Posted on 12/16/2015 1:41:19 PM PST by don-o
The term of the McLennan County grand jury that indicted 106 bikers in the Twin Peaks incident has been extended by 90 days so it can conclude its investigation into the deadly May 17 shootout.
Judge Matt Johnson of Waco's 54th State District Court ordered the 90-day extension Wednesday, beginning when the grand jury's term expires Dec. 31.
While the grand jury met on Wednesday, prosecutors did not present any cases related to the Twin Peaks incident. The panel has no more scheduled meetings before the end of the year and has not scheduled a date to return.
The grand jury met Nov. 10 in a different grand jury room located in the district attorney's office on the day it returned identical indictments against 106 of the 177 bikers arrested in the Twin Peaks shootout.
Since then, the grand jury has met in its traditional chambers on the fourth floor of the courthouse and has not returned other indictments in the shootout between rival biker groups.
Of the 106 indictments returned last month, nine were sealed because the defendants, most of whom were wounded, had not previously been arrested. The nine since have been taken into custody and those indictments were unsealed.
That leaves 80 cases left to be considered by the grand jury.
District Attorney Abel Reyna did not return a phone message seeking comment about the grand jury extension.
Since the indictments were issued, attorneys for the bikers have derided the charges as "cookie-cutter and fill-in-the-blank" and at least one has filed a motion to quash the indictment, alleging it is being pursued under a flawed prosecution theory.
Those indicted were charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, with the underlying offenses alleged to be murder and assault. The charge is a first-degree felony, punishable by up to life in prison or from 15 to 99 years in prison.
"We are not done," Reyna said last month after the indictments were returned. "We still have a lot of work to do. We will continue to do that. My office is dedicated, as is the team, to seeing that justice is done in all those cases."
The indictments, like the arrest warrant affidavits filed to support the biker arrests, are identical, alleging the same acts for all 106 indicted on Nov. 10.
The indictments charge that the defendants engaged in organized criminal activity by intentionally or knowingly causing the death of an individual, and names the nine bikers killed May 17.
The charges allege the defendants killed the victims by "shooting and/or stabbing and/or cutting and/or striking" the victims. The indictments also allege the defendants used or exhibited a deadly weapon, namely "a firearm and/or a knife or a sharp object and/or a club and/or an asp and/or a whip and/or brass knuckles and/or a chain."
"And the defendant did then and there commit the offense as a member of a criminal street gang," the indictments allege.
The indictments also charge that the defendants caused bodily injury to those injured, and names 24 bikers who were either shot, stabbed, cut or struck.
"They are practicing law in a way that is unique to McLennan County," Houston attorney Paul Looney said last month. "Nobody else in Texas treats people the way they are treating people. All these fill-in-the-blank charging affidavits and indictments. That is an outrage. These people are entitled to be treated individually, whether they are being arrested and booked or making bonds. They are also entitled to individual assessment when they are going before a grand jury."
Is the police Detective still the head of the Grand Jury?
“They are practicing law in a way that is unique to McLennan County,” Houston attorney Paul Looney said last month. “Nobody else in Texas treats people the way they are treating people. All these fill-in-the-blank charging affidavits and indictments. That is an outrage. These people are entitled to be treated individually, whether they are being arrested and booked or making bonds.”
You talking about the Branch Dividions?
No.
So your thought is that these bikers don’t deserve due process because the government has made an unproven blanket statement that they all were gang affiliates? That is a strong conservative sentiment if I ever heard one.
Only one of these motorcycle clubs are on the Justice Department list of Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs - the Bandidos. Of course, the others may be as well, but many would like to see some evidence to support your assertion as well as the indictments that have been served up.
For those who engaged in mass violence, a good early morning Texas hanging is in order, upon the delivery of a verdict by a jury of 12 good men.
I don't like motorcycle clubs and I don't care much for motorcycles either. But I reserve my highest level of disdain and disgust for prosecutors and judges who use their power to ignore laws and the long standing respect for justice. And I don't care much for those who rush to judgment when most information so far has by leaked by one party or the other to bolster their case. Let's demand the evidence see the light of day and then give the men and women of the jury decide.
