Marcus Jones Sounds Off About Mychal Bell's Plea Bargain

On December 16, 2007, Marcus Jones (father of Mychal Bell from the Jena 6) sounded off on R2C2H2 Tha Artivist's show about the decisions of his attorneys Lewis Scott and Carol Powell-Lexing. In the interview below, I speak to him about updates on the plea bargain, Mychal Bell's current status, and the civil case that Justin Barker's family filed against him.

Shamontiel: From what you've read from newspapers, magazines, and television, what is the biggest misconception that people have about your son and about the case? Or are there any?

Marcus: [Mychal Bell] wasn't arrested for his juvenile history. He was arrested on an attitude of a racist DA. That's what he was arrested on along with the other five of the Jena 6.

S: Right, with Reed Walters and...

M: Yeah, see everybody mis...I mean, see the white media is trying to flip the story about his juvenile history. See, his juvenile history not based on what the racist attitudes the DA had put him in jail for. I'm not gone say what they was arrested for. I'm saying what him and the other five of the Jena 6 was put in jail for. The reason I say it this way 'cause it was not no police report made out on the Jena 6 case period 'cause that's when the DA heard about that five blacks had jumped on one White. He took it on himself with his attitude said, "I don't need no police report. I'm the DA. Go and arrest them boys." Point. Blank. Period. Well, if that's the case, you don't know what happened at the scene of the crime. You're going off what you heard. You're going off teenage kids' statements that you told the principal and the assistant principal to tell some of the kids to make. You understand what I'm saying?

S: Yeah.

M: The judge don't know what happened at the scene of the crime 'cause he don't have no police report sitting in front of him on the stand to say what happened at the scene of the crime or the nature of the crime, so he didn't have no right or no authority to put a bond on them kids either. Okay, the sheriff and the LaSalle Parish Police Department didn't have the authority to lock those boys up in their jail. The police department say what do [they] have them charged with. [The] deputies went and put those handcuffs on them boys and took them boys to jail and locked them boys up. What do [the] deputies and the sheriff of the town say that [they] locked them boys up? They don't know 'cause they don't have no police report made out. You understand what I'm saying?

S: Definitely.

M: All this stuff is being misconcep...wasn't even publicized or reported by the media. Okay, there's 300...there's 400 students that go to Jena High School. Out of the 399 students, why was Justin Barker picked out? If it wasn't a conspiracy for any one of them boys to do anything, why was he picked out out of all of the other students that went to that school? Okay, if he would not have [said to] Robert Bailey, "I heard that you got your nigger ass whooped in school over the weekend. That's good for you." If he hadn't made that remark, this incident would not have happened.

S: Okay.

M: And the white media know that. That's the reason why they have not been reporting that 'cause they're trying to say it's two sides of a story. Trying to balance the story. You cannot balance it out no kind of way. Period.

S: Was Justin Barker known to make comments like these? I mean, has your son or any of the other Jena 6 had other experiences with him or is this the first time that you've heard about him just being racist like this?

M: Well, um...I think this the first time that any one of them heard a verbally racist remark from him.

S: Okay.

M: But he was affiliated and connected and friends with the boys...two of the boys that hung the nooses on the tree in September. See, he was friends with three of those boys.

S: With three of the boys that hung the nooses?

M: Yeah. Yeah.

S: Was Justin Barker friends with Justin Sloan too, one of the people that jumped Robert Bailey Jr.?

M: Oh, I don't know that.

S: Okay.

M: That never came up. I don't know if they were friends.

S: Okay. What is the status of Mychal Bell right now? Is he in foster care? Is he in a juvenile detention center? I keep hearing that he's in different places.

M: Well, he's in foster care, but the system is saying it's a mentor program.

S: Wait a minute. He is in a mental program or he's not?

M: He is.

S: For? Or can you tell me?

M: Men...not mental, mentor.

S: Oh mentor program! Okay.

M: This just something that, you know, that's clean out my knowledge. That's...I mean...

S: This is in Alexandria, Louisiana, correct? That he's in?

M: No, in Monroe.

S: In Monroe, Louisiana? Okay.

M: Yeah.

S: How long will he be there?

M: Umm...just really don't know. It's supposed to be 'til June, but it ain't for sure.

S: 'Til June this year?

M: Yeah.

S: Oh okay.

M: But it ain't for sure.

S: Okay, after he serves his time with the...

