Beard describe his reaction '' Alan Howard met Beard , the youngest of the African-American teens who made up the Jena Six , in January 2008 when he began representing him in a lawsuit filed by beating victim Justin Barker . The fight followed months of disquiet among Jena High School students , including off-campus skirmishes , a school arson and nooses hung from a campus tree . In September 2007 , thousands of protesters , alleging the teens were treated harshly because they were black , converged on middle Louisiana . Protesters were particularly angered at the jailing of Mychal Bell , one of the six , who was charged as an adult . Later in September , he was reclassified as a juvenile and released . The Jena Six were lionized and vilified ; donations for their defense poured in , as did threats on their lives . Howard said his first impression of Beard -- that he had `` tremendous character , tremendous resilience and tremendous potential '' -- was so strong he invited the teen to live with his family in New England . It 's been a tidal shift , Beard said , moving from
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Jesse Ray Beard said he was constantly in trouble , even when he behaved . It took being accused of the racially charged attempted murder of a white classmate in the Deep South to turn his life around . Living with attorney Alan Howard , right , has afforded Jesse Ray Beard a bevy of new experiences . Beard , 18 , now interns at a New York law firm as he prepares for his senior year next month at Canterbury School , a Connecticut prep academy where Beard is highly regarded among peers and teachers . `` I did n't change the way I act . I did n't do nothing different . It was just that I was at Canterbury instead of Jena , '' he said . `` It was like Jena was out to get me -- and not just me , but other people , too . '' If not for the controversy surrounding the Jena Six and the palpable racial tension in the Louisiana town , Beard never would have met the attorney who changed the course of Beard 's life by removing him from everything he knew . Watch