The jury found Bell guilty, and he faced the possibility of up to 22 years in prison. The judge scheduled sentencing for September 20, 2007. Bell's new defense attorneys, Bob Noel, Walter Lee Perkins Jr., Peggy Sullivan, Louis Scott and Carol Powell-Lexing, requested a new trial on the grounds that Bell should not have been tried as an adult. A request to lower Bell's $90,000 bond was denied on August 24, 2007, due to his juvenile record. Bell had been put on probation for a battery that occurred December 25, 2005. While on probation, he was convicted of another battery charge and two charges of criminal damage to property. One of the battery charges was reportedly for punching a 17-year-old girl in the face. The media had initially reported that Bell had no prior criminal record. On September 4, 2007, Judge Mauffray vacated the conspiracy conviction on the grounds that Bell should have been tried as a juvenile, but he let the battery conviction stand. Bell appealed his conviction, principally on the ground that he had been improperly tried as an adult. On September 14, 2007, Louisiana's Third Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Bell's battery conviction, agreeing that this remaining charge was not among those for which a juvenile may be tried as an adult.