M: My whole stand now is [Lewis Scott and Carol Powell-Lexing] the lawyers railroaded my son into taking this plea and for him being put in the position that he is in now.

S: After Mychal Bell serves his time, should his case finally be over or is the judge going to call him back for something else? Like after June 2008, is he done? Is he out? Or does he have to go back for another trial?

M: I mean, another trial for what?

S: I don't know. They keep calling him back for reasons. I mean, they haven't cooked up something yet? Or it looks like...?

M: I mean, he hasn't been charged with nothing else. See, on November the sixth, that...my son went to court for two motion hearings in front of Judge Mauffrey in Jena for a double jeopardy and no police report being done on the crime.

S: Right.

M: Okay, so quite naturally we knew that he wasn't...he wasn't going to rule in our favor for those motions. They was legit, and we knew that we were going to have to go to the Third Circuit Court and file those motions into the Third Circuit Court so they can make a ruling on it. Okay, [Lewis Scott] my lawyer, my son's lawyer, well my lawyer too 'cause I'm the one signed for him for hiring him as Mychal's lawyer, he told me...he said, "Yeah, we...we knew that he wasn't going to rule in Mychal's favor, and we know that. We gone gone and win it in the Third Circuit Court." I'd already filed it in the Third Circuit Court. This the next day after.

S: Right and they didn't have the paperwork ready. Yeah, I'm familiar with that. [Carol Powell-Lexing and Lewis Scott] didn't have the paperwork ready, and then you had to sign....

M: Oh no, no, no...it was not them having the paperwork ready. This was the excuse that he used for the white lady not...for him having...giving me an excuse for him not filing to the Third Circuit Court.

S: Okay.

M: That was the excuse. That was BS. Point. Blank. Period. Okay, when I asked him "Well, why you didn't file those motions to the Third Circuit Court?" He knew he was going to be telling my son to take a plea. "Oh oh oh, [unintelligible word] didn't get a chance to file...I mean finish the brief before...to file it in the Third Circuit Court." I said, "Wait a minute, that's a whole month ago." This is what I'm telling Lewis Scott. I said, "This was a whole month ago. That's no excuse. Why you was telling me to tell my son to keep his head up about the...about the motions that we was supposed to see December 5^th or December 6^th for my son's original trial date? Why you was telling me that we was gone have some good luck before then? All of a sudden, you gone tell my son to take a plea." My son was out. He was out on bond for the fight about Justin Barker and the fight at the school. Okay, my son was illegally prosecuted and sentenced to illegal juvenile probation violation. That's what he was in jail on. He was not in jail for the fight with Justin Barker. He's out on bail for that.

S: Okay.

M: Okay. What lawyer in their right mind gone tell their client to put yourself in jail when they're out on bond? You fighting. The reason your client is out on bond is for you to get enough evidence, work on your client's case to build up time enough to go to trial to defend your client for the $150,000 plus money that you was paid for.

S: So if he was...okay, so he was out on bail for the Justin Barker case and the lawyer Lewis Scott wanted to put him back in jail for the plea bargain, correct? Is that correct?

M: Yes, yes.

S: But how did he end up [in] foster care? When did that come into play? Was that part of the plea bargain too?

M: No, no, no. This is where another white man's trick comes in. He get another black guy for a dollar or threaten a black guy for a dollar, to kill him, or to make him lose his job. I want you to understand that. I'm gone say this again. This where another man come in at for threatening blacks, to kill him, to buy him, or to make him lose his job.

S: Are you talking about Lewis Scott?

M: Right.

S: Are you saying [someone white] threatened Lewis Scott?

M: And Carol Powell-Lexing, the two lead attorneys. Okay, the other three lead attorneys were white.

S: Okay.

M: Now here it is. Now, my son...they basically told my son...okay, they have not been working on getting my son out on the illegal probation violation that they locked my son up on back in the beginning of October. They have not been working or doing nothing. This man has been lying to me all while saying he was working on my son's case. Okay, he's talking about some, "Well, you take this plea. You won't have to do the 18 months, the full 18 months on this juvenile probation violation, and you won't have to do the 15...I mean, you won't have to do the 18 months that the judge gone sentence you on. You will do half of that on both of them." Okay, wait a minute. Well, if [he] had not cut no deal with the DA and the judge, how do [he] know they were going to sentence him to 18 months on the fight with Justin Barker at the school?

S: Okay.

M: Okay. All right. Well, here it is now. Here it is now. Well, I asked him, I said, "Well, did you file a lawsuit against the school for...for...the school administration and the police department for not prosecuting those three white boys that hung up the nooses for the civil rights violations against my son being a Black African American against the school board?" He told me "Yeah." Now this was back in November. When it come time for my son to take the plea, he said that they never even filed the lawsuit against the school board. Wait a minute! [He] told me that [he] did. [He's] been lying to me all along while [he's] been working on my son's case and just saying...just accepting all this money that people have donated and sent to [him] all across America for my son's defense. Why [has he] been doing this? [Lewis Scott] and Carol Powell-Lexing been lying to America and [they] been having me lying and thinking that I'm speaking on legal advice that [they are] giving me on what [they are] doing for my son's case.

S: So how did he end up in foster care?

M: I really don't understand this. Okay, now, some kind of way...they tell...they say, "Well, we could get him out." I mean, "We could put him in this program here and put him in a foster home and we could roll it over to the mentor program and say that he's in a mentor program. And he could be out going to school at the same time." But see, all this had bypassed me all along because this here...the deal that they cut...that they told Mychal's mother.

S: Okay.

M: I mean, it's just like...it's such a weird thing.

S: I just don't understand. I guess the part that I'm not clear on is, okay, I understand the plea bargain part. I listened to that on R2C2H2 the Artivist's show. I've listened to all of the shows you've been on, and I understand what the lawyer...what you feel the lawyer did wrong. I was just trying to figure out how did [Mychal Bell] go from about to serve jail time...well, he already served the ten months in jail. But how did he go from the juvenile detention center to the foster care system? That's in place of the juvenile detention center? He has to be there 'til June, and then after that, he's out.

M: Well, like I say, that's still not clear with me 'cause I mean...I have not been communicating with them 'cause I'm on a different road from his mother.

S: Okay.

M: So she communicates with them. You understand what I'm saying?

S: Yeah yeah yeah. I would have...that would be something that his mom would have to answer. You wouldn't be able to...that wasn't in the plea bargain? I don't understand why that wasn't in the plea bargain that he would be able to serve that time in foster care.

M: Let me tell you what this is. See, there's six kids involved in this.

S: Right. I understand that.

M: There's three...well, there was three...three of the Jena 6 that had black attorneys. Then all of a sudden, the other three fired their attorneys and got the white attorneys through the Color of Change's involvement in this. Okay, they talked...let me see. Robert Bailey Jr.'s lawyer, Theo Shaw's lawyer, and Jesse Ray Beard, the juvenile lawyer, [the lawyers] told their parents, "Listen, we can get y'all kids free, but these side stipulations that y'all gone have to do in order to do if y'all want y'all kids to get free." Before I say this here, now remember, the reason these white attorneys are telling these other three of the Jena 6 to do this, telling their parents to do this 'cause they knowing how this has awakened Black America on racism, and they knowing that if all six of these kids go free, that this will change a whole race perspective, race outlook on African Americans on how the police arrest and how the court prosecutes blacks. They knowing what effect this will have on White America, and they don't want these black niggers to get the upperhand when they've been having it all their life. You understand what I'm saying?

S: Definitely.

M: I'm telling you, this is point blank facts. I'm not speculating a sermon. This is what I know. Okay, they told them. These other three of the black Jena 6 families, "You got to denounce your race. Quit hollering racism. Don't be seen with Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, any pro-black political activist whatever, preacher whatever. You cannot be seen with them. Don't be involved with them. Don't...don't...don't be involved in no marches. Don't protest or none of that. Quit...quit calling the town racist. Quit calling the DA racist. Quit saying that the white people in Jena is racist if you want your son to get off on this.

S: But they are!

M: They is!

S: All right.

M: They is. Now...now...now...what, who of the Jena 6 families have been...I'm not saying this to be bragging or none of that.

S: Right.

M: Been speaking up? Been outspoken for their kids? Point. Blank. Period.

S: It's basically been you that I hear the most.

M: I mean besides me. I mean, I mean...you know, I don't care no more. I don't care no more.

S: I haven't...

M: Call them like you see them. They're doing what them white folks have been telling them to do.

S: Okay. I got you.

[Note to reader: To protect the privacy of the Jena 6's families, an excerpt from this interview has been deleted. For the record, Marcus Jones did clarify that John Jenkins, (father of Carwin Jones) and Tina Jones (mother of Bryant Purvis) have also spoken out about the issues in Jena, Louisiana.]

