The severity of the original charge against the ‘Jena’ six drew widespread criticism and prompted 20,000 people to converge on the small Louisiana town for a major civil rights march in September 2007. (Photo by Warren Roseborough)

WASHINGTON (NNPA) - The racially-charged “Jena 6” case came to a quiet end last week as the remaining five young defendants accused of beating a classmate accepted a plea deal.

The five – Carwin Jones, Jesse Ray Beard, Robert Bailey Jr., Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw – pled no contest to charges of misdemeanor simple battery before a judge in Jena, La. on June 26.

The charges had previously been reduced to aggravated second-degree battery from attempted murder, a charge civil rights leaders said was too harsh and handed down only because the defendants were black and the victim white.

The plea deal sentenced four of the five to a $500 fine, and each to seven days’ probation and court costs. The fine was waived for Shaw because of the nearly seven months he has spent in jail.

By pleading no contest, the five do not admit guilt but acknowledge that prosecutors had enough evidence for a conviction. LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters said in a statement to the AP that he could have won convictions but wanted to end the matter for the victim, Justin Barker.

Barker and his family sat without emotion through the proceeding, and did not comment to media.

The other member of the “Jena 6,” Mychal Bell, previously pled guilty to a second-degree battery charge and received an 18-month prison sentence.

“I just thank God that it’s all over,” said John Jenkins, Jones’ father. “It’s been a long, painful journey for everyone on both sides of this thing.”

The case drew international attention following the December 2006 beating of Barker by Bell and the five. The severity of the original charge against the six drew widespread criticism and prompted 20,000 people to converge on the small Louisiana town for a major civil rights march in September 2007.

Still unclear is the motive for the attack on Barker. Parents of the six defendants said they heard Barker was hurling racial epithets, CNN reported, but Barker’s parents insist he did nothing to provoke the beating.

Four of the defendants have graduated from high school, according to the AP, and all are attending or getting ready to attend college. Purvis has completed his first year and Bell is planning to attend college this fall. Beard is a senior in high school in Connecticut.

“We’re all proud of our clients, who are doing well,” “James Boren, an attorney for Bailey, said. “They’re moving on with their life.”

(Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspapers)