‘Jena Six’ teen in jail on old charges

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 in Jena.

Mychal Bell, who with five other black teenagers had been accused of beating a white classmate, went to juvenile court expecting a 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.

Bell had been facing those charges before the December beating of his classmate.