S: What is the likelihood that Mychal...this question might be a little too soon to ask, but just in case, what is the likelihood that your son would still have a chance to go to a smaller college and continue his goal as a football player. Like, have the letters stopped coming? Or, I mean, is that still a possibility?

M: Yeah, he's still got...matter of fact, he got like four letters last week, and I forgot how many letters the previous week. Maybe two the previous week, but his chances are still good because he still got the ability and the talent there. I mean, he has not lost nothing. Not lost his book smarts. I mean, his ability. His speed. You know, or his knowledge of the football or none of that, so all that is still good.

S: So when will he actually be able to get his high school diploma or do you know?

M: It's really kinda up in the air now, you know.

S: Okay because first he has to get out of that foster care issue?

M: Yeah because these lawyers got him screwed up in this system 'til it's pitiful.

S: Were you surprised by the judge's decision on Mychal Bell or is this a common antic for Judge Mauffrey?

M: No, no, I mean this is it. I mean, for him to find a guilty verdict or a guilty plea or find a black to be in fault of anything. This is his nature. This is the way the town [unintelligible word] off black convictions, black blood, everything.

S: Okay. Last night on R2C2H2's show, we spoke briefly about black people not being able to vote in Jena, Louisiana. What would have to happen to change that? Have black people in Jena ever been able to vote?

M: We've been able to vote, but not for...not for the city limits part of Jena. You know, we can't vote for the mayor. We can't vote for the chief of police, alderman, town council, anything like that. Anything that's in the city limits, we can't...

S: Anything local? Pretty much anything local?

M: All black people live on the outside of the city limit, so we're not, like I said, we're not able to vote for the mayor, town alderman, town council, chief of police, or the town judge. None of that.

S: Okay, I have a question though. I'm just judging from my own experience, and I live in Chicago, and I know that when we are ready to vote for anything local, we get mail, and it says this is the location that you can vote in for blahzay blah. Do you all even get that kind of information or are they making it so...are they making it absolutely so you can't vote even in a location near you?

M: No. They don't send...they don't send black people nothing like you...I mean, nothing like that here. I mean, 'cause they know that black people supposed to be in check. What they need to send something in the mail for when they know they're in check?

S: That's crazy to me. Isn't that illegal? Because I'm just...

M: Hey, hey, listen. If some of these black people here accept that, ain't nothing the federal government gone do if they see people keep accepting it. You understand what I'm saying? It's something they could come in and do. They know it's wrong from a government standpoint or justice department. Whatever department that they supposed to you know, be in, you know...they know that. But they see that these black niggers is accepting of all this, what they gone come in and try to change something for?

S: Okay, so I'm pretty sure...will you all be able to vote in the presidential election coming up?

M: Yes. Thank God.

S: (laughs) All right. All right. I was really concerned about that. We can go back to the plea bargain. For those unaware, Mychal Bell took a plea bargain. However, you didn't agree with the terms of the plea bargain. How are the lawyers responding to your discontent with the plea bargain? I know you said to the Artivist that they sent you a letter talking about...he was talking about the fundraisers he's done and his travel expenses.

M: This was after my son had took the plea bargain, he gone send me that smart letter.

S: I just want to make sure I have the terms of the plea bargain right: the Bell family cannot appeal the court's decision; you must pay child support until Mychal Bell is 18; you and Melissa Bell would have to pay a portion of Justin Barker's medical bills; any motions that the Bell family would file against the judge or lawyer would have to be withdrawn; and both you and Melissa Bell would have to pay for all legal fees for both your legal fees and Justin Barker's. Or just for your legal fees?

M: Just...just whatever my son been to court for.

S: Okay, so you don't have to pay the Barkers' fees?

M: No, no, no, no. Yeah, I mean, basically the same thing 'cause it's against them...and...and that my son would have to testify in the other Jena 6 the other boys cases against...on behalf of the state.

S: You said that he would have to testify against the Jena 6. I don't know if you said that by accident. Is that...that's been a big concern for people who are for the Jena 6. They're really concerned that Mychal Bell would say something against the other guys. Is that...

M: But see, see, see, this the thing about it. Now if you was a lawyer...

S: Uh huh.

M: If you was a lawyer, would you agree to all six of them stip...all six of them terms for your client?

S: Absolutely not. First of all, I wouldn't agree to the appeal part.

M: Yeah, I mean, that don't make no sense. Okay, now it wasn't explained to my son that thoroughly about all these stipulations until he...I got the transcript until my son agreed.

