Please read the latest Jena Six post here.

KATC – Jury deliberating in Louisiana racial beating case

The five-woman, one-man all-white jury started deliberating around 11 a.m. Thursday. In closing argments, LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters showed them emergency room photographs of Barker, 17, taken after the Dec. 4 attack. They showed Barker’s badly swollen face with one blackened eye swollen completely shut.

Aggravated second-degree battery includes the use of a dangerous weapon and Walters said the shoes the attackers used to kick Barker after he was knocked unconscious constituted weapons. As for the conspiracy charge, Walters said Bell took part in the attack with others. That constitutes conspiracy, he said, even if there was no specific plan to attack Barker.

Trying to head off the possibility that jurors might convict Bell of a lesser crime, Reed referred to the pictures of Barker’s battered face. “Is that simple battery? It is not,” Walters said.

Defense attorney Blane Williams said Walters had failed to prove that Bell had even taken part in a crime, much less an attack with a weapon. A day earlier, after Barker said he had been struck from behind and immediately went unconscious, there was conflicting testimony from witnesses as to whether the initial attacker was Bell and whether that attacker was wearing a green hooded jacket or a red shirt.

Williams also sought to raise doubt about Barker’s testimony that he still suffers headaches and forgetfulness since the beating. He noted a nurses testimony that Barker had a history of migraines before the fight. “If I say I have memory loss, can anybody know if I have it?” Williams asked.

Williams and Walters differed on the significance of Barker having attended a nighttime class ring ceremony hours after the attack. Walters said Barker skipped a reception after the ceremony because of lingering pain from the beating.

“You get your ring. What else does a high schooler want _ a reception? More speeches?” Williams said.

Oh, and here’s why they’re pushing the ridiculous story of memory loss and headaches, when a reasonable person will conclude that Barker got a bloody nose, black eye, bruises and swelling. In State of Louisiana vs. Jason Hellou, Hellou was originally convicted of second degree battery, the same charge as Bell. He was convicted by a unanimous 6 person jury and appealed. On appeal, the Supreme Court of Louisiana vacated the conviction.

Accordingly, we vacate the defendant’s conviction for second degree battery and enter a conviction for simple battery, as statutory responsive verdict pursuant to LSA-C.Cr.P.art. 814(15). We remand this matter to the trial court for resentencing for simple battery.

LSA-R.S. 14:34.1 provides that: Second degree battery is a battery committed without the consent of the victim when the offender intentionally inflicts serious bodily injury.

For purposes of this article, serious bodily injury means bodily injury which involves unconsciousness, extreme physical pain or protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty, or a substantial risk of death.

Whoever commits the crime of second degree battery shall be fined not more than two thousand dollars or imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than five years, or both.

What interesting is how much the Hellou case has in common with this one, and a key element was how badly the victim was hurt. That’s why there’s a big push to show that Barker sustained serious injuries, suffered extreme pain, protracted loss or impairment, etc. Even if Bell is convicted today, there’s an excellent chance the Louisiana Supreme Court will kick it back for a more just charge and sentence.