DA dismisses remaining 24 Twin Peaks biker cases

[Elderberry]

WacoTrib by Tommy Witherspoon 4/2/2019

Almost four years after nine bikers were killed and 20 were injured during a shootout at the former Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson said Tuesday he will dismiss all criminal cases against the remaining 24 defendants charged in the midday brawl.

Johnson inherited the Twin Peaks cases when he took office in January, and said he has spent 75 percent of his time since then with a team of prosecutors and investigators trying to determine how to resolve the remaining cases.

Johnson's decision Tuesday means that no one will be held accountable for the multiple deaths or injuries or for the chaotic battle between heavily armed, rival motorcycle clubs waged in a crowded shopping center parking lot while families were on their way to lunch after Sunday church.

In announcing his decision, Johnson said it is time to "end this nightmare that we have been dealing with in this county since May 17, 2015."

"There were nine people who were killed on that fateful day in Waco, Texas, and 20 injured, all of whom were members of rival motorcycle clubs/gangs, and the loss of life is a difficult thing," Johnson said. "But after looking over the 24 cases we were left with, it is my opinion as your district attorney that we are not able to prosecute any of those cases and reach our burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt."

About 200 bikers were arrested after the shootout on identical charges of engaging in organized criminal activity and held on $1 million bonds each. Former McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna sought indictments against 155 bikers on those identical charges and chose to try Jacob Carrizal, the Bandidos Dallas county chapter president, first.

More: https://www.wacotrib.com/news/da-dismisses-remaining-twin-peaks-biker-cases/article_124b9c6f-d3ab-581b-bb85-56ed33560735.html

[Elderberry]

Carrizal is among those whose cases are to be dismissed. Johnson noted that his trial cost $1 million in preparation and trial costs, plus an additional $500,000 in security and overtime pay after county officials ratcheted up security for his trial.

[Elderberry]

While the criminal cases will be dismissed, more than 130 of the bikers have civil rights lawsuits pending against Reyna, former Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman, the city of Waco, McLennan County and individual local and state officers who were involved in the arrests.

[Sanguine]

Thanks for posting, Elderberry.

[corbe]

Nine died in the nation’s deadliest biker shootout. Texas prosecutors couldn’t convict a single person. 

By Meagan Flynn | The Washington Post

April 3, 2019 at 6:51 am

Who will be held accountable for the deaths of nine people during a biker-club shootout in the middle of a Twin Peaks restaurant parking lot in broad daylight in 2015?

No one, the district attorney’s office in McLennan County, Texas, announced Tuesday.

Barry Johnson said his office would drop all remaining charges against the bikers, bringing the years-long saga to a remarkably anticlimactic end without obtaining a single conviction against any of the notorious brawl’s participants.

<..snip..>

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/04/03/texas-biker-shootout/

[Sanguine]

At least some of them appear to have been shot by LEOs.

[truth_seeker]

At least some of them appear to have been shot by LEOs.

A different outcome, might be for Texans to arrange scheduled, controlled,  isolated  venues for such contests.

--Security by the Earp Bros. Doc Holliday freelancer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_Holliday

[corbe]

   Like Waco v 1.0 (Branch Davidians) I believe the Feds were involved in this CF also, but unlike the first version the bandidos and cossacks are still around, other than the unfortunate 9.

   Apparently Clinton/obummer hate Waco, probably a Fort Hood/US Army thing.

[berdie]

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't been following this...except for what I read here.  I was a little surprised when I heard on the news last might that the charges were dropped.

So how many lives were ruined by this? I don't mean the dead folks.  I mean folks that sat in jail not able to afford bail and hocked their lives for legal representation.

My gut level says that most of the forensics point to the police.  I understand the police doing what they felt they had to do, but good grief.

[Sanguine]

I'm ashamed to say that I haven't been following this...except for what I read here.  I was a little surprised when I heard on the news last might that the charges were dropped.

So how many lives were ruined by this? I don't mean the dead folks.  I mean folks that sat in jail not able to afford bail and hocked their lives for legal representation.