"Okay, yeah. I struck him first." You know, blah blah blah. And that was it. Then...

S: Okay.

M: Then he went off into the stipulations on okay, I accept the plea under these stipulations, under these stipulations, and what your parents have to pay, and...and what you have to do. Blah blah blah. The lawyers didn't explain all this to my son before he even went into court. They was filling my son head up. "Oh, we could get you out before Christmas. You could be home before Christmas." All this here. This that and the other. "We could get you out of lockdown and have you out in secured custody and have you home with your family." But the trick was, oh now we could have you out, but it's not with your family. This is nothing but a white man's trick, and Lewis Scott and them tricked my son and got paid off or threatened and done this to my son. Poisoned my son's mother's mind and poisoned his mind. Threatened him. "Either you take this plea or you're going to get sent up the road." Point. Blank. Period. For any lawyer in their good right mind, your client out on bail, this was what a lawyer do. Okay, if you're not ready; your client is out on bail. Point. Blank. Just say for instance my son is not even in jail on an illegal juvenile probation violation. Let's say he's not even in jail on that. He's out on bail for the fight with Justin Barker at the school. Okay, you don't rush your client to trial no kind of way. If you're a lawyer, you never rush your...your...your client to trial. Point. Blank. Period. If you got some kind of evidence, you sit on it, and you let the court know this is what I got here. You understand what I'm saying? If you gone have a fight or a gunfight with the court, you let them know, okay, I got one round in my gun. Okay, and you know you got some other evidence here, or you tell the court. You call the DA. I got another round in my gun. Point. Blank. Period. You don't never rush your client to trial when these...when you got your client out on bail. Remember, there's nothing that Lewis Scott, Carol Powell-Lexing, and the rest of them other attorneys done legal wise to get my son out on bail. Point. Blank. Period. It was Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III that done that when they went to Governor Franco and told him:

"Well look. I want Mychal Bell to get a pardon."

"Okay, well, okay, he [unintelligible word]."

"Y'all give him a bail."

Point. Blank. Period. He need to be out on bail. DA Reed Walters and Mauffrey and them been denying him bail. You need to give him a bail."

Point. Blank. Period.

S: So how's the lawyers...

M: Stuck him in juvenile court or something if [they] know that [they] illegally prosecuted...they illegally prosecuted him as a juvenile...as an adult. [They] know that. Do something. Put him back in juvenile court or something. See, that's what Sharpton and them said. Okay. Okay, all that was done on civil rights work. That was not done [what] Lewis Scott and Carol Powell-Lexing had done legal wise. Them being a lawyer ain't nothing that they filed.

S: So how are the lawyers responding to your discontent with the plea bargain? I know you got that letter talking about all the fees that Lewis Scott has had with you, but how has the other lawyer responded to your discontent with the plea bargain?

M: What other lawyer? The white attorneys?

S: You said Carol. Didn't you say Carol?

M: Oh, Carol Powell-Lexing.

S: Yeah.

M: Oh, she...she ain't been returning none of my phone calls or none of that.

S: Okay.

M: She done told Mychal's mother, "I'm tired of him slandering my name, you know, here and there." Hold up, baby. I'm not slandering [her] name.

S: (laughs)

M: Point. Blank. Period. I'm not slandering [her] profession or none of that. Point. Blank. Period. I'm just telling [her] what [she] done wrong, how [she] sold my son out, how these white folks threatened [her] and threatened Lewis Scott, or the money that they gave [her] to sell my son out. That's all I'm speaking on.

S: Okay.

M: I don't know nothing about [her] personal life or [her] reputation whatever. You know. [She] got ads. [She's] passing out cards about [her] legal profession, and [she's] a business lawyer here and there or whatever. I'm not trying to slander whatever [she] got written on [her] card that [she's] been passing out to people. I'm just telling people what [she] done to my son.

S: So are you appealing their decision?

M: What you mean appealing?

S: Can you...can you fight the lawyers or is it just...? You can appeal...?

M: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes.

S: Okay. What are you? What is the status of that right now? Are you just getting the paperwork together or...

M: Yeah, yeah. It's all in paperwork right now. It's a lot that I got to get galvanized right now.

S: Okay. You're just filling out paperwork to...what is this paperwork doing that you're going to fill out?

M: Well...

S: To fight the lawyers or to fight the plea bargain?

