Jena Six - Members' Subsequent Activities

Members' Subsequent Activities

In February 2007, Jesse Ray Beard was accused, and subsequently convicted and sentenced for simple battery, simple criminal damage to property less than $500 and simple assault. He received a suspended sentence of incarceration, and was placed on house arrest. On July 9, 2008, Beard, by then aged 17, was released from house arrest so that he could attend a summer program and football camp in New York. It was revealed at a hearing on that date that Beard had been recommended for expulsion for thirteen disciplinary actions, but that the recommendation had been overturned. In New York, he stayed with a local attorney and worked as an intern in the attorney's office, while taking summer courses to prepare him for junior year. He was required to return to Jena by August 11. However, on August 6, Yeager terminated Beard's probation (he remains under the conditions of his bail release in the Barker incident) so he could attend the Canterbury School in Connecticut. Half of the $39,900 annual tuition was paid for with Jena Six defense fund money. At Canterbury, Beard played on the basketball, baseball, and football teams and graduated in 2010.

Bryant Purvis, aged 19, was arrested on February 7, 2008 for an assault causing bodily injury on a fellow high school student in Texas, where he now resides. Purvis was placed on probation for a year and required to do community service for the offense. He enrolled at Ranger College, a junior college, attending on a basketball scholarship. In 2011, Purvis transferred to Grambling State University and played basketball there.

Corwin Jones, by then aged 19, was arrested on May 10, 2008 in LaSalle Parish on a charge of misdemeanor simple battery, stemming from an incident three days earlier in which the Sheriff's Department alleges that Jones struck a man from behind as several people, including Jones, came towards the man and his friends, with Jones' companions carrying baseball bats. Jones denied fault, stating that the incident was caused by a fight the previous day in which Jones states he was not involved, that he had been harassed and intimidated, and "that the incident that day 'struck a nerve and I reacted'." Jones had previously been arrested on January 24, 2008 on a trespass-related charge. According to his father, Jones received his diploma from Jena High School because he had completed his school work before his arrest, and moved out of Jena, working in a hotel.

Also on May 10, Mychal Bell was stopped in Olla, Louisiana for speeding and not having proper vehicle insurance while on a weekend pass from his sentence. Bell was not supposed to leave Monroe, Louisiana during the pass. The vehicle was towed due to the lack of insurance. In an interview televised on CNN on August 24, 2008, Bell admitted to striking Barker and called Jena "a real racist town". On August 27, 2008, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association turned down Bell's request for an extra year of athletic eligibility. Marcus Jones, Bell's father, blamed Bell's attorney at the time of the plea agreement for the denial. "If it weren't for his attorney, Mychal would be able to play football," Jones said. "They coerced him into taking that plea agreement. If he wouldn't have taken that plea, he wouldn't be in the position he's in now." After the hearing, Jones allegedly spat in the face of his son's attorney, Carol Powell-Lexing, and supposedly also pushed her to the floor. Jones denied assaulting Powell-Lexing, stating he would never get into a physical fight with a woman. Jones was charged with assault. Despite the alleged assault, Powell-Lexing continued as part of Bell's defense team.

On December 24, 2008, Bell was arrested and charged with shoplifting, resisting arrest, and simple assault. According to police, Bell was caught as he and another male attempted to steal $370 worth of clothing from Dillard's department store. While being arrested, he reportedly fought back against a security guard and off-duty police officer. He was released on $1,300 bond. On December 29, 2008, Bell shot himself in the chest with a .22-caliber pistol in a failed attempt to take his own life, stating to police that he was tired of all the media attention. Since the hospital in Monroe was unable to stop his internal bleeding, Bell was transferred to a hospital in Shreveport for specialist care. Powell-Lexing denied that Bell had tried to kill himself, saying that the gun went off while Bell was attempting to clean it. On January 15, 2009, CNN featured an interview with Bell in which he indicated that he obtained a gun out of despair following the shoplifting arrest, initially tried to shoot himself in the head, but the gun misfired, and that he then shot himself in the chest. Bell stated that he is back in school and still hopes to receive a college football scholarship. As these were Bell's first charges as an adult, he was eligible for a diversion program; the charges were dismissed in early 2010. Bell enrolled at Southern University in 2009. In 2011, Bell played in two games with the Southern Jaguars football team.

On May 22, 2010, Mychal Bell was arrested and charged with simple battery after an incident at a Jena barber shop. According to the arresting officers, after being read his Miranda rights, Bell informed them that he attacked the man for "running his mouth". Bell said he punched the victim in the face, put him in a headlock and rammed his head into a table.

Robert Bailey attended high school at Shaw High School in Columbus, Georgia, where he was granted an extra year's eligibility to play football. Theo Shaw was able to attend classes at another high school and have his credits transferred to Jena, receiving a Jena High School diploma although he participated in a graduation ceremony at the other school.