Free Republic

Almost four years after nine bikers were killed and 20 were injured during a shootout at the former Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson said Tuesday he will dismiss all criminal cases against the remaining 24 defendants charged in the midday brawl. Johnson inherited the Twin Peaks cases when he took office in January, and said he has spent 75 percent of his time since then with a team of prosecutors and investigators trying to determine how to resolve the remaining cases. Johnson's decision Tuesday means that no one will be held accountable for the...

McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson, who’s 75 days into his first term, says he will make a decision in early April on what to do with the remaining Twin Peaks cases. "Without a doubt, the Twin Peaks cases that I've inherited, and there are 24 of them, have taken most of our time and emotional energy by going through those cases,” he said. "Certainly out of the 24, I think we are looking at some dismissals." Johnson retained most of the staff of former DA Abel Reyna and brags about their abilities and skills.

While you sit and read about intellectual property in a boutique law firm where Abelino is now, you feel all warm and cuddly, well, that’s what the Trib thinks, or, hell, “Lala” land is in the water downtown. The “favors” are in their third or fourth generation now and everyone owes everyone something from back during the Davidian thing, or TWIN PEAKS, or something that happened in 1958, who the hell knows. The truth is that Abel did what he did and soon the County will file a motion that says Abel acted on his own outside the scope of...

Second episode of Waco Uncovered. The Bandidos Side of the Tragedy. We had the Cossacks side on episode one and now we dive into the lead up to Waco. The only trial which has been held connected to Twin Peaks and blatant Prosecutor Misconduct. We will explore the Cossack Side, Bandidos Side as well as the aftermath.

Nearly four years ago, over 170 people were arrested after a violent altercation outside a meeting of motorcycle club members at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, was swarmed by police, who had already surrounded the meeting before anything untoward occurred. Nine people were killed and 18 wounded in the melee. This week, the last of the initial set of charges was dropped after a special prosecutorial team didn't like what it saw. From the start, lawyers and others pointed out that it was very unlikely indeed that all the arrested had committed any crimes at all, and that...

One of four Houston attorneys assigned to handle four Twin Peaks biker cases as special prosecutors dismissed the remaining three cases Monday and called the way the McLennan County District Attorney's Office handled the 2015 deadly shootout a "harebrained scheme" that was "patently offensive" to him. Special prosecutors Brian Roberts, Brian Benken, Feroz Merchant and Mandy Miller filed motions Monday to dismiss the first-degree felony engaging in organized criminal activity charges against bikers William Chance Aikin, Billy McCree and Ray Nelson. The motions to dismiss said, "Upon reviewing all the facts, circumstances and evidence, it is the state's position that...

A Waco judge received a public warning Wednesday after a state commission determined he showed bias favoring law enforcement by appointing a Waco police detective as foreman of a McLennan County grand jury in July 2015. Judge Ralph Strother of 19th State District Court was issued a public warning by the 13-member State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which investigated the judge after a complaint was lodged by Austin attorney Millie Thompson, who was representing three bikers arrested in the deadly May 2015 Twin Peaks shootout. Strother, McLennan County’s senior state district judge, declined comment on the warning Friday. “I complained...

In the 47 days since Barry Johnson became McLennan County district attorney, he and his staff have tried to reverse the ravages that the Twin Peaks shootout cases and the stagnant final nine months of Abel Reyna's administration took on the county's criminal justice system. After Johnson beat Reyna in the March primary, a frequent mantra around the courthouse was, "Let's wait to see what Barry wants to do about that." That wait-and-see philosophy and the unprecedented overall slowdown created by 151 felony Twin Peaks cases being dumped into the system all at once ballooned the dockets in Waco's two...

Hoping to build on the successes of six anti-gang centers across the state, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is proposing to add two new crime-fighting centers, including one in Waco. Abbott announced plans for new Texas anti-gang centers in Waco and Tyler in September and reiterated his resolve to fund the creation of the two new centers and to give additional funding for the six existing centers, during his state of the state address. "The State of Texas is sending a message to criminals and gang members that any attempts to compromise the safety of our communities will not be tolerated,"...

After the annual holiday slowdown and monthslong delays while waiting for a changing of the guard in the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office, judges are poised to handle a number of high-profile criminal cases that have long been pending. February is going to be a busy month in Judge Ralph Strother’s 19th State District Court, with a capital murder trial, a sexual assault trial of a former Baylor University football player and hearings involving 2015 Twin Peaks shootout defendants scheduled. After Barry Johnson defeated two-term incumbent Abel Reyna in the March Republican primary to become the new district attorney, the...