M: The lawyers for...to prove to America what wrong that they've done, [what they are] legally supposed to [have] done with my son's case. If they had have filed those motions on December 2nd, I mean, on November 2nd like they supposed to done, my son could be out free and with his own family.

S: Okay.

M: Today. Today. You hear me?

S: So you're doing the paperwork for malpractice? Am I correct?

M: That's exactly right.

S: Okay. I just wanted to make sure I had the correct forms for what you're doing. The Barkers have a civil case against you still?

M: Oh yeah.

S: In addition to you having to pay the court fees for your son's case, medical fees for Justin Barker, the fees for him being in a juvenile detention center, what else are you paying for?

M: Well, one of the stipulations in the plea agreement [is] for the judge to accept the plea agreement that my son and them lawyers put on the table for the plea agreement to be acceptable for the judge that I would have to pay child support 'til my son turn eighteen. That ain't no biggie to me 'cause I've been doing it anyway.

S: Right.

M: Just the point of the matter of the situation is...this don't have nothing to do with no juvenile case. I mean, no criminal case.

S: How old is Mychal Bell now?

M: Oh, he just turned eighteen last month.

S: That's what I thinking. Like isn't he eighteen now. Okay.

M: Okay. Okay. But this where the white men come in, got the old black nigger lawyers tricked and hoodwinked and hoodwinked me. Wait, he ain't hoodwink me, but this here...um...where it come in at. Say that I would have to pay child support until my son turn eighteen. My son turned eighteen January 18th. I get a lawyer, I mean, I get a letter. Let me see what the date is. The date is 25th. 26th? Whatever. I get a letter...

S: You say he turned it on January 18^th?

M: Yeah. Yeah.

S: Okay go 'head.

M: I get a letter from the...from the child support people, must've been Thursday or Friday, so that'd be about the 21st, 22nd, whatever.

S: That's the 22nd.

M: That...that...I would have to pay child support to the state for such and such amount of time. Wait a minute. The judge just ordered that I would have to pay child support until my son turns eighteen. Now all of a sudden now that y'all want me to come back and pay child support again?

S: Wait, how can you pay child support for somebody who's eighteen? Why would you pay to the state?

M: See, that's what I'm talking about. But the judge put in the recommendations that I pay child support 'til he turns eighteen. This what I want people to understand. I'm not crying about paying no child support at all.

S: Right, but he's eighteen, so I don't understand that.

M: Like I say, I don't understand that. I don't understand that. Now they're sending me letters to be in child support court. Man, I don't got the letter in front of me. Right. For...for them to...for me to pay child support. I don't understand that. But...but now listen. Now Lewis Scott and them accepted all this stuff here but didn't even agree with me [unintelligible words] or Mychal's mother about this...about this whole six stimulations for...for this plea agreement. Now what son in their right mind gone tell...I mean, gone accept to pay...or put in a plea for their father to pay child support in order for him to get out of jail? But he not out of jail. He's still in the system. But he's still in jail.

S: In foster care?

M: Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

S: Okay.

M: They use it as a mentor program. That's another name for it. It's still the same thing. It's just another way for them to make money off him and off the rest of the kids with this new rah rah they've got going out here.

S: So how much in total...I don't know if this is too personal and you could always say you'd rather not answer, [but] how much do you have to pay in full for all of this stuff?

M: Okay, now it's totally...this stuff...let me see, in October, we had to pay $600.

S: A month?

M: That's for his incarceration paid to the state. The Department of um...Department of Corrections. No, the Department of Child Youth Development. Same thing as the Department of Corrections of Louisiana. Okay, now...

S: Wait a minute. Let me make sure I got this right. The Department of Child Youth Development. Are you paying that $600 total or $600 a month?

M: Month.

S: And how many months was he in there?

M: This was the first ruling that the judge required.

S: $600 per month. Okay.

M: Yeah. Okay, now it's an additional $120 a month that we got to pay separate to...for me...to the Louisiana Department of Child Services. One hundred twenty dollars, like I say.

S: That's for the foster care company, right?

M: I guess. I guess.

S: All right. What else?

M: Okay, the...I mean...that's about it right now besides the money we're going to have to pay to the Barker family for the lawsuit that they're filing against us and the other Jena 6 family. Well, that's just against me and Mychal's mother. The other [five] boys haven't been to trial yet.

S: Okay, so you're paying the legal fees for the Barker case too now right?

M: No. Not to...the judge ain't made a judgment against me yet.

