Court Tosses Out Teen's Conviction In Beating Of Schoolmate

Friday, September 14th 2007, 4:43 pm

By: News On 6

JENA, La. (AP) _ A state appeals court on Friday threw out the only remaining conviction against a black teenager accused in the beating of a white schoolmate that raised racial tensions in his town.

Mychal Bell, 17, should not have been tried as an adult, the court said in tossing his conviction on aggravated battery, for which he was to have been sentenced Thursday. His conspiracy conviction was already thrown out by another court.

Bell, who was 16 at the time of the beating, and four others were originally charged with attempted second-degree murder. Those charges brought widespread criticism that blacks were being treated more harshly than whites following racial altercations involving Jena High.