Victim of Jena attack sues

AP/CBS:

The family of Justin Barker, the victim in the "Jena Six" racial beating case in Louisiana, has filed a civil lawsuit against the local school board, the parents of the six young men accused of beating him and the adult members among the six.

The lawsuit was filed Nov. 29 in state district court, the Alexandria Daily Town Talk newspaper reported.

The case and its racial overtones, sparked by the hanging on campus of nooses, a traditional symbol of lynch mobs, have attracted the attention of U.S. civil rights leaders, who led a large protest and said the original charges against the Jena Six were too strict.

David and Kelli Barker and their son allege that seven Jena High School students attacked Justin on Dec. 4, 2006, as he walked out of the school's gym.

The suit names the attackers as Mychal Bell, Jesse Beard, Theo Shaw, Bryant Purvis, Carwin Jones and Robert Bailey Jr., as well as a seventh student who has not been officially named by law enforcement as a part of the attack.

The lawsuit alleges that school employees were not adequately supervising students or maintaining discipline.

...

The suit against the accused attackers could get very interesting. On plead guilty to involvement in the attack already. All of them have been showered with donations because civil rights activist have alleged they were mistreated by the legal system. Normally it makes no sense to sue someone who has no money, but in this case those who have rallied to the cause of the defendants have given them something to lose in this case. I suspect the real issue in the case will be the amount of the damages.