S: Wait, are you talking about the civil case against you or the case against Mychal Bell?

M: Well, naw, it's against me. 'Cause I'm Mychal's parent, so it's against me. In the transcript, in the judge's ruling, it's against Mychal's parents. That's how it was filed from the Barker family. Against me.

S: Okay, for the civil case. But you won't know that until when?

M: Whenever they set up a trial date.

S: Whenever they send...

M: Yeah, but they already requested bank statements, land owner statements, whatever. The whole nine yards.

S: Okay, so you're supposed to pay $600 for the Department of Child Youth Development for the time that he was in the detention center. So how many months was he in the detention center before he was released to foster care?

M: Okay. Let's see. October. November. I guess two months.

S: Okay, and now he's been in foster care for how long?

M: Right at two months now 'cause he went in there like the middle of...right before Christmas, so I guess about a month. Month and a half, I guess.

S: Okay, and you didn't have to pay for him during the ten months that he was actually in Jena's prison system, right? There was no fees there?

M: No, no, no, no. See, all this here, this money thing, all the present frustration and madness of the white judge of Jena. Judge Mauffrey.

S: Right.

M: Now see, ain't no other parents never been through...white, black...ever been through his court ever had to do this.

S: Okay, so he's trying to make...he's trying to make it as hard as possible, but as...

M: That's exactly right.

S: So what did you have to pay? I understand that you haven't gotten the civil case for you. Are you paying for attorney fees now for this civil case now for that trial to happen or do you have to wait for the trial date and then those fees will come?

M: Attorney's fees from who?

S: Do you have attorney's fees now for the civil case coming against you?

M: Yeah. I had went through Legal Aid for the lawyer just to answer the lawsuit against the Barkers.

S: So this legal aid is for you. This isn't something you have to pay, correct?

M: No, no, no, no. But the actual trial...when the actual trial starts, I will have to gone and hire an attorney.

S: So right now, how much are you paying a month on all of this stuff?

M: $720.

S: Oh it really is...

M: That I don't even have.

S: Yeah, I heard you lost your job. Were you able to find another one?

M: No, like I said, money that I don't even have. You understand what I'm saying?

S: Yeah.

M: The white people know this. See, this is the thing about it. I'm not gone. I'm not gone call nobody out about this, but see...

S: Wait, wait, wait. You said you don't want to call anybody out about this, remember that you're being tape recorded, so I don't want you to say anything you'll regret later.

M: Yeah yeah.

S: Okay. Go ahead.

M: See, now this. This is what I don't understand. That all this is illegal what the judge and the DA have been doing. Now we call on the Justice Department. Wrote to the Justice Department. Had people in high places call the Justice Department. Write to the Justice Department. Talk to the Justice Department. And they don't even come on in and try to intervene on this. When the DA went to the judge, I mean, went to the kids about how he could make their life go away with the stroke of a pen, well now what is that for him to go and tell teenage kids that? Why are you leaving your professional office where you got more harsh criminal cases that you could be handling at? You gone go to a school and threaten kids in that type of manner? That's unprofessional.

S: Right.

M: And they knowing that he was talking to the black kids. They knowing that. Okay. When five of the whites had jumped on Robert Bailey Jr. on December 1 or December 2, then on December 4, three days later, I mean, when he heard about the five whites jumping on Robert Bailey Jr., aw, they was fine. Five whites on one black. You understand what I'm saying? That's all fine and dandy. He heard about that. That's good for that nigger. But when he heard about the six blacks jumped on one white, wait a minute. Them niggers can't do that.

S: Right.

M: No, no. Okay, now ain't nobody call him from the sheriff's office or whatever. He just heard about it and said okay, I don't need nobody from the sheriff's office. I'm the DA. Go in there and arrest them. Well, like I said before, the sheriff's department, the sheriff deputy the one that put the handcuffs on them kids. They didn't even do any paperwork on these kids. You understand what I'm saying?

S: I definitely understand what you're saying.

M: So why the DA is so mad about the six blacks jumping on one white? [He] wasn't mad about the [five] whites jumping on one black. Come on now.

S: Okay.

M: Now when the white boy pulled a shotgun on the three blacks, okay when the three blacks rushed the white and took the gun from [him] saving their lives acting fast, they're criminals for saving their own life. Three blacks saving their own life taking a gun from the white boy. Saving their own life is criminal.

S: Was it true that they say...

