While the Phil Spector murder trial may be headed to a "hung jury," Rev. Jesse Jackson has made news by accusing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama of "acting like he's white" for not speaking out more forcefully about a racially charged schoolyard beating in Louisiana," according to Steve Brock managing editor. Obama's mother was white and his father was from Kenya.
What is this all about? Jena is a mostly Caucasian town where racial relations became strained about a year ago when a black student sat under a tree that was a traditional a gathering place for whites. Three nooses ( a symbol of the lynchings carried out in the Old South) were hung from the tree the next day. Racial fights followed at the school. In the December a larger altercation occurred between black and white students. Last Friday, a state appellate court over turned the only conviction against one of the black teenagers accused of attacking a white school mate. Obama hopes the decision would encourage the prosecutor to "reconsider the excessive charges brought against all the teenagers in this case..."
On Wednesday, Jackson said he was "taken out of context."
Jena 6 Update 9-29-07 A stranger, Dr. Stephen Ayers, who lives about 135 miles away, posted bond for Mychal Bell allowing him to go home for the first time in 10 months. Bell will be retried as a juvenile.
Update 12-4-07 Mychal Bell, the 17-year-old black teenager whose arrest and detention led to the "Jena 6" protests, enter a plea which will likely get him released by June of 2008.
Phil Spector
Meanwhile, Phil Spector "hangs in the balance" on his murder trial. The judge, Larry Paul Fidler, tried to help the 7-5 split deadlocked jurors reach a verdict by removing an instruction.
The instruction states that they must find that Spector held a gun to actress Lana Clarkson's mouth, and that the weapon discharged, causing her death in order to convict Spector of second-degree murder.
Update 9-27-07 On Wednesday, the judge presiding over the "Wall of Sound" producer's murder trial declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked, 10-2, in favor of convicting Spector on charges that he killed actress Lana Clarkson. Expect a new trial in 2008.
Update 4-14-09: After 30 hours of deliberation after a retrial, a jury on Monday convicted music producer Phil Spector of second-degree murder in the death of actress Lana Clarkson. Clarkson was shot more than six years ago. Unless the conviction is overturned, Spector will face a minimum of 16 years in prison. As a practical matter, Spector will likely serve the rest of his life behind bars.
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10 comments:
Rev. Jackson needs to take off his dark glasses and realize that not everything needs to be a black and white issue.
Jill
Only legal pub could tie Phil Spector hung jury and Jessie Jackson together into one story!
Dollar Bill
A big protest march is expected to draw thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people,today (Thursday.) Jena's population is only about 3,500. Participants want to ignite the spirit of the civil rights movement.
The protest is to support the black teenagers who have come to be called the Jena Six.
Three white high school students who were briefly suspended for hanging nooses in a tree were not charged. But local prosecutors charged five of the six African American students with attempted second-degree murder in the beating of a white student. The sixth defendant's case is sealed as a juvenile court case because of his age.
Critics argue authorities in this predominantly white town are disproportionately harsh toward African Americans. District Attorney Reed Walters, denies racism was involved in any of the prosecutor's decisions.
Like everyone is scared to comment on this story. Is that why you threw in the Phil Spector story?
Spector is so guilty, in my opinion...
Hanging the nooses was despicable. Beating a kid to near death is a whole other story... BTW, if I heard well, this victim had nothing to do with the nooses. Therefore, we are discussing apples and oranges. True, racism and bigotry do exist the world over (not just our country) but this just seems like another opportunity for more race baiting and bigotry on Jesse Jackson's part. Just my two cents.
Hanging the nooses was despicable. Beating a kid to near death is a whole other story... BTW, if I heard well, this victim had nothing to do with the nooses. Therefore, we are discussing apples and oranges. True, racism and bigotry do exist the world over (not just our country) but this just seems like another opportunity for more race baiting and bigotry on Jesse Jackson's part. Just my two cents.
Update 12-4-07 Mychal Bell, the 17-year-old black teenager whose arrest and detention led to the "Jena 6" protests, enter a plea which will likely get him released by June of 2008.
Update 4-14-09: After 30 hours of deliberation after a retrial, a jury on Monday convicted music producer Phil Spector of second-degree murder in the death of actress Lana Clarkson. Clarkson was shot more than six years ago. Unless the conviction is overturned, Spector will face a minimum of 16 years in prison. As a practical matter, Spector will likely serve the rest of his life behind bars.
Was this the "retrial of the century?" IMO, justice was finally served. I guess, one key defense witness changed his story in the second trial. In the end, the judge allowing several female witnesses to testify that they had been threatened at gun point by Spector, was probably the turning point.
J.P.
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