Posted on 06/26/2017 6:03:13 PM PDT by Elderberry
Persistence paid off for Cody Ledbetter, a biker arrested after the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout who has tried to battle his way into the courtroom for a trial.
Ledbetter, of Waco, who has been passed over on two previous trial settings, was in court again Friday to seek a trial date as soon as possible. He didn’t get the date he wanted, but he got a trial date, nonetheless.
Ledbetter, a former member of the Cossacks group who saw his stepfather, Daniel Boyett, shot and killed at Twin Peaks, has had trial settings in May 2016 and September 2017. Those settings were passed by 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother at the request of the state and to the benefit of other Twin Peaks defendants also clamoring for their days in court.
After some discussion at a brief hearing Friday, Ledbetter and one of his attorneys, Clay Conrad, didn’t get the answer they were looking for, but Strother did give them a trial setting for Jan. 9, 2018.
Jacob Carrizal, a Bandido from Dallas, is the first biker set to go to trial in Strother’s court. He has a Sept. 11 trial date, and prosecutors and court officials said Friday they have every expectation that the first Twin Peaks trial will be held then.
Conrad’s law partner, Paul Looney, has filed multiple motions during the past two years to get Ledbetter to trial. He even filed an appeal with Waco’s 10th Court of Appeals, asking the intermediate appellate court to order Strother to give Ledbetter a quick trial setting. The court rejected his appeal.
“After one year, the speedy trial right kicks in, presumptively,” Conrad said Friday. “We are now at 32 months when we have a trial setting. That is way after what the law allows. The state has agreed that the case against Mr. Ledbetter is not complex. There is no reason for it to be put off over and over and over again.
“The fact is the state has already admitted that it wants to try somebody with a gun first. They want to try someone who is easier to convict and will be more sensational in the newspaper than someone who they know is most likely to be acquitted. We don’t think that is a legitimate reason to continually put off a trial. He could have been tried in May of last year.”
Conrad said Ledbetter is the victim of a speedy trial violation compounded by a due process violation.
“Why is the state so afraid of going to trial on this case?” Conrad said. “He was there keeping his father company. He had his dominant arm in a sling. How someone with their arm in a sling is there for a show of force, I don’t know. If anything, that is a show of weakness. If he is there to show strength, he was absolutely useless to anybody in a fight.”
Prosecutor Michael Jarrett declined comment after the hearing. McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna, who did not attend the hearing, did not return phone messages Friday.
Evidence recall
Conrad also filed a motion Friday to recall some discovery evidence pertaining to Ledbetter that was disseminated to defense attorneys by the district attorney’s office. The motion also sought to disqualify the district attorney’s office from prosecuting his case.
Conrad filed the motion under seal in the district clerk’s office, and Conrad and Jarrett both declined to discuss details of the motion, which Strother denied without a hearing.
Conrad asked for a hearing on the motion, prompting a caution from Strother that a hearing would reveal the very details he is seeking to keep from disclosure by filing it under seal.
Strother also declined to reveal the details of the motion after the hearing.
Second, he is done with the world of motorcycle clubs.
Ledbetter, 27, never again wants the black-and-gold vest that marked him as a member of the Cossacks Motorcycle Club. He plans to sell his only bike, the Harley-Davidson owned by his stepfather, Daniel “Diesel” Boyett, who died in the parking lot brawl with the rival Bandidos gang.
“It’s over,” Ledbetter said. “After watching what it did to my dad. I’ve got two kids under 3 years old. If that would have been me, I would have left (my wife) with that. It’s something I can’t do. I need to be here for my kids.”
IATG
I’ve been battling with TG for two days on another thread
Well fine, many people do after being with them a while and finding it not as satisfying as it seemed, but you’ve been grinding a considerably larger agenda here, one loaded with blinding personal hate rather than love for truth wherever it may be.
There really do look like there are at least two houses with poxes on them, going at one another in the conflict there. I hope they both repent before God before sliding down any further towards hell.
“I’ve been battling with TG for two days on another thread”
Yep. You won’t denounce the pimping pedophile motorcycle gangs.
Maybe they will repent when the self glorifying “police” do.
” love for truth “
Ledbetter: As a fistfight broke out, he recalls seeing a rival biker pull out a gun and shoot a Cossack in the head. Boyett dove for cover, but a man with a handgun stood over him and emptied two bullets into his head, according to Ledbetter.
Love for truth, not for cherry picking. Just to clarify for anyone who still has half a brain left and is watching.
“Love for truth, not for cherry picking. “
LOL! Repeating the words of the eyewitness to the initial shootings is cherry picking?
Just because it does not fit your agenda.
Come on now. Admit that this was a gang fight.
Arguing with TG is like arguing with Juan Williams on Fox. Everyone knows that Juan is full of chit but he's good for comic relief and Fox news won't let Jesse or Greg tell him what they really think
“Maybe they will repent when the self glorifying “police” do.”
Even the bikers say that the police saved many lives that day at Twin Peaks.
One of the gangs was in blue... they didn’t have to play supernatural judging God and say let them kill one another while we conveniently stand here and provide cover (for the family plaza with the breastaurant). Not with what they knew in advance. That moral onus cannot be removed by man.
“Spa Bob is NOT HA ... neither are any of the other AZ COC members”
ROTFLMAO!
Ol’ TG here thinks that the Patriot Guard Riders are all pedophile gang members that scrape before the Bandidos
Do you attend the Arizona COC TG ... do you know what FAAF means ?
Duh. Here we go again ...
Why of course. You can’t escape the onus that comes from supporting that, so you fancy dance all over. Shall we watch it happen again? I have a free evening.
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.