Jena Six court proceedings should have remained open, records still unavailable

© 2008 Associated Press photo by Alex Brandon

Jan. 21, 2008--Protesters march through Jena, La. on the MLK Jr. holiday.

By Abha Gunjal

According to the First Amendment Center, a state appeals court decided that a Louisiana judge had no authority to keep the juvenile court proceedings of Mychal Bell, a defendant in the “Jena Six” case, closed. Bell, a minor, was one of six black students charged with attempted murder in the beatings of a white classmate after discovering nooses hanging from a tree outside Jena High School. Bell ended up pleading guilty to a lesser charge, of juvenile second-degree battery.

The Associated Press, among other news agencies, had filed suit to keep Bell’s proceedings open—a suit that was originally refused by District Judge J.P. Mauffray, head of the Louisiana 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal in Lake Charles. Though the judge who opened the case had not gotten Mauffray’s permission to do so, the court did not recognize Mauffray’s decision to close the proceedings in the first place.

Bell’s case falls under a law that allows open court for juvenile cases that involve violence or felonies, which makes the fact that he is a minor irrelevant, stated the court. The decision, released Nov. 6, is only a partial victory for news and media outlets—the matter of whether or not Bell’s records being available to the media still remains in question.

The arrest and trials of the “Jena Six” brought widespread outrage around the country and led to over 20,000 people protesting in the town of Jena in Sept. 2007. It was considered one of the largest civil rights marches in decades.