JENA, La.
The youngest defendant in the Jena Six case is using his share of money donated for defense attorneys to attend a private boarding school with a focus on college preparation.
Attorney C. David Utter said that since defense was donated, the money was available for his education at Canterbury School in New Milford, Conn.
Beard is one of six Black students who was accused of attacking a White student at Jena High School in 2006. He has been living with an attorney in New York, and was released from house arrest on unrelated juvenile charges earlier this month so he can attend the boarding school.
The White student’s lawyer says the defense fund money, from donors including rocker David Bowie, who gave $10,000, could go for restitution, rather than Canterbury’s tuition, which is almost $40,000 a year.
Harry Lemoine Jr. represents Justin Barker and his parents in a lawsuit against the parents of all six Jena High School students accused of beating Barker and the four students who were legally adult at the time of the alleged attack.
“I am following up on this,” Lemoine said. He said he will look into legal uses of the money.
