far lesser crime rate and a greatly smaller proportional prisoner population – ex-offenders are not even required to disclose a conviction unless it is directly relevant to the specific requirements of a prospective job, or involves child molestation, and even that requirement can dissipate with the passage of time since “relevancy” diminishes with continued good citizenship, according to the Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission.
“The unfortunate alternative is for society to continue to be victimized by ex-offenders who, having given up all hope of employment, resort to careers in crime. That means more broken homes, neglected children, poverty and additional burdens to taxpayers. ‘Second Chance’ is a critically important step toward rescuing our communities from the cycle of recidivism,” the Congressman added. In fact, the United States’ National Council on Crime and Delinquency states, “The US incarcerates at a rate 4 to 7 times higher than other western nations such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany and up to 32 times higher than nations with the lowest rates such as Nepal, Nigeria, and India…” and each of these countries has a crime rate but a small fraction of that of the United States.
Almost all American states have in place a system of expunging records or providing a meaningful chance for ex-offenders to rebuild their life. The federal government has no such system (See: A Federal Conviction – The Gift that Keeps on Giving). H.R. 623 will simply provide that federal ex-offenders have the same second chance as many state offenders.
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