Can only thank God that you are not in charge of anything connected to the legal system (I hope)
“Of course, the others may be as well, but many would like to see some evidence to support your assertion as well as the indictments that have been served up.”
That’s fine, I’m sure you’ll get the evidence when the trials start. Don’t tell me the rest of us need to pretend we can’t recognize a criminal biker gang when we see one though, just because you aren’t certain until the government puts them on some list. These groups have a shared symbolic language, just like urban street gangs, or neo-nazis, or many other similar “gang cultures”. If you know the language they use, you can spot them on sight, because they advertise exactly who they are, visually, to each other.
“So your thought is that these bikers don’t deserve due process...”
Show me where I said anything about them not deserving due process?
They are receiving due process, that is the very subject of the article, is it not? A grand jury is one step in what we call “due process”.
I was answering a specific objection as to how that due process is proceeding. To assume I’m objecting to them receiving due process is, at best, a sign you misunderstood my point completely.
You got it buddy. We don't need any stinkin' laws, we don't need any stinkin' evidence, we don't need any justice. If morons like you have decided that they are outlaw bike gangs, then we line 'em up and waste them. That's how we do things in the the Great US of A.
I do understand your point, I lived in more than 11 years in Germany beginning in 1953 and the Nazis were not just a Political Party, they were a mindset. Seig Heil, mein freund. People like you come from both the Left and Right of the political spectrum and they are the lowest of humanity on the planet.
I love it when people like you show who they really are.
Vote for Hillary, she thinks just like you.
“You got it buddy. We don’t need any stinkin’ laws, we don’t need any stinkin’ evidence, we don’t need any justice. If morons like you have decided that they are outlaw bike gangs, then we line ‘em up and waste them. That’s how we do things in the the Great US of A”
You’re unhinged. I’ve never said anything of the sort, you are just trying to put words in my mouth and then argue against a straw man you created.
I’m going to have to insist you start quoting my verbatim words you are taking issue with if you want to have a discussion with me, or I’m not going to bother wasting my time replying to you.
maybe if you want to be treated as an individual, you shouldn't join a criminal gang and then engage in mass violence with them?Treatment as an individual is axiomatic to due process.
Enjoy your little world
Two of whom were only struck by police bullets and 2 more who'd been hit by police gunfire in addition to other shots.
Did they try charging the other teen when the 'gentle giant' got shot for charging at that officer and grappling for his gun? "you were there that day and he got shot by me so it's your fault!"
Excessive charging is prosecutorial abuse. It's the kind of abuse that loses cases when they go for a sensational charge rather than something that is more accurate and easier to achieve a conviction on.
The police may very well have been justified in shooting the men that they shot, but it is hard to pin the murder charge on the rest of the people present that day (who number well over 100).
Then again there are known cases where a prosecutor will make a plea deal with a gang shooter in exchange for the names of the other participants resulting in the killer getting a lighter sentence (one has even walked) than the driver or another passenger in the car.
Prosecutor hasn’t even presented the case yet and just got an extension. They need to meet their timelines.
My employer was charged of wrongdoing by a Federal Prosecutor. Many of the Executives and several of us Managers were required to appear before a Federal Grand Jury, the members of which normally serve here for 60 or 90 days (I can’t recall which).
All of the VPs took the fifth and did not appear. I had to spend more than an hour being grilled by the Federal Prosecutor and two of his assistants.
The grand jury was about 30 people, getting mileage pay and $$ every day, per diem for meals and their regular pay (if they worked) when they signed their jury checks over to their employers.
I was seated facing the jury members. About a dozen were reading books and another dozen were sleeping in their chairs.
For those that don’t know... No defense attorneys are permitted at Grand Jury hearings. Their decisions are driven by the Prosecutor only (particularly when they sleep or read and don’t have a clue).
“They need to meet their timelines.”
Why? You would rather have them rush to judgment than do the job properly?
“Treatment as an individual is axiomatic to due process.”
Organized crime statutes are specifically designed to hold all individuals in the organization responsible for crimes committed by the organization. If you have a problem with that, then you have a problem with the very nature of the organized crime statutes, rather than with their application in this prosecution.
“Is the police Detective still the head of the Grand Jury?”
The ‘police-Detective was NEVER head of that Grand Jury ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.