Abel Reyna, fresh off his post as McLennan County district attorney, has accepted a job in Waco with a Houston-based law firm that specializes in intellectual property. Reyna's future has been the subject of wide speculation since Barry Johnson defeated the two-term district attorney in the March Republican primary. Johnson took over the DA's office from Reyna earlier this month. In a news release announcing Reyna's association, the Patterson + Sheridan firm, which calls itself an "IP law boutique," said Reyna joining the firm as of counsel will continue the firm’s growth in intellectual property litigation, business litigation, criminal defense...

As the dust settles from the 2018 midterm elections, a potential shake-up of unprecedented proportions is brewing quietly around the historically stable McLennan County judiciary. Traditionally, once McLennan County judges get into office, many remain for decades and rarely are challenged for re-election. But a number of domino-effect changes to that equation in coming years could project the current slate of local judges onto a turnover carousel and result in a dramatically different roster. Aside from possible changes at the McLennan County Courthouse, U.S. District Judge Alan Albright started the process of replacing a longstanding judge when he was sworn...

Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer F. Clinton Broden of the Dallas based criminal defense firm Broden, Mickelsen, Helms & Snipes LLP obtained a copy of the search warrants issued on July 12, 2015 to search the mobile phones of the Waco bikers, including the mobile phone of his client (Matthew Clendennen), which were seized during their arrests on May 17, 2015. The Waco police department’s affidavits requesting these search warrants, like the criminal complaints used to arrest the 177 bikers in this case, were simply “fill in the name” documents without any individual probable cause. Broden noted that the search warrant...

Thousands have signed a petition calling for the judge in an ex-Baylor frat president’s rape case to resign or be removed from office after he accepted a plea deal that involved no jail time. On Monday, Judge Ralph Strother accepted the plea agreement for Jacob W. Anderson, a former Baylor student who was accused of raping a woman referred to as Donna Doe in 2016. As part of the deal, Anderson agreed to plea to a lesser charge of unlawful restraint and will not have to register as a sex offender. Strother and Assistant District Attorney Hilary LaBorde, who prosecuted...

A federal judge lifted a stay Friday in the civil rights lawsuits filed by more than 100 bikers arrested after the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout in Waco and said the lawsuits can proceed. U.S. District Judge Alan Albright’s ruling during a 40-minute teleconference with attorneys in the cases does not include the two dozen bikers with pending criminal cases in McLennan County, only those with civil suits pending whose criminal cases have been dismissed or those who were never indicted. The lawsuits allege McLennan County, city of Waco and state officials violated the plaintiffs’ civil rights by wrongfully arresting the...

There will be no trials in 2018 involving Twin Peaks biker defendants after a state district judge granted a defense motion to postpone what would have been the second Twin Peaks trial. Timothy Shayne Satterwhite, of Gordon, a member of the Cossacks biker group, was set to stand trial Nov. 5 in Waco’s 54th State District Court. However, Satterwhite’s attorney, Bob Gill, of Fort Worth, filed a motion this week seeking to postpone the trial because he is involved in other trials in late October and early November. Judge Matt Johnson approved his motion and reset Satterwhite’s trial for Jan....

W.H. "Pete" Peterson had just left church on May 17, 2015, and was on his way to his granddaughter's high school baccalaureate ceremony when he got the call of mass casualties during a biker brawl that shattered the otherwise calm of the Sunday afternoon. Like many others that day, Peterson, a Vietnam veteran and a 38-year law enforcement officer, was not prepared for what he saw at the Twin Peaks crime scene after rival biker groups and police officers were involved in the deadly shootout that left nine dead and 20 injured. As McLennan County Justice of the Peace for...

President Trump chalked up his announcement on boosting ethanol for farmers in Iowa to his record of "promises made, promises kept," while speaking in Iowa Tuesday night. "I made that promise to you during the campaign," Trump said. "I made that promise to you during the primaries. Promises made, promises kept." "We're going with E15 year-round," Trump said early in his speech, admitting that the full announcement would come later in his remarks. The plan would relax Environmental Protection Agency rules that restrict the sale of 15-percent ethanol fuel blends to eight months of the year. The EPA waiver for...

A jury in El Paso, Texas decided Friday that it is illegal for a member of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club to possess a weapon in the state. DT, a member of the BMC in El Paso, was arrested October 16th, 2017 on his way to work for Unlawful Carrying Of A Weapon. Although it was conceded by all sides that DT had no felony record and was not a convicted criminal, the prosecution argued, and the jury agreed, that merely being a member of the Bandidos was enough to consider an individual a gang member prohibited from exercising their 2nd...

The total cost of the May 2015 Twin Peaks shootout has run into the solid seven figures and the state, at least so far, has little to show for its effort, all the while realizing the final cost is not yet calculated for the defendants and in some cases may never be. McLennan County reports $1,317,835.96 in total identifiable costs related to Twin Peaks. Francis Bartlett, CPA, first assistant county auditor in McLennan County, said the county has received $914,058.07 in the form of grant reimbursements from various sources, leaving a net cost to date of $403,777.89. That figure does...