Just in: JENA 6 conviction thrown out [View All]

(CNN) -- A Louisiana appeals court Friday vacated the conviction of a teenager accused in a December 2006 fight at a high school in Jena, La., the attorney for the teenager told CNN.

Bob Noel said the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Lake Charles threw out convictions for second degree battery against Mychael Bell, saying the charges should have been brought in juvenile court.

Bell, who is now 17, was 16 at the time of the fight. Earlier this month, a district court judge vacated a conviction for conspiracy to commit second degree battery, saying that charge should have been brought in juvenile court. He left standing the second degree battery conviction, however.

Noel said the future of the case against Bell is up to the district attorney, who must decide whether to refile the charges in juvenile court. He said Bell's defense team would be filing a motion to get him out of prison, where he has been since his arrest in December. (Posted 5:20 p.m.)

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/09/14/friday/index.html