By David Edwards and Jason Rhyne

The United States attorney who investigated racially charged events in Jena, Louisiana -- including the hanging of nooses in a tree at a local high school -- was roundly condemned by Democrats during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.

Donald Washington, who was appointed by President Bush as US Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, had stated previously that no link existed between the nooses, which appeared in a tree at Jena High School in August 2006, and the beating of a white student the following December. Six black teens were originally charged with attempted murder in the incident, although the charges were later reduced.

At the hearing, Washington stated that although in his opinion the hanging of the nooses did indeed constitute a hate crime, it was not a prosecutable offense because the three white students alleged to have hung the nooses were all minors.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) sharply rebuked Washington for not intervening in what she viewed as an over-prosecution of the black Jena teenagers by Louisiana district attorney, Reed Walters, who originally brought the case.

"I'm asking you to go back and I'm asking you to find a way to release Mychal Bell and the Jena six," Rep. Lee said, addressing Washington. " My question that goes down the road: I want to know why in the course of meetings of local district attorneys, why you didn't engage with Mr. Reed Walters, who may be subject to prosecutorial abuse, and confer with him and say 'Mr. Walters, this is not the way to handle this case.'"

"Mr. Washington, tell me why you didn't intervene," Lee continued, her voice rising as applause rang out in the chamber. "Not by way of the legal system, but the consultation that US attorneys have with the local district attorneys. Broken lives could have been prevented if you had taken the symbolic responsibility that you have being the first African American appointed to the Western District."

"I don't know what else to say, I am outraged," she said, and apologized for the "increased spirit" of her questioning.

US attorney says hands were tied
Washington, however, took issue with Lee's criticisms.

"First of all, I did intervene, I did engage the DA," he responded. "We had conversations about his chargings and things. At the end of the day there are only certain things that a US attorney can do, that a federal representative can do, in respect to a state and how it handles its criminal justice system."

"I was also offended," Washington continued. "I too am an African American. I was very offended by what I heard. I took steps to see what we could do."

California's Rep. Maxine Waters said later that she was "disappointed that district attorney Reed Walters is not before us today. That's who I wanted."

After House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) commented that Walters had indeed been invited to testify at the hearing but had declined, a voice from the audience yelled "subpoena him!"

"We do know you have the power of the subpoena," Waters told Conyers moments later.

Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) also took attorney Washington and the Justice Department to task for not stepping in more forcefully.

"Now we all agree that it was a hate crime, and yet there was no response from our legal system of what we acknowledge as a hate crime," she said. "So while we say its a hate crime, if we don't act on it like a hate crime, then I don't really believe it."

"Explain to me how the people out there in this country can accept that our justice system can do no better than to go in on June 12, 2007 to start to address this issue," she said of the Department of Justice's inquiry that came 10 months after the hanging of the nooses.

Justice Department attorney Lisa Krigsten, who also testified before the committee, countered that the DOJ had actually dispatched a representative to talk to school officials, as well an FBI agent to investigate, in August 2006.

Krigsten said that although it was "undeniable" that noose hanging constituted a ""a symbol of hate and racial violence," the federal investigation found it wasn't appropriate -- due to the ages of those involved -- to bring charges.

“The Department of Justice is aware that there are requests to investigate the judicial system in Jena,” she said. “At this time, the Justice Department is gathering information and reviewing that information and taking that request very seriously.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center's Richard Cohen, who also gave testimony, said that bringing charges against the white teens who hung the nooses was not at the heart of the issue at hand.

"Right now people call for the prosecution of the noose hangers in some sense to balance the scales because of what happened to the Jena six, them being over-charged, I think that's the wrong-headed response," he said.

"I don't fault the US attorney for not filing charges," Cohen added, "but I do think the way the school handled it was a recipe for disaster. And that's what happened."

Since publicity about the Jena events, reports of nooses have surfaced from around the country, including one found in the bag of a black Coast Guard Cadet and another on the door of a black Columbia University professor.

"I think the reason why we are seeing what some call copycat nooses, and I would call just racists that feel empowered, is why wouldn't they?"said Rev. Al Sharpton at the hearing. "Nothing happened when a noose was hanged. And when people get the message that they can do this and nothing will happen, they will continue to do it."

Bounce back