Jena 6 Defendant Arrested in 'Minor Shoving Incident'
One of the defendants in the “Jena Six” case that sparked national civil rights marches last year has been arrested over an incident at his new high school in Texas.
Bryant Purvis, 19, charged with misdemeanor assault in Carrollton, Texas, after an altercation with another student at the high school in suburban Dallas that he now attends, reports the Chicago Tribune. He was released on bail and suspended from school for three days.
The incident apparently began over a classmate’s report that a fellow student had vandalized Purvis’ vehicle, flattening two tires.
“Police were still trying to sort out the reports of vandalism and assault, but said that it did not appear to be a racial incident or related to the ‘Jena Six’ case,” reports the Dallas Morning News. Its article quotes Carrollton police Sgt. John Singleton as saying: “This is simply an altercation that occurred between two students,” and says that the student allegedly assaulted by Purvis was choked and pushed into a bench, suffering a bruised eye as a result.
Purvis’ new arrest also could pose a problem in ongoing plea negotiations over his role in the Jena case, according to his defense lawyer, Darrell Hickman, who described the Texas high school altercation as a “minor shoving incident,” reports the Tribune.
Purvis is accused in the Jena Six case, along with five other black students, of attacking a white high school classmate in late 2006 in a racially charged incident in a small town in Louisiana. If convicted of the aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy to commit battery charges he is facing there, he could be sentenced to up to 22 1/2 years in prison, reports the Associated Press. His trial there is now scheduled for March.
As discussed in earlier ABAJournal.com posts, the Jena 6 case sparked civil rights marches, in Jena and elsewhere, because of a widespread perception that the defendants—like many other blacks throughout American history—were being treated more harshly than comparably situated whites would have been.
Charged as an adult with attempted murder at one point (as were his Jena Six co-defendants), over an attack that reportedly left the victim able to attend a party soon afterward, defendant Mychal Bell pleaded guilty /a> as a juvenile last year to second-degree battery in exchange for an agreed 18-month sentence. At last report, the other five defendants were still negotiating with prosecutors.
