[via Eddie Griffin]
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/09/04/bell.jena.six/index.html
An enormous CNN truck was parked at the LaSalle Parish courthouse all day yesterday and it’s still there today. You can imagine how surreal it feels to walk into the lobby of the Townsmen Inn in Jena, or sit down with an Egg McMuffin at the Jena McDonalds and see the Jena story broadcasting live on CNN. The coverage hasn’t always been accurate, but the response has been immediate (my cell phone has been ringing every five minutes).
I will have more to say about developments in Jena when I get home. The big news is that Mychal Bell now faces a maximum of 15 years in prison after the conspiracy conviction was vacated by judge JP Mauffray. That is still unacceptable, of course, but it is a baby step in the right direction.
The courtroom was crammed throughout the day–at times it was difficult to get a seat. Half of the people in attendance appeared to be attorneys, many of them recent recruits to the legal fight. When a story gets the kind of round-the-clock coverage the Jena 6 has been receiving from CNN it is on the verge of becoming a national story. I was on a Pacifica radio program from Washington, DC this morning with Charles Ogletree of Harvard Law School (who has agreed to lend his prestige and expertise to the legal struggle). Dr. Ogletree told the host that Jena was the most important civil rights legal case since the Tulia drug sting (the case that created Friends of Justice). I think he’s right.
More when I return to Arlington.
Alan Bean
Friends of Justice
3415 Ainsworth Court
Arlington, TX 76016
806-729-7889 or 817-457-0025
http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com
I wrote a brief note about this at my blog yesterday. I was at a sports bar eating dinner when the CNN piece came on. I knocked over a couple of beers because I had to jump over several people while trying to turn up the sound. I like to say it was a relief but in a way it just pisses me off more that the news doesn’t know what is news and we have to beg them for it.
Good to see that they are finally responding on this one. There must be so many more cases out there that would benefit from committed publicity by a network of bloggers.