It’s been more than nine months since a white student was beaten up at a high school in Jena, La., longer since three nooses were hung from a tree. It’s also been more than two weeks since Mychal Bell’s conviction was overturned – and yet he still sits in jail.

Judge J.P. Mauffray declined a defense motion for a writ of habeas corpus seeking to have Bell, one of the group dubbed “Jena Six,” released from jail, where he has waited for nearly 10 months for an assault against Justin Barker.

The Jena Six story begins in September 2006 when a group of black students at the Jena High School wanted to sit underneath a traditionally “whites-only” tree. The day after the vice principal told the students to sit wherever they wished, three nooses painted in the school’s official colors were found hanging from the tree.

Scott Windham, the school’s principal, expelled the three white students responsible. However the superintendent overruled the decision, allegedly stating that the nooses were “a youthful prank.” The white students received a three-day suspension.

“Those nooses meant hatred,” said Robert Bailey’s mother, Caseptla, in a telephone interview. “They send a clear message of ‘know your place and stay here.'”

“When the nooses were hung, no one at the school took the opportunity to discuss the history of racism in the United States and in Jena,” said Maria Rosales, assistant professor of political science. “There was a lot of community building that needed to happen.”

Tensions in Jena peaked on Dec. 4, 2006, when Justin Barker, a 17-year-old white student, in support of those who had hung the nooses, allegedly racially taunted six black students. According to Newsweek, Barker denies making any offensive comments.

Later that day, Barker was attacked from behind. According to the Associated Press, Barker never saw his attackers. He was leaving the school’s gym with his girlfriend, when they turned to “avoid a group of black students.”

“I turned my back and somebody hit me,” Barker said to the AP. “That’s all I remember.”

Barker was knocked unconscious and continued to be beaten on the ground by a group of students.

Barker’s girlfriend has refrained from speaking to the media.

Barker was taken to the hospital and released three hours later with a concussion. According to the Washington Post, Barker attended a school function that evening.

Police arrested students Robert Bailey, Mychal Bell, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis, Theo Shaw and Jesse Ray Beard. Despite all but one being minors at the time, they were charged as adults with attempted second-degree murder. Only Beard was charged as a juvenile because he was 14 when the fight occurred.

The six boys are school athletes and honor roll students. All but Bell had no prior police record.

Each student’s bail ranged from $70,000 to $138,000.

The morning before Bell’s trial, District Attorney Reed Walters reduced the charges to second-degree aggravated battery and conspiracy, reducing possible jail time from 100 years to 22 years.

Louisiana law states that there must be a deadly weapon used in the attack for a second-degree battery charge. The District Attorney argued that Bell used his tennis shoes as a deadly weapon to hit Barker on his head.

Parents of the Jena Six are outraged that the D.A. was allowed to use this argument.

“The DA is a racist because of his track record,” said Marcus Bell, father of Mychal Bell, in a telephone interview. “We’re tired of it. If we sit back and allow him to railroad our kids too, he’s going to continue to do that to black people in this town. We have to take a stand now.”

Robert Bailey’s mother has been writing letters to organizations such as the ACLU and NAACP in an attempt to help her son.

“They want to lock up my son and throw away the key because that’s the tradition with black males,” Caseptla Bailey said. “They want to keep institutionalized slavery alive and well.”

“A lot of people want to think that because of the civil rights movement, racism is gone,” said Holly Wilson, coordinator of Guilford College’s Africana community programs. “We all need to work on educating ourselves about institutional racism, what role each of us plays in it, and how can we change it.”

The District Attorney denies accusations that race is a factor in the case.

“It is about finding justice for an innocent victim, and holding people accountable for their actions,” Walters said to ABC News.

An all-white jury found Mychal Bell guilty of second-degree battery. Civil rights organizations have been drawing attention to the six-person jury, arguing Bell, the first of the six to be tried, was not given a fair jury selection.

“The constitution requires a defendant to stand trial with a jury of his or her peers,” said Robert Duncan, assistant professor of political science. “That sounds like a violation of due process and constitutional law.”

However, on Sept. 14, a district appeals court overturned Bell’s conviction, ruling that he should not have been tried as an adult. District Attorney Walters has vowed to appeal the decision to Louisiana’s Supreme Court.

Despite the District Attorney denying the notion that race has effected this case, many view the treatment of Mychal Bell and the five other students to be an example of institutional racism in this country.

“Institutional racism in this case perpetuated in the disproportionate treatment of the African American students and the white students,” Wilson said, “(such as) jailing and setting bail extremely high for the Jena Six after allegedly fighting a white schoolmate, and essentially ‘slapping the wrists’ of those white students that allegedly hung nooses from a tree on the school campus.”