Saw this news item today:
JENA, La. - A teenager at the center of a civil rights controversy is back in jail after a judge sentenced him on charges that were pending before the attack that put him in the national spotlight, his attorney said Thursday.
Mychal Bell, who along with five other black teenagers had been accused of beating a white classmate, went to juvenile court Thursday expecting another routine hearing, said Carol Powell Lexing, one of Bell’s attorneys.
Instead, after a six-hour hearing, state District Judge J.P. Mauffrey Jr. sentenced him to 18 months on two counts of simple battery and two counts of criminal destruction of property, Lexing said.
I'm just getting a chance to look at this, but this does seem pretty excessive at first look - his probation was apparently revoked after an old drug charge that was never tried, and Bell’s parents were ordered to pay all court costs and witness costs as well, a pretty big fianancial burden for anyone.