Posted on 04/27/2018 2:53:32 PM PDT by Elderberry
Judge Strother said he wanted to dispose of as many cases as he could so that the new district attorney wouldn't have to deal with the old cases.
The McLennan County District Attorney's Office will likely dismiss dozens of the cases against bikers connected to the Twin Peaks shootout in Waco before the end of next week, according to prosecutor Amanda Dillon.
Dillon told Judge Ralph Strother in a hearing Friday afternoon the District Attorney's Office hoped to try just 25 to 30 cases. At one point, 156 people were indicted by a grand jury.
Judge Strother said he had planned to set trial dates for many of the bikers who showed up for the hearing but when Dillon said there may be more dismissals he decided to wait.
The Judge told Dillon once she and District Attorney Abel Reyna decide which trials would be dismissed he would start setting the remaining trials five at a time.
"I hope to facilitate what has already been a long process," said Strother.
Judge Strother said he wanted to dispose of as many cases as he could so that the new district attorney wouldn't have to deal with the old cases. Reyna lost in the March primary to Barry Johnson.
Also in court Friday, Houston defense attorney, Paul Looney, filed a motion for a speedy trial for his client, former Cossack Phillip White. White was shot in the left cheek during the shootout, according to Looney. Strother didn't make a ruling on Looney's motion but said White's trial was on the top of his list.
Nine bikers were killed and 20 injured in the shootout involving members of the Bandidos and Cossacks biker clubs at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco on May 17, 2015. Police arrested 177 people and most were later indicted on a charge of Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity. By the end of February 2018 close to 60 of those cases had been dismissed or the District Attorney's Office had refused to prosecute them.
Three years after the shootout just one of the bikers, Christopher Jake Carrizal, has been tried. His trial ended in November 2017 with a hung jury. Only one juror was in favor of convicting him.
Where do the arrested go to get their lives back? How much did they have to spend in legal fees for a case that turned out to be BS.
So many defendants need to find a remedy to this miscarriage of justice. The state needs to pay bigtime!!
This is why the now defeated DA was trying to string the prosecutions out at the time - to run the clock out of the statute of limitations on wrongful prosecution lawsuits. He was hoping they would all plead out and his crooked busts wouldn’t be exposed. Didn’t happen.
The ballistics report *still* hasn’t been released that I’m aware of and the last trial had several ‘failure to release exonerating evidence to the defense’ issues on the part of the prosecution exposed. Whether this was a well-intentioned sting or not, the authorities in Waco royally screwed this up.
I’m sure this news will be a disaster for our resident biker hater
No, the city does. The state has been mostly uninvolved though they did give Waco some money to make up for some shortfalls in prosecutory funds/trial costs, etc.
I for one hope those falsely accused end up owning Waco financially.
IBTG appears to say “what’s the rush?” And to complain about criminals getting away with murder.
“Where do the arrested go to get their lives back? How much did they have to spend in legal fees for a case that turned out to be BS.”
You are SOOOO RIGHT! I’m no fan of bikers, but this whole matter shows just how corrupt the “justice system” in McLennan County is including this turd of judge, Strother. I hope those who are released/found innocent sue the City of Waco and the County for a bunch of bucks. Maybe when the “good folks” who elected these a$$holes start seeing their taxes go up to cover the judgements, they will finally put two and two together. The other thing that needs doing is a compete accounting of who shot whom, including the cops and trying anyone of the LEOs involved who shot and or killed anyone with out justification. I still think that Red-headed mother efer “cop” with the AR has criminal blood on his hands.
I have yet to see any ballistics that tell us just who killed whim. 7 more years...
“I for one hope those falsely accused end up owning Waco financially.”
Me too, but the guilty cops also need to be tried and punished.
Exactly - no ballistics report, arresting people who were not in the gangs and weren’t actually involved in any way with the shootings, boilerplate charges for everyone arrested no matter what was actually going on... It stinks.
How many lost their jobs?
I don’t disagree, but it’s their leadership that needs to be (legally) taken out and made to pay first. I’m betting Reyna ‘suddenly’ decides to move somewhere else when his term expires.
“I’m betting Reyna ‘suddenly’ decides to move somewhere else when his term expires.”
Yes, Reyna is Whacko’s answer to Rod Rosenschmeckel!
Thanks for update
9 dead, 20 injured, 177 arrests, and nearly 3 years later, no convictions.
This entire story is bizarre.
"Nine bikers were killed and 20 injured in the shootout involving members of the Bandidos and Cossacks biker clubs at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco on May 17, 2015."
It should read, 'Nine bikers were killed and 20 injured in the shootout engineered by law enforcement'
I don't think we can play that game since s/he has slunk back undercover since they lost the primary. I don't think the soon to be ex-da needs a social media consultant any more.
How could that be? We were told the 177 were arrested for murder! What happened to the police and district attorney to cause these murders to get off? /S
Perhaps we need to revert to a prior form of “justice”.
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