JENA La.
A state district judge filed papers Thursday indicating that he would open to the public the upcoming juvenile trial of one of the six black teenagers charged with beating a white classmate.
But District Judge J.P. Mauffray, in the court filing, also argued he was not required to open the juvenile proceedings and asked that a lawsuit, filed by several news media to do so, be dismissed.
Mauffray is the presiding judge over Mychal Bell’s case but disqualified himself from hearing the news media’s request because he was named as a defendant in the litigation. The Associated Press is among the news groups seeking access to the case.
“This is the first time there’s been any formal, official recognition that the adjudication trial will be open to the public,” said Mary Ellen Roy, an attorney for the news organizations.
The news organizations want permission to attend new hearings in Bell’s case, to review transcripts of previous hearings and other court records, and to lift a gag order against participants in the case.
District Judge Thomas Yeager, who sits in the central Louisiana city of Alexandria, agreed to hear all “procedural objections” for the hearing involving Bell on Nov. 21, according to Donald R. Wilson, an attorney for Mauffray.
Bell, 17, originally was charged with attempted murder for his alleged role in a December 2006 attack on Justin Barker at Jena High School. That charge was reduced before a jury convicted him in June of aggravated second-degree battery.
