Texas Jury Says Its Illegal for Any Bandido To Possess A Weapon

[Elderberry]

Motorcycle Profiling Project by David "Double D" Devereaux  9/25/2018

A jury in El Paso, Texas decided Friday that it is illegal for a member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club to possess a weapon in the state. DT, a member of the BMC in El Paso, was arrested October 16th, 2017 on his way to work for Unlawful Carrying Of A Weapon. Although it was conceded by all sides that DT had no felony record and was not a convicted criminal, the prosecution argued, and the jury agreed, that merely being a member of the Bandidos was enough to consider an individual a gang member prohibited from exercising their 2nd Amendment rights.

DT’s case is just one in a long list of similar incidents. The MPP believes that successful convictions such as DT’s further embolden law enforcement across Texas and other states to continue their campaign to disarm the Bandidos and other motorcycle clubs and their members based solely on association.

DT’s case represents only one case in a lower court. The legality of motorcycle club members in Texas possessing weapons will ultimately depend upon successful judicial opinions at the court of appeals level or higher, setting precedent against what the MPP believes is an unconstitutional application of Texas law.

The attempt to disarm individuals because they belong to an organization in which other members have committed crimes, regardless of personal guilt, is an extremely dangerous slippery slope that could ultimately impact many sectors of society far beyond motorcycle clubs.

 DT’s Story

DT was on his way to work last October when he was pulled over for a traffic infraction. When the El Paso officer asked whether he was carrying a weapon, he indicated he was legally transporting an unloaded firearm. DT does ranch work, and ranchers often carry firearms to defend against predators and snakes threatening livestock.

DT was informed that it was illegal for a member of the Bandidos to possess a weapon in the state of Texas because they were considered a criminal street gang. He was charged under Texas Penal Code Sec. 46.02, UNLAWFUL CARRYING WEAPONS. He paid a $1,500 bond and was released.

Until this incident, DT had no criminal record – other than a DUI a decade ago. He is a combat veteran, serving in the Army, 1st Calvary Division for 5&1/2 years, 2 of them in Iraq.

More: http://www.motorcycleprofilingproject.com/texas-jury-says-its-illegal-for-any-bandido-to-possess-a-weapon/

[catfish1957]

A jury in El Paso, Texas decided Friday that it is illegal for a member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club to possess a weapon in the state.

I'm not a big fan of bikers, but how can a jury strip someone of their 2A rights by rights of being a member of a club?

[Elderberry]

I'm not a big fan of bikers, but how can a jury strip someone of their 2A rights by rights of being a member of a club?

They shouldn't be able to. But look at the Texas Penal Code.

Texas Penal Code - PENAL § 46.02. Unlawful Carrying Weapons

(a) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly carries on or about his or her person a handgun, illegal knife, or club if the person is not:

(1) on the person's own premises or premises under the person's control;  or

(2) inside of or directly en route to a motor vehicle or watercraft that is owned by the person or under the person's control.
<Text of (a-1) effective until January 1, 2016>

(a-1) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly carries on or about his or her person a handgun in a motor vehicle or watercraft that is owned by the person or under the person's control at any time in which:

(1) the handgun is in plain view;  or

(2) the person is:

(A) engaged in criminal activity, other than a Class C misdemeanor that is a violation of a law or ordinance regulating traffic or boating;

(B) prohibited by law from possessing a firearm;  or

(C) a member of a criminal street gang, as defined by Section 71.01 .

[catfish1957]

(C) a member of a criminal street gang, as defined by Section 71.01 .

From 71.01......

"Criminal street gang" means three or more persons having a common identifying sign or symbol or an identifiable leadership who continuously or regularly associate in the commission of criminal activities.

Pretty subjective.  Sounds like mere membership without the criminal aspect  wouldn't warrant a firearm prohibition

[ABX]

No one shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

[corbe]

   This has a bitter smell, not unlike Waco.

[Elderberry]

   This has a bitter smell, not unlike Waco.

Well, it was El Paso.

