The remaining five Jena Six defendants pleaded to reduced charges yesterday, ending a court case that dragged on for two and a half years and sparked national controversy.

In the fall of 2006, three white students hung nooses from a tree on the grounds of Louisiana’s Jena High School, a mostly-white school in a rural part of the state, and school administrators called the incident a harmless prank.

A few months later a white student was beaten at school by six blacks, later identified as the Jena Six. Though no weapons were used in the assault, and the victim suffered no long-term physical harm, the six were initially charged with attempted murder, and one was convicted by an all-white jury of charges that carried a maximum jail term of twenty-two years. (His conviction was later thrown out, after which he pled guilty to a reduced charge.)

The other five defendants remained in legal limbo until yesterday, when each pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of simple battery. Each will pay $500 to $1,000 in court costs and fines, and will be placed on unsupervised probation for seven days. A civil lawsuit filed by the beating victim was settled immediately before the sentencing for undisclosed terms.