Once facing a 50-year sentence, a Jena 6 member now looks to his future: law school
They were known as Jena Six: a group of black high school students who faced attempted murder charges for assaulting a white classmate. Among the accused was Theo Shaw who is now entering law school on a full scholarship, the Times-Picayune reports.
Shaw, 21, will attend the University of Washington School of Law. He was named one of five incoming William H. Gates Public Service Law Scholars at the school. The scholarship provides full payment for tuition and books and also some funds for living and incidental expenses.
Gates is a prominent Washington state lawyer and public servant; he was a founder of a law firm that later became Preston, Gates & Ellis and now, though he is not affiliated with it, is K&L Gates. (He also happens to have fathered the founder of Microsoft Corp.)
The charges against Shaw and his five classmates were significantly reduced after several thousand people from around the country came on Jena, Louisiana, in September 2007 to protest the prosecutions. Shaw had been unable to post bond and spent seven months in jail awaiting trial. He maintains that he was not involved in the attack, but pleaded no contest to misdemeanor simple battery. Racial tensions at Jena High School had simmered for months after three white students hung a noose from a tree.
The student who was injured in the attack has said that he did nothing to provoke the incident, though some claimed he used a racial slur. He won $29,000 in damages from the defendants, including for medical expenses, the ABA Journal reported in 2011.
By 2009, five of the Jena Six were in college, with another planning to do so. At the time, Shaw expressed interest in going to law school, having read legal publications while in jail to help with filing court papers.
The severity of the charges led to widespread criticism of the prosecution. “I was forced to be hopeful,” Shaw told The Times-Picayune recently. “To not be hopeful would be to give in to their belief of who I was.”
Shaw’s lawyer and mentor, Rob McDuff, told the newspaper that his client, who originally faced 50 years in prison “is extremely curious and reads widely. He thinks before he speaks, and when he does speak, he is very clear and thoughtful. He is smart and is committed to helping people who have been dealt a bad hand in life.”
The upcoming May issue of the ABA Journal will feature a look at the small universe of a few men who spent years in prison for crimes they did not commit and later went to law school after being exonerated. The magazine will feature three who are dedicated to helping others wrongfully convicted; an online version will include another who, having spent 10 years in prison, now has a business-oriented practice in the U.S. and China.
