Feds Indict Teen for 'Threatening' Noose

A group of black teenagers, who came to be known as the "Jena Six," were hit with attempted second-degree murder charges for the beating of a white classmate during a December fight between black and white students. During the fight, a white student was knocked unconcious and bloodied.

The beating followed an incident at Jena High School in 2006, when a black student asked the principal if black peers could sit beneath the shade of a tree where white students normally gathered. The principal said yes, but the next day, nooses had been hanged from the tree. Three students were suspended, but not criminally prosecuted.

Charges ultimately were dropped against five of the six, and later reduced for a final defendant. But the severity of the original charges generated intense scrutiny, with critics claiming a two-tiered Louisiana justice system for blacks and whites.

The climax of the backlash likely came on Sept. 20, when thousands of protestors from across the nation descended on Jena to march. The FBI watched carefully as the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton joined the largely peaceful protest.

While the charges against the Jena Six have been resolved in the courts, the whole episode continues to make the small Louisiana town a flashpoint.

On Monday, roughly 50 white supremacists gathered in Jena to demand severe prosecution of the Jena Six, and an end to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

They were met by about 100 counter-demonstrators, who shouted "No KKK." One member of the New Black Panther Party was arrested and charged with battery of a police officer, and resisting arrest after authorities forced 10 people away from a podium where one of the white supremacists was to speak.

If convicted, Munsen faces up to 11 years in prison, and a fine of up to $350,000.