My gut level says that most of the forensics point to the police.  I understand the police doing what they felt they had to do, but good grief.

Exactly, Berdie.

[Elderberry]

https://www.wacotrib.com/news/courts_and_trials/da-says-he-his-team-agonized-over-decision-to-dismiss/article_2b1c84a2-1c08-5ccb-9536-89eebb0d13fd.html

While Jeff Battey may know who shot him in the arm almost four years ago outside the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, McLennan County prosecutors dismissed charges against the remaining 24 biker defendants because they could not gain the same level of certainty to build murder cases.

McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson, who announced his decision to dismiss charges Tuesday, said Wednesday he and his staff agonized since he took office in January over how to proceed with the Twin Peaks cases. Johnson and his top assistants, Tom Needham and Nelson Barnes, were not sold on the rioting charges already filed, could not find sufficient evidence to make murder cases and realized that any other potential charges, such as aggravated assault, were barred by statutes of limitations.

“We have watched those tapes a jillion times, and it is like an ant bed with ants running wild out there,” Johnson said. “It is impossible to tell what is going on, who shot who, who got shot, and there is nothing to tell us definitely who fired the shots that hit the guys who were killed.”

Johnson spent much of his day Wednesday answering media questions about his decision to abandon the Twin Peaks cases. He said it was not an easy call but he believes it was in the best interest of justice and will benefit McLennan County taxpayers in the long-run.

He said his office has the option of filing murder charges in the future if more evidence becomes available.

“It’s likely going to take somebody going into a bar, having a few drinks and popping off to some folks that he pulled a gun on an old boy and shot that Cossack, or that Bandido, or whatever,” Johnson said. “But just generally, that is all we’ve got left as far as making a murder case.”

‘Tough psychologically’

For Battey, a Bandido and former Marine who works in maintenance at a Syracuse Sausage plant in Ponder, Johnson’s announcement was welcome news, according to his attorney, Seth Sutton.

“This whole ordeal destroyed him for a long time,” Sutton said. “The thing about these motorcycle clubs, they are like family to each other. Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, they are all spent with the club. They are very close. If somebody has a birthday, it is going to be spent with the club. After they all were arrested, they were all told you can’t hang out with your best friends. That’s a tough pill to swallow.

More at link

[Elderberry]

Civil lawsuits

While the remaining 24 criminal cases will be dismissed, more than 130 of the almost 200 bikers arrested on May 17, 2015, have civil rights lawsuits pending against McLennan County, the city of Waco and a host of current and former officials, including Reyna.

The city and county have motions pending asking U.S. District Judge Alan Albright to dismiss the lawsuits filed by people who were never indicted in the Twin Peaks case. Dallas attorney Don Tittle, who represents about 120 of the bikers in the civil suits, said he has filed an answer to their motions and anticipates similar motions to dismiss will be filed in the cases involving the remaining bikers.

“The defendants all have filed motions to dismiss, arguing we haven’t stated a plausible claim for which we should be allowed to move forward,” Tittle said. “l believe the whole idea that there was this mass conspiracy has pretty much been debunked by now by everyone who has looked at it with any level of independence.

“You would think with the biggest law enforcement fiasco in history we would surely have a basis to move forward with lawsuits. It is surprising to me that the county and the city are trumpeting the same rival gang turf war theme that failed so miserably in the criminal cases. I suspect it will have the same level of success in the civil cases.”

[Elderberry]

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/waco-biker-gunfight-conclusion/586381/?utm_source=feed

In all likelihood, most voters in McClellan County didn’t think much about the district-attorney race that Abel Reyna ultimately won. But that race mattered. He needlessly charged scores of people with crimes he could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt. And this decision put taxpayers at risk of paying out hundreds of millions in settlements to bikers arguably victimized by state injustices.

Is your local district attorney competent, trustworthy, and committed to respecting civil rights? Pay attention before voting in the next election.