[Elderberry]

Sudden Furor Over Texas Law

http://www.agingrebel.com/17063

There has been a little flurry of outrage in the last two weeks over a 2014 Texas law that prohibits members of motorcycle clubs from legally carrying firearms.

The excitement is the result of an article by David “Double D” Devereaux on his website Motorcycle Profiling Project and the almost simultaneous detention and arrest of between two and four associates of the Vagos Motorcycle Club in Forth Worth a week ago. Devereaix references an El Paso case and erroneously reports “A jury in El Paso, Texas decided Friday that it is illegal for a member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club to possess a weapon in the state.”

What the jury actually decided was that Derek Thomas Kelly was guilty of “the offense of unlawfully carrying a handgun in a vehicle as a member of a criminal street gang” which lawyers should know is Tex. Pen. Code Ann. §§ 46.02(a-1)(2)(C), 71.01(d) (West Supp. 2014).

The jury did not make any law. The law Kelly was convicted of breaking has been on the books since 2014. It appears that peace officers in Texas have recently been advised to start enforcing the law as a way to harass motorcycle club members. Besides the inconvenience of being arrested, bailing out and going to trial, Kelly had his colors seized as evidence until the conclusion of his case, he was billed $307 in fees and his gun was confiscated.

All Perfectly Legal

He was the victim of a bad law that has already been appealed at least once in Texas: To the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Harris County in November 2015, where justices Martha Hill Jamison, Marc W. Brown and J. Brett Busby decided that the Texas law as perfectly legal. Busby wrote the tortured 21-page decision. He wrote:

“…appellant argues the statute violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution because it is a content-based regulation of expression that fails to satisfy strict scrutiny and because it restricts freedom of association. We conclude the statute is not subject to strict scrutiny because it is justified without reference to the content of any expression and does not infringe any right of intimate or expressive association. In his second issue, appellant argues the statute is unconstitutional because the terms ‘criminal street gang’ and ‘member’ are overbroad. In his third issue, appellant argues the statute is unconstitutionally vague and provides law enforcement with unfettered discretion to arrest individuals. We conclude that appellant’s arguments rely on an incorrect construction of the statute and that the statute is neither overbroad nor vague when correctly construed.”

Busby accepts the state’s definition that a “criminal street gang” is “three or more persons having a common identifying sign or symbol or an identifiable leadership who continuously or regularly associate in the commission of criminal activities.”

More at link above

[Elderberry]

L’AFFAIRE INTERNAL

October 3, 2018 Radiolegendary

http://radiolegendary.com/2018/10/laffaire-internal/

AN UPDATE ON THE STOCKYARDS ARRESTS

FORT WORTH – A complainant in an internal affairs probe of the cops accused a corrections officer of theft of money from his property by name and number.

A source close to an internal affairs investigation of the way gang task force officers handled the arrests of Missouri biker club members on a whirlwind visit to Cowtown during a monsoon delivered on promised further documentation of allegations leveled against police.

The wet weather dampened the riders’ experience on their way to the Metromess. They arrived soaked to the skin, so they hit Wilson’s Leathers, 2225 N. Main in the Ft. Worth Stockyards – first thing.

Charge information from the Criminal Magistrate’s Office is impossible to obtain following the video supplied by Jeff Wilson of what went on in his place of business during the Saturday, September 22, shopping spree as the one percenters sought rain gear and wound up busted for unlawfully carrying a weapon.

The chief allegation by the State’s complaint are that as members of a “outlaw criminal gang,” as the Penal Code words the violation of 46.02(2)(C) of the black statutes, they are not allowed to carry a firearm in this state, even though they are permitted in the Show Me State, and reciprocal agreements with the Lone Star would ordinarily dovetail.

Though the cops are playing it close to the vest with documentation of their side of the story, the allegations of their harsh treatment of the defendants are leaking out piecemeal.

Fort Worth Police are the sole source for court documents that would give the details of the charges. Those records are considered documents of the court, and are excepted from the Public Information Act, Section 552 of the Texas Government Code.

More at link above