Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Doctor paid bail for Jena youth

He doesn't condone teen's behavior but says harsh treatment led him to act.

NEW ORLEANS - When a 17-year-old at the center of a civil rights controversy in a small Louisiana town left jail, he had a stranger to thank.

Dr. Stephen Ayers, who lives about 130 miles away, said he felt compelled to help the family of Mychal Bell by posting the teen's bail and allowing him to go home for the first time since December.

Bell is one of six black teenagers accused of beating a white classmate in the central Louisiana town of Jena, where more than 20,000 demonstrators gathered last week to protest what they perceive as differences in how black and white suspects are treated.

Ayers, 42, of Lake Charles in southwestern Louisiana, said Friday that he isn't politically active and isn't usually one to "get into things like this." But a patient whose feet hurt after the march gave him a report on the event, in which Ayers did not participate.

"I was concerned about what was going on up there and thought the district attorney was a bit harsh in his treatment of Mr. Bell," said Ayers, who is black but added that his race was not his motivation. "I really thought it was overkill."

He isn't helping Bell because he thinks he is innocent, he said. "What he did was in no way right, and he should be punished for this. We're not condoning his behavior. We're just saying he needs to be punished appropriately."

Bell was released from custody Thursday on $45,000 bail after District Attorney Reed Walters announced that he would abandon adult charges against him. Ayers posted $5,400, the required 12 percent set by a judge Thursday.

The teen is due back in court Tuesday for the first hearing in his juvenile case. One of Bell's lawyers, Carol Powell Lexing, said she advised him to start looking for a new school and possibly a new place to live for Bell's "safety and welfare."

"Right now, it's not a good environment for him to be in," she said, adding that Bell's family has received threatening letters.

Many people offered to donate money for Bell's bail, Lexing said, but Ayers' help was accepted because he and a friend, Lawrence Morrow, were willing to handle the logistics.

Civil rights leaders who met Friday with top Justice Department officials said they are discouraged that the department has not filed any civil rights actions in the racially charged "Jena 6" case.

"It was a very disappointing meeting," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said after he and other leaders emerged from talks.

[Last modified September 29, 2007, 01:13:13]