Posted on 11/15/2015 4:23:27 AM PST by don-o
A McLennan County grand jury has indicted 106 bikers who were arrested May 17 after a shootout outside a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco that killed nine people and wounded 20. Curiously, nine of the 106 people indicted last week were not among the 177 people arrested six months ago, according to The Associated Press. AP reported that none of nine has been arrested.
McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna has said the grand jury will return to consider charges against the other 80 bikers arrested six months ago, possibly as soon as Wednesday.
The indictments allege that the 106 bikers were engaged in organized criminal activity. This is a broad, catch-all charge — and one with a serious penalty for anyone convicted of the crime: 15 years to life in prison. I think it’s clear the indictments are designed to force most of the accused into accepting plea agreements — which not only will allow prosecutors to leverage testimony against any truly hardcore gang members they want to go after, but also will allow prosecutors to save face for creating a legal morass when they arrested 177 people.
(Excerpt) Read more at viewpoints.blog.statesman.com ...
Where are the GOP or Texan leaders on this shady situation? They have been strangely silent.
The process of forced pleas is stupid.
“... I think it’s clear the indictments are designed to force most of the accused into accepting plea agreements — which not only will allow prosecutors to leverage testimony against any truly hardcore gang members they want to go after, but also will allow prosecutors to save face for creating a legal morass when they arrested 177 people....
...Until shown otherwise, I think it’s safe to say that most of the bikers who were arrested May 17 probably had nothing to do with the alleged fight that prompted the shooting, or with the shooting itself. Most likely, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, maybe with some wrong people nearby, maybe not, and for that they are facing possible time in prison. Over the next several months we’ll see how many feel forced to deal with prosecutors, and how many force prosecutors to prove their case.”
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I know it’s easy for me to say (since I’m not sitting in their place where their lives have been devastated by the Waco “authorities”) but the Waco PERsecuted need to refuse to accept plea deals and refuse to offer false testimony. Justice will ultimately be served up in the civil courts and the PERsecuted will be well compensation for the destruction wreaked upon them.
NEVER GIVE THE OPPRESSORS AN INCH. NEVER COOPERATE OR HELP THE OPPRESSORS AT ALL.
Lots of strange going on out there. I guess the politics of it is that the issues that need to be raised are bit too complex. You and see examples of this on every Waco thread here. Motorcycle riders = Nasty unkempt dangerous criminal father stabbers and baby rapers.
The questions of due process and effective and legitimate policing? Ain't nobody got time fo dat!
Also strange - the AP gets thousand of pages of leaked data, and all we see are a few snip quotes, a few pictures and a tightly edited video.
>>> I think it’s clear the indictments are designed to force most of the accused into accepting plea agreements... also will allow prosecutors to save face for creating a legal morass when they arrested 177 people. <<<
Persecuting the innocent to protect a corrupt prosecutor?
That’s been suggested here before.
Worth reading, it's short, two counts, one for murder (or "knowing"), one for bodily injury (or "knowing"). I see no allegation of conspiracy, because "knowing" is not the same thing as "agreeing to commit or facilitate commission of a crime."
What defendants are accused of knowing is that a deadly weapon would be used or exhibited. This "knowing" does not constitute a criminal act or conspiracy.
The charges also allege the offense was committed as a member of a criminal street gang.
The old adage, "silence is approval" works. The courts have by and large been working in harmony with the DA. When testimony is elicited from state's witnesses that there is no evidence of conspiracy or commission of a crime, the courts find probable cause that a crime was committed. These findings have been upheld on appeal.
And in this case, unlikely to work.
The state or some subunit of it (county, city or town) is potentially liable for damages for civil rights violations. The state and courts tend to protect corrupt or unethical prosecutors in order to protect their pocketbook. Honesty works okay when the premise of case is based in truth and honesty, but truth/honesty and the legal system are mortal enemies when the legal system misbehaves. The sytem works to protect itself, ESPECIALLY its corrupt and unethical parts.
That's one of those "it depends" things. At bottom the decision is largely financial and emotional to the falsely accused. Many will want to just get out from under the state's thumb.
On the financial side, there have been lawyers (who see a Duke LaCrosse type payout at the end of this) approaching the falsely accused for months.
It will be a big score.
And I would imagine that families and friends of the accused fall into the same patterns as the posters on these threads. So they are not without emotional support.
The emotional turmoil largely comes when nobody believes your innocence. That isn’t the case here.
The emotional turmoil comes from many angles. Normal life is massively disrupted, at first there is a sense that "truth will win out," but first contact with the legal system proves that hope to be false. Ask the people who stood in court, asked the state to produce evidence of wrongdoing (there is none), the state makes statements that are true, throws insults (and you can't respond in kind, in court), and then the judge sides with the state. Your lawyer says you have a good case, but you lose because the legal system is adept at justifying its own wrongdoing.
I do agree that the support system in this case is superior to most. Still, it's better to be out of the wringer than in it.
The legal system does its best to obfuscate and hide its process and rationale, and the press generally does a poor job of describing what happened (from a legal standpoint) and what the ramifications are. My curiosity causes me to research the source documents so I can form my own opinions, and it's a small step from there to share.
The indictment you linked identifies ten dead in the first section, any idea who the tenth dead man is?
as of this writing, freepers in the DF-W area could still make it;
11:30 AM, American Legion Post 121 722 Leroy Pkwy, Elm Mott, Texas 76640 (6 or 7 miles North of Waco)
https://www.facebook.com/events/849196585178913/
I'm not sure how effective that effort may be, and I'd just a soon see Renya voted out of office --- after he's been put through the wringer of dozens of civil suites.
Which reminds me...
The civil suites, the threat of those may be playing against the people now facing charges, since it would likely contribute to Renya twisting and turning things to the maximum he thinks he could get away with.
From McLennan County DA's offices so far, what I think I'm seeing has been
No.
Clint Broden
November 11 at 10:31pm · Dallas, TX ·
I was not originally planning to come to this given I have two little kids at home, but, in light of recent events, if you need me as a speaker let me know and I will come
Broden has a pair.
Broden confirms he will be at the rally.
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