Posted on 09/19/2015 8:35:50 AM PDT by don-o
A visiting judge ruled Friday that Waco police had sufficient probable cause after the May 17 Twin Peaks shootout to arrest a Balch Springs biker who is associated with a Bandidos support group.
After a two-hour examining trial, Judge James Morgan said there is enough evidence against Burton George Bergman for prosecutors to present his case to a grand jury for consideration of indictment.
Bergman, 48, a truck driver who is free on bail, claimed he was arrested and jailed improperly because there was not sufficient probable cause to allege he committed the crime of engaging in organized criminal activity.
Bergman, a member of the Desgraciados Motorcycle Club, spent 20 days in the McLennan County Jail after his arrest before posting $80,000 bond, reduced from the original $1 million bond which was set immediately following the arrests of Bergman and 176 other bikers after the shootout.
In a statement to the court Friday, Bergman said he lost his job and continues to suffer from shoulder pain from his prolonged detention in zip cuffs.
He said he also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after seeing his friends shot in front of his eyes and lying on the ground bleeding, expecting him to help them.
Bergman said he has no criminal record and only decided to ride to Waco with “several friends” at the last minute to attend a biker coalition meeting.
But, prosecutor Michael Jarrett told the court that Bergman has been arrested five times and that he was seen on video riding his blue motorcycle into the Twin Peaks parking lot with close to 25 Bandidos and their support groups.
Bergman, who said he has five children, including a son who is a state trooper, told the court he is not a gang member or a criminal. He said he tries not to judge others, but added he feels betrayed by a system that is making him out to be a criminal when he was merely an innocent bystander to the incident in which nine bikers were killed and 20 others wounded.
Bergman said after the hearing that four of the charges for which he was previously arrested were dismissed. The fifth involves the Twin Peaks case.
> MORE: Local officials under scrutiny for biker shootout case
Bergman said he parked his motorcycle near Twin Peaks and walked over to Don Carlos restaurant to use the bathroom because Twin Peaks was so crowded. When the shooting started, he said he hit the ground and saw a police officer shooting “wildly” into the crowd of bikers.
An officer ran by him and told him to stay on the ground, while a biker was shot near him and looked to Bergman to help stop his bleeding, he said.
“The only conspiracy I was involved in was to drink beer and eat hamburgers with my friends,” Bergman said in his statement.
Jarrett asked to question Bergman, but the judge said procedural rules for examining trials would not allow it.
Leak questions
During the hearing, word spread that the Associated Press was allowed to view some documents and videos associated with the Twin Peaks case. Jarrett asked Bergman’s attorney, Clint Broden, of Dallas, if he was the source of the leak.
Broden insisted that he was not, even asking the judge to swear him in so he could deny the accusation under oath.
> MORE: AP — Waco police bullets hit bikers in May melee
In state testimony, Department of Public Safety Lt. Stephen Schwartz testified about the video that showed Bergman riding into the Twin Peaks parking lot with the Bandidos and their support group members.
Schwartz said Bergman was wearing “cuts” or clothing associated with a Bandidos support group known as the Desgraciados, noting that Bergman parked his motorcycle at “ground zero” of where the violence erupted.
That prompted Broden to say he was going to choose his parking spot more carefully the next time he went to the mall if that was criteria for charging someone with a crime.
Schwartz agreed with Jarrett that Bergman’s statement that he arrived with a “few of his friends” was an “outright lie” based on the video.
Bergman was an “active supporter” of the violence between the Bandidos and Cossacks that day, Schwartz said.
Broden asked during cross-examination if part of that support was “simply being present.”
Schwartz said yes, prompting Jarrett to counter that Bergman rode into the Twin Peaks parking lot with David Martinez, president of the Bandidos’ Dallas chapter. Jarrett said Martinez has been identified on video as firing the first shot or at least one of the first shots that day.
“Do we give Mr. Bergman credit because he didn’t have time to get his pistol out of his motorcycle bag?” Jarrett asked.
Broden, who successfully appealed a gag order issued in the case of another of his clients arrested in the Twin Peaks shootings, declined comment after the hearing.
The McLennan County District Attorney’s Office appealed the gag order reversal by Waco’s 10th Court of Appeals to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. That appeal remains pending. Broden acknowledged that the gag order pertains only to Matthew Clendennen’s case, but he said he didn’t “want to step over the line.”
Broden insisted that he was not, even asking the judge to swear him in so he could deny the accusation under oath.
how many did they arrest so they could charge one??
177
Same charge. Engaging in organized crime.
“how many did they arrest so they could charge one??”
This was just an examining trial.
Based on this, a LOT of cases will be going to the grand jury.
“177 Same charge. Engaging in organized crime.”
It’s been over four months of discussion.
177 were ARRESTED! Can’t we at least agree on the facts!
Where is the disagreement?
“Where is the disagreement? “
It works like this:
1. Arrest
2. Bail Reduction hearings, habeas corpus hearings
3. Examining trial (if requested)
4. Presentment to Grand Jury
5. Filing of Charges
OK. What is the proper name for relating the reason for the arrest if “charge” is not accurate?
“OK. What is the proper name for relating the reason for the arrest if “charge” is not accurate?”
Probable Cause Complaint (Affidavit)
In case you forgot:
What does a parent say when his/her son reveals that his goal in life is to be a member of a Bandidos support group?
Of course, everyone is entitled to fair and honest legal proceedings and the whole situation down there doesn't smell right.
I guess I would ask "What is a Bandido support group"?
“What does a parent say when his/her son reveals that his goal in life is to be a member of a Bandidos support group? “
Better:
What does a gangster parent say when his son reveals that his goal in life is to take down criminals ....
“I guess I would ask “What is a Bandido support group”? “
LOL! Four months of this and you ask the same questions ....
Certain large one-percent MCs have rivalry between each other and will fight over territory and other issues. Sometimes smaller clubs are forced into or willingly accept supportive roles for a larger one-percent club and are sometimes required to wear a “support patch” on their vests that shows their affiliation with the dominant regional club. Smaller clubs are often allowed to form with the permission of the dominant regional club. Clubs which resist have been forcibly disbanded by being told to hand over their colors on threat of aggression.[86][87][88]
In Australia[89] and the United States, many MCs have established statewide MC coalitions.[90] These coalitions are composed of MCs who have chapters in the state, and the occasional interested third party organization, and hold periodic meetings on neutral ground where representatives from each club meet in closed session to resolve disputes between clubs and discuss issues of common interest. Local coalitions or confederations of clubs have eliminated some of the inter-club rivalry and together they have acted to hire legal and PR representation.[90][91]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlaw_motorcycle_club#Relationships_between_outlaw_motorcycle_clubs
And now the constitutional justification for wearing a patch to be a crime is.......
Accused.
Lol ... Lots of patch wearers were questioned and released
” The only conspiracy I was involved in was to drink beer and eat hamburgers with my friends”
Drinking beer with friends at a brestaurant ....
What about church and family ...
IA8PBTG (In after 8 posts by TexasGator)
BTG is Before TexasGator, not By Texas Gator.
BTG is Before TexasGator, not By Texas Gator.
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My God! 8 posts NOT “By Texas Gator”? Quick call an administrator...someone is entering posts using your name making you look like an idiot.
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