M: If that had have been a black that pulled a gun on three whites, they rush him and take the gun from one black, they...the three whites would've been heroes for saving their own life, but...

S: Was it true?

M: Yeah, that's true.

S: No, I have more to my question. Was it true that when Robert Bailey Jr. was jumped, the police told him to get back to his side of town?

M: That's exactly right. That's exactly right.

S: Wow.

M: When the police came up there, saw the blood rushing from Robert's head, said, "Y'all in the wrong place anyway. Get on from around here. Get back to y'all side of town anyway.

S: And this is at Fair Barn, correct?

M: Yeah. Yeah.

S: Do you know why Robert Bailey Jr. didn't...?

M: (talks to someone in background) I'm coming. I'm coming. I'm coming.

S: Okay, I'll just ask you this last question 'cause I don't want to hold you up. Where can concerned citizens send funds to help you with your legal trial and Mychal Bell?

M: No. Send to my lawyer.

S: Oh, send it directly to your lawyer? What is the name and address?

M: Lewis Scott. It's a PayPal account. mychalbelldefense@gmail.com.

S: Mychal Bell M-y-c-h-a-l-b-e-l-l defense d-e-f-e-n-s-e @gmail.com.

M: Yeah.

S: So where would we send funds for you? For your civil case or this $720? You just need it done through PayPal? Wasn't there a P.O. Box?

M: No, no, no. Wait a minute. I'm not asking for no funds for me. You know, 'cause it's just been too much scandal out there. I mean, people have done enough.

S: Even though you have a civil case?

M: They have sent too much money to my son's attorney for him not to defend my son in court like he's supposed to be to have his day in court.

S: But if they want to send it this...the thing is...the reason why I ask that is because a lot of people don't believe that the money is going to the right person. So is there a way that we can send it directly to you so you can send the money to the correct people 'cause a lot of people stopped donating money.

M: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. For me to send it to the direct people. Who would be the direct people if somebody sends it to me?

S: Your lawyer.

M: No, no, no. I'm not asking for nobody to send me no money or nothing at all.

S: No, no, no. I mean for somebody to pay your lawyers off. If somebody wanted to give you...

M: Wait, wait, wait, I mean...I don't...I'm not. It's been enough of that.

S: Okay.

M: It's been enough of that. I'm not asking or making no shouts for nobody to send me any money at all.

S: Okay, you just want the lawyer paid off and that's it?

M: No, no, no. My lawyer been paid off for not defending my son period. Hold it. Hold it. I'm not...he not...my son's lawyer is not defending me or nothing.

S: Right.

M: I'm in pursuit to get him disbarred.

S: I understand that. I understand that you want your lawyer paid off, so Lewis Scott has already been paid off. And now...who has he been paid off by?

M: From the donations that people sent to him.

S: Okay, so you just want the mychalbelldefense@gmail.com to pay the difference?

M: No. No. No. (laughs) It ain't no difference 'cause he never defended my son in court. The money that he received, he done took that money and ran with it.

S: So why would we send money to mychalbelldefense@gmail.com then?

M: I'm not asking you to send no money to that. You asked me, if anybody wanted to send any money, where would they send it? I'm just telling you what he had set up for my son on the Internet.

S: Oh. Well, I don't want to pay...well, me personally, I don't want to pay for somebody who didn't defend your son. I would rather pay for somebody who would defend your son.

M: I'm not asking nobody for money to put online for nobody to send money nowhere for me.

S: Right, I understand that you're not out looking for money. I know you're not out to get money. I'm not trying to insinuate that you are by any stretch of the imagination. I was just saying that if people wanted to support the defense of getting the Jena 6 out of the legal system, where would they send money to for that?

M: Umm...it was P.O. Box 27...

S: That's what I was trying to get to.

M: Okay, okay.

S: P.O. Box what?

M: 2789.

S: 2789. Jena, Louisiana?

M: Yeah. 71342.

S: 71342. And this is for the legal defense of the other five, correct?

M: Yep.

S: And we no longer need to send money for Mychal Bell because that's been handled, correct?

M: Well, it was supposed to.

S: Well. Yeah. It was supposed to have been used to defend him. But this is for the rest of [the Jena 6], correct?

M: Yeah.

S: Okay. Are there any closing thoughts that you want me to put in the interview that I haven't already asked?

M: Nah. Thank everybody for their kindness, thoughts, and prayers.

S: Thank you very much for doing this interview. I appreciate it a lot.