The primary problem that I see with the Jena 6 is that they were beating a person who was unconscious....There should be consequences for their actions. Conversely there should be consequences for the noose BS. It was an instigation for a fight.
I'd agree. Those consequences should be a conviction for battery. Not an attempt to convict for attempted murder, and not assault with a deadly weapon.
I'm not suggesting the prosecutor should just wag his finger and say, "Oh, you kids these days..."
Now, if whoever placed those nooses in the tree were man enough to say they did it .... Better yet, those that were offended by the stupid folks that placed a noose should have notified the persons in charge of the campus and had those fools expelled from the school.
Unless I'm mistaken, it was determined who did it and the students were recommended for expulsion by the principal. The school board decided it was just "a prank" and gave them a couple days of in-school suspension instead.
The fact the one teen weathered the beating well enough to be released that night is irrelevant. A charge is based on the intent of the actions, not the results. If someone attempts to kill you but fails and you escape unharmed doesn’t mean they won’t still face the attempted murder charge. Conversely, if an action COULD HAVE resulted in a certain level of bodily harm, the perpetrator MAY well face that level of charge. I certainly doubt the attempted murder charge is warranted, but if the teen had been frail and ended up in a coma from the same level of beating would this even be a discussion?
Again, this is just my Internet Law Degree (not worth the pixels it's printed on) talking, but I'm pretty sure that even in your hypothetical coma example the prosecutor would have to show actual
intent to kill; otherwise he'd likely end up with a first-degree aggravated assault charge or some such. Plus the condition of the victim would come into play in sentencing.
As for the charge it was reduced to (from attempted murder), aggravated assault, unless what I've read is wrong this particular charge requires the use of a deadly weapon (or perhaps a greater level of harm)...hence the definition of the defendants' tennis shoes as a deadly weapon.
And does hanging 3 nooses in a tree equell 6VS1 kid?
Considering the level of violence and mayhem that has ensued, I'd say it's close. Seriously,
the school was burned down. I'd say it appears that the noose incident was the precipitating factor for almost all of this.
In this case the black kids beat the snot out of a white a kid who hung a noose from the tree at their school. Sorry but the kid deserved it. As the black kids deserve to get charged with assault and battery, just like any other beating.
I'm pretty sure the victim of the beating wasn't one of the kids who hung the nooses. There are like 4 or 5 events that lead to each other involved here. A thorough reading of the
wikipedia article at the least would be best before discussing it...though I'd recommend going into some of the linked sources as well.