Plea deal for one 'Jena Six' defendant

JENA, La., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Lawyers hammered out a plea agreement Monday for one of the six Louisiana teenagers charged with assaulting a white classmate.

Mychal Bell, 17, -- the last of the so-called Jena 6 defendants still in jail -- agreed to plead guilty in juvenile court to a second-degree battery, which means he could be free by June, while the LaSalle Parish District Attorney's Office agreed to drop more serious aggravated battery charges, CNN reported.

Attorneys for several other Jena 6 defendants confirmed they were engaged in plea negotiations with the district attorney, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Originally, Bell was charged as an adult with attempted murder in a 2006 assault on a white fellow student, Justin Barker, at Jena High School, and was convicted of second-degree battery. But an appellate court found he should not have been tried as an adult.

CNN said Bell also would have to pay $935 to Barker's family and court costs.

The beating created volatile racial tension in Jena, a small Louisiana town. White teens allegedly hung nooses on a schoolyard tree, and 15,000 people demonstrated to protest handling of the case.

The six teens originally were charged in adult court with conspiracy and attempted murder.