Jena 6 Update:
La. Judge Sends Bell
Back To Jail On
Old Battery Charges

NEW ORLEANS—Mychal Bell,  the 17-year-old  African American teenager whose prosecution in the beating of a white classmate drew thousands to Louisiana for a civil rights demonstration is back in jail, but a prosecutor said Friday (Oct. 12) the sentence has nothing to do with the racially charged case.
     Bell was unexpectedly sent back to prison on Thursday (Oct. 11) after going to juvenile court in central Louisiana's LaSalle Parish for what he expected to be a routine hearing, Carol Powell Lexing, one of his attorneys said.
Instead, state District Judge J.P. Mauffrey Jr. decided Bell had violated probation and sentenced him to 18 months in jail on two counts of simple battery and two counts of criminal destruction of property, Lexing said.
"This matter was unrelated to the December 2006 event at Jena High School, and that case was not even mentioned in the court proceedings," District Attorney Reed Walters said Friday.
     Bell had faced charges before the Dec. 4 attack on white classmate Justin Barker at Jena High School.

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