Posted on 06/18/2015 5:02:26 AM PDT by don-o
Documents supporting the seizure of 27 vehicles from those reportedly involved in the May 17 Twin Peaks shootout reveal new details of the escalating turf war between rival biker gangs and their support groups that clashed with deadly results after a motorcycle association meeting was moved from Austin to Waco.
Prosecutors filed notices Tuesday of their intent to seize and forfeit 17 motorcycles, eight pickup trucks and two SUVs, alleging the vehicles are contraband used during the commission of the noon-hour incident that left nine bikers dead, 20 wounded and 177 jailed on engaging in organized criminal activity charges.
anip
The Cossacks are not members of the local COC&I and the Bandidos are. However, the Cossacks consider Waco “their territory and made the decision to take a stand and attend the meeting uninvited,” according to the court documents.
“Cossacks threatened that Waco was a ‘Cossacks town’ and nobody else could ride there,” the records state. “The large number of Bandidos and their supporters showed up to the Region 1 COC&I meeting because the Bandidos wanted to have a show of force and make a statement that Waco was not the Cossacks’ town.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wacotrib.com ...
Morons, All.
It must be too much to expect of reality to have any rationality whatsoever. Smelling worse by the day.
How many people were shot with a Harley, punched by an SUV, or stabbed with an F-150? There is no lawful excuse for seizing private property merely because it was in the parking lot during a shooting. This is an immoral act, and I cannot imagine that it is motivated by anything other than government greed and a culture of lawless government. We need to get rid of civil asset forfeiture laws.
27 morons and seems likely that several of them did crimes.
177 - 27 = 150.
These are not nice people. But according to the article many of them seem to be being held for having nasty bumper stickers.
I am betting most of these guys get their stuff back. And they go free.
What a mess.
(And it’s not flaring on the motorcycle. It’s faring. Stupid reporters.)
The 4th Amendment prohibits this action. One judge could fix this. Just one honest judge.
Any charges for murder or assault and battery at Twin Peaks? I don’t see any listed.
I did not pay much attention to the Waco story until a week - ten days when it pretty much dropped out of the news cycle. I was expecting that any day, they would be bringing additional judges in to get the thing sorted out.
I looked up the Texas organized crime law which all 177 are charged with.
And I thought, "I can definitely see myself in such a situation. Maybe not at a biker gathering. Maybe a street festival. Maybe in a mall. Maybe not today or tomorrow. But, I am easily profiled, due to my own associations, as a possible suspect for 'hate crimes'."
Point being, mass roundups under "general warrants" are anathema to our liberty. And excusing it, due to the vileness on some is at best, pure foolishness.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The 4th Amendment is not limited to criminal procedures. Civil asset forfeiture is an unreasonable seizure, and as you observed it is unconstitutional. I am disgusted by any agent of the federal, state, or local government who participates in that form of theft.
“Conpiring to become a bullet-catcher”
They'd seize ships and cargo, and the judge would get a cut if he found for the Crown. :)
The more the police explain, the more it stinks.
DA has 90 days, iirc, to get indictments from Grand Jury. It's pretty obvious that's his strategy.
A task for a latter day Diogenes.
It’s interesting that more information comes from property seizure documents than has come directly from Waco law enforcement. So much for openness and transparency.
I did note that there didn’t seem to be any charges listed as filed against the owners of the vehicles.
It looks almost like the vehicles were ‘arrested for possession of gang related markings and memorabilia’ as were the people involved.
If a court throws out Waco’s ‘gang participation’ premise, it looks like most of the arrests and seizures will fall apart.
It still doesn’t smell right...
Ain’t no such animal as an honest judge.
Actually this does make some sense. This is how it’s looking to me:
The bad guys (Banditos, Cossacks) were there to, um, rumble, and the other people were just there at a meeting. The cops were there, expecting trouble. When a fist-fight broke out, the cops (overreacted and) fired into the crowd.
After the firing stopped, the “’splaining” and justifying began, first with arrest of everybody, ridiculously high bonds and low charges,and then the stonewalling and obfuscation.
What a mess.
It smells better than that stupid "police massacre" meme that was being pushed around here earlier...that's for sure!
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