Free Republic

How 177 arrests led to no convictions — a tangled, seven-year tale of prosecutorial hubris and tenacious defense. Citing pending civil lawsuits, Reyna declined to speak on the record for this article, but he vigorously denied all the charges made in the affidavits secured by Broden, and he disputed The Tribune-Herald’s characterization of his actions. In the end, his primary wasn’t even close: Johnson defeated him by nearly 20 points. Before his term ended, Reyna would dismiss all but 24 of the bikers’ cases, with Johnson dismissing the final two dozen in April 2019. Carrizal was the only biker to...

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to consider an appeal by the city of Waco and McLennan County in lawsuits filed by bikers arrested in the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout that left nine bikers dead and 20 injured. Attorneys for the defendants asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review an April decision by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that reinstated the lawsuits of about 90 bikers whose civil rights cases were dismissed last year by U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of Waco. The federal appeals court panel reversed an Albright ruling that held a...

Nearly 90 bikers claim they were falsely arrested after deadly shootout The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated the lawsuits – at least temporarily – of about 90 bikers arrested in the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout whose civil rights cases were thrown out last year by U.S. District Judge Alan Albright. A three-judge panel of the federal appeals court reversed Albright’s previous ruling that a grand jury’s indictment of the 90 bikers “served to break the chain of causation” for their false arrest claims and sent the cases back to Albright for further consideration in light of the...

If you ask Paul Looney, a Houston defense attorney, about the Twin Peaks biker case, he’ll tell you there’s one person who knows more about it than anyone else alive: his trial-preparation specialist, Roxanne Avery. An entire wall of her home office in Norman, Okla., is covered with wallet-size mug shots of the nearly 200 bikers arrested, as well as photographs of the nine men who died that day, seven years ago, after a violent brawl in a Waco parking lot. Each picture is layered with Post-it Notes and details about the subjects: ages, road names (Cheech, Chain, Drama, Sidetrack,...

he 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed former Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman and Assistant Chief Robert Lanning from lawsuits filed by bikers alleging false arrest after the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout, but left former McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna as a defendant. The ruling, issued late last week, is the most recent development in the six-year legal battle waged after hundreds of Bandidos and Cossacks and their respective support clubs squared off in the Twin Peaks parking lot while families were dining or shopping May 15, 2015, at the busy Central Texas Marketplace. About 134 bikers...

Five years ago Sunday nine died and 18 were injured after a shootout erupted between rival motorcycle groups at Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco. The shootout was the deadliest and most high-profile event in the Waco area since the Waco siege of the Branch Davidian compound in 1993. The bikers said the agenda at the regional meeting of the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents (COC&I), a statewide biker group coalition based in Tyler, involved political issues regarding the rights of motorcyclists. But trouble was brewing between the Bandidos and the Cossacks. Eighteen Waco police officers and four state troopers...

A federal judge in Waco has dismissed 13 civil rights lawsuits filed by 45 bikers arrested after the May 2015 shootout at Twin Peaks in Waco, a ruling that suggests more dismissals will be coming. U.S. Judge Alan Albright, in a 13-page order issued Monday, dismissed civil rights claims against the city of Waco, McLennan County, former District Attorney Abel Reyna, former Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman and a handful of other Waco and Texas Department of Public Safety officers. The 45 plaintiffs were among 192 bikers who were arrested and among 155 who were indicted in the Sunday noon-hour...

Before the Court are: Defendants Frost and Schwartz’s Motion to Dismiss(ECF Nos. 57& 76);the City Defendants’ Joint Motion to Dismiss (ECF Nos. 58& 76);Defendants Reyna and McLennan County’s Motion to Dismiss (ECF Nos. 59& 78);and the respective responses, replies,and sur-replies thereto. The Court, having considered the Motions and applicable law,finds that the Motions should be DENIED or DENIED in PART and GRANTED in PART as discussed below. I. INTRODUCTION This case stems from the Twin Peaks restaurant incident on May 17, 2015.Members of the Bandidos and Cossacks Motorcycle Clubs, along with hundreds of other motorcycling enthusiasts,converged on the restaurant. Tensions...

An attorney for six bikers arrested after the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout in Waco is asking a judge to appoint a “special master” to oversee the return of items seized from almost 200 bikers who went to jail. Houston attorney Paul Looney filed a civil petition Wednesday morning in Waco’s 414th State District Court asking Judge Vicki Menard to appoint someone to help “make order out of all this chaos,” as Looney put it. Looney, representing Ray Nelson, Phillip Ray White, Cody Ledbetter, Marcus Ryan Pilkington, William English and Morgan English, said he is trying to help them and others...

Officers arrested 177 people at the Twin Peaks shooting in 2015. Four years later, only one person has stood trial. All of the other cases have been dismissed. Four years ago terrified diners were forced to take cover after shots rang out at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco. What is now known as the deadliest biker shootout in U.S. history left nine people dead and 20 wounded. Waco will not soon forget photos from the scene, showing bikers, some with guns blazing, crowding the restaurant. “A great majority of them had guns, hatchets, knives and other deadly weapons with...

Waco Biker Dismissals an Attempt to Avoid Millions in Lawsuits. In the interests of justice, on April 2, 2019 all remaining charges related to the May 17, 2015 Twin Peaks shootings in Waco, Texas have been dismissed by the newly elected McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson. These dismissals are a significant victory in the history of motorcycle club culture and the fight against motorcycle profiling and discrimination. Although this concludes the criminal chapter of Twin Peaks, the legal battles are far from over. There are currently over 100 civil rights claims pending and the official press release announcing the...

Defense Attorneys in Dallas said some of their clients had their guns, motorcycles, vehicles and other property returned to them once their case was refused, Harris said for some reason he's still left without answers. One of the Twin Peaks bikers arrested said even though it's been three years since the deadly shooting, police still have not given him back his personal belongings that were seized. Patrick Harris case was thrown out by District Attorney Abel Reyna, but he said he's having a hard time putting this all behind him without having what he said is legally his. Defense Attorneys...

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...

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...

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...