Posted on 09/10/2019 7:16:13 PM PDT by Elderberry
A federal judge dismissed McLennan County as a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit filed by three bikers arrested after the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout but ruled the plaintiffs can pursue claims against the city of Waco and seven individual defendants.
In a 22-page ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Alan Albright threw out some of the claims filed by bikers Bradley Terwilliger, Benjamin Matcek and Jimmy Dan Smith, as well as dismissing the county and four Waco police officers from the suit.
The lawsuit, filed by the three bikers who were never indicted in the deadly shootout, is one of about 20 pending Twin Peaks civil lawsuits involving about 130 bikers with claims of unlawful arrest and conspiracy.
The plaintiffs, represented by Dallas attorney Don Tittle, allege former McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna was the final policymaker for McLennan County regarding the events at Twin Peaks. Reyna and the county disputed the claim, and Albright, citing legal precedent in dismissing the county from the lawsuit, ruled that a county sheriff, not the district attorney, is the final policymaker.
"In sum, plaintiffs allege that Reyna wrongly determined that the plaintiffs should be arrested based only on their presence at Twin Peaks," the order states. "As discussed above, the sheriff — not the district attorney — is the final policymaker regarding 'preserving the peace and arresting all offenders …'
"Thus, regardless of Reyna's involvement in helping to decide whether the arrests should be made, he did not have authority to make municipal policy."
The lawsuit alleges Reyna was the county's final policymaker because he "was responsible for devising the overall prosecutorial goals and strategies" of the county on the day of the shootout that left nine bikers dead and 20 injured.
(Excerpt) Read more at wacotrib.com ...
Look for that decision to be appealed up the court system.
Thanks for posting this.
Looks like the legal system is again grinding slowly and finely along.
“The county and four Waco police officers” are exactly who should be sued.
Part of who should be sued.
The BATF and some other agencies were at the impromptu motorcyclist shooting range as well that day.
IBTG
Pssst.. over here.
L
The bikers appear to have been innocent, while law enforcement and the legal justice system in Waco is guilty.
Looks like they could either appeal, or perhaps amend the complaint to name the sheriff.
My guess is that the plaintiffs will pursue discovery and then seek to amend their suit based on that discovery. For now, they have enough of a case to move forward and put pressure on their adversaries. In the end, a settlement is the most likely outcome.
Thanks for update
>> dismissing ...four Waco police officers from the suit.
That sounds right. Reyna needs to be held to account.
Reyna certainly appears to my eyes to have had plenipotentiary power over the case and its handling, regardless of what the law actually states. Personally, I think discovery will reinforce the point.
I hope it does.
Bump.... Thanks for the up-date ......
It seems obvious the police were there WITH CAMERA’S SET UP IN ADVANCE expecting some issues.
I don’t know if they just heard about the meeting and planned to surveil it, or what... but they clearly knew ahead of time and had a planned operation.
What was their reason for that?
Did someone just get anxious and trigger happy? And it all went to crap after that?
Under controlling Supreme Court precedents, prosecutors have a wide scope of official immunity to damages for misconduct. There are exceptions to the immunity for prosecutors, but they are probably inapplicable in this case.
I would think the prosecutor acting as the sheriff would qualify for the exceptions, but I am no lawyer.
They instigated it.
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