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The Associated Press reports:

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The judge overseeing the criminal cases for the remaining Jena Six defendants was removed against his will Friday for making questionable remarks about the teenagers.

Judge J.P. Mauffray Jr. had acknowledged calling the teens “trouble makers” and “a violent bunch” but insisted he could be impartial. Defense attorneys disagreed and asked that he be removed.

Judge Thomas M. Yeager, who was appointed by the state Supreme Court to decide whether Mauffray should be taken off the case, found there was an appearance of impropriety.

“The right to a fair and impartial judge is of particular importance in the present cases,” Yeager wrote.

Six black teens were arrested and initially charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with a December 4, 2006, attack on fellow Jena High School student Justin Barker, who is white. The charges were later reduced.

Jesse Ray Beard, Robert Bailey Jr., Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and Theo Shaw now face aggravated second-degree battery charges. Beard is charged as a juvenile.

Mychal Bell is the only member of the group that has been tried. He was originally charged as an adult with attempted murder. The charge was reduced before a jury convicted him last June of aggravated second-degree battery.

In September, an appeals court overturned the verdict and ordered Bell tried as a juvenile. He pleaded guilty to a juvenile charge of second-degree battery. He now lives in Monroe, La., with a foster family and is attending school.

Bell’s attorney Louis Scott said he would also ask to have Mauffray removed from Bell’s case. Although Bell’s plea will remain unchanged, Scott said he did not want Mauffray to oversee the teen’s probation.

The case aggravated racial tensions in the tiny, central Louisiana town, and led to a massive civil rights demonstration last September.

Mauffray was out of town, court officials said, and would not comment on the ruling.

District Attorney Reed Walters said he may appeal the decision.

“Whatever ultimately happens concerning the judge, this does not mean these cases go away,” he said. “It will just take longer to get them to trial. However, I may seek to have the decision overturned.”

An attorney for Beard said he hoped it the Louisiana Supreme Court would quickly appoint a new judge to hear the remaining cases.

“Everyone is entitled to a fair judge, not the judge they want,” attorney David Utter said. “It mystifies me why the district attorney would fight this.”

First of all, there’s no way one can be impartial when you’ve already stated your opinions about one group. These teens have been unfairly prosecuted and this is just prolonging their freedom. Why haven’t the kids that started the attacks been prosecuted? Where’s the justice people? When you have no money, no power, this is what happens to our kids. If the United States justice system can’t protect them, who will?

Mychal Bell was a talented kid with a bright future. Because of the ignorance of others and the failure of their parents to raise decent human beings, he will probably never get a fair chance. I’m so sorry that D.A. Reed Walters is allowed to prosecute ANYWHERE. I just don’t agree with people who are not impartial to others regardless of their race having the power to prosecute and put people in jail. It’s not right and I think that there should be a law against it. If this were two groups of Caucasian kids, no one would’ve been in jail. And if they were, they would have only been in long enough for their parents to come and get them.

In conclusion, racist people should choose other professions. They should be able to admit they’re racist in public, and they should not be working with the general public.

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