[Elderberry]

WHEN THE LAWSUITS ARE OVER, OUTLAW BIKERS WILL OWN WACO AND MCLENNAN COUNTY

http://theunconventionalgazette.blogspot.com/2019/04/when-lawsuits-are-over-outlaw-bikers.html

[Smokin Joe]

A different outcome, might be for Texans to arrange scheduled, controlled,  isolated  venues for such contests.

--Security by the Earp Bros. Doc Holliday freelancer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_Holliday

What? Where LEOs bushwack bikers?

Since (IIRC) the jails are privately owned and paid on a basis of occupancy, the question is one of cui bono?
Who are the people who are collecting/have collected that money? Are there conflicts of interest?
Follow the money, and I think you'll find a lot of worms wriggling around if that rock gets turned over.

Where did the money go from the sale of (or impound fees for) property seized?

[IsailedawayfromFR]

At least some of them appear to have been shot by LEOs.

This is one of the stinkiest episodes in Texas history.

The bottomline on all of this appears to be sweeping under the rug real murders as they were likely caused by a combination of bike thugs and police.

And the only item remaining is the decidedly unlawful behavior of local prosecutors in lawsuits outstanding.  I trust those acting unlawfully in prosecution are fully held accountable.

[Elderberry]

Michael Harriot True Definition of a cu*t! Author White Gangbangers File Civil Rights Suit After Getting Off Scot-Free In Deadly Shootout

https://motorcyclemadhouse.blogspot.com/2019/04/michael-harriot-true-definition-of-cut.html

By James "Hollywood" Macecari

It's all about White Supremacy! Anything this bleep writes about is how the whiteys keeping the black folk down. I'm certain everyone seen this morons last piece titled- White Gangbangers File Civil Rights Suit After Getting Off Scot-Free In Deadly Shootout. Yeah, the cue ball was writing about the recent decision of District Attorney Barry Johnson to drop all charges against the remaining 24 people in the Twin Peaks Case. If you want to read the article, you can find it under that title. I Won't provide the bleep the satisfaction of getting anyone off my article clicking over to his dumb ass.

So let's talk about his article. In it he claims it was white privilege that got all 177 bikers off the charges in connection to Waco. Is the ignorance showing yet? This bleep really summarized the whole Waco Twin Peaks shootout as coming down to white privilege. People wonder why the races cannot get along. Now grant it, this moron writes for Roots. A publication that hates whites. What I did find surprising and this should piss everyone off, Google search actually listed this publication as news! Oh, that's right, we are living in a time where its not cool to be white. It's the in thing now among liberal leftists communist. We are supposed to sit there and suck it up.

[Smokin Joe]

This is one of the stinkiest episodes in Texas history.

The bottomline on all of this appears to be sweeping under the rug real murders as they were likely caused by a combination of bike thugs and police.

And the only item remaining is the decidedly unlawful behavior of local prosecutors in lawsuits outstanding.  I trust those acting unlawfully in prosecution are fully held accountable.

The real question is one of who fired the first shot. While clubs with a history of enmity have been known to come together for meetings about political and other issues which affect all, and do so peacefully, (more often than you might think), truces last only until someone starts something.
If someone thinks someone else started something, things could get out of hand, and there is the added agitation of the police all set up with cameras and snipers and an 'L' shaped ambush deployment around the meeting. So, police firing the first round could set off a powder keg.

Every open to the public biker function will have a police presence, usually plainclothes, sometimes in the crowd posing as just another party goer. They usually aren't that hard to spot, and are pretty much expected. Sometimes it will be a few who ride in wearing colors of their own (Blue Knights MC). But the deployment of uniforms and battle rattle around what is supposed to be a peaceful meeting of people from multiple clubs to discuss legislative and other issues is different. It's out of pattern for normal LEO behaviour.

[Elderberry]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/An-emotional-release-Team-of-lawyers-cheer-13746016.php

Looney and other defense attorneys are still working to have Waco authorities return property seized in the investigation, including weapons, motorcycles and cell phones. They have also discussed attempts to expunge the Waco charges from their client’s criminal records.