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McLennan County commissioners are considering adding a third felony court after hearing a request for staffing from District Attorney Abel Reyna, who also said he does not yet have figures for costs related to the May 17 Twin Peaks shootout. Reyna said numerous people have asked him how much the county will have to pay to cover events following the Twin Peaks shooting, which left nine bikers dead and 177 behind bars. Reyna said any answer ventured would be mere speculation and there is “absolutely no way to predict” that figure. “Believe it or not, from about 1:30 in the...

WACO (July 16, 2015) A Dallas lawyer has filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General’s Office accusing a Waco justice of the peace of criminal oppression. F. Clinton Broden, attorney for Matthew Clendennen, filed a supplement to a motion he filed earlier seeking recusal of McLennan County Justice of the Peace Walter H. "Pete" Peterson from hearing any further issues concerning the May 17 motorcycle gang shootings at Twin Peaks, in Waco, as a result of which his client was arrested. Peterson has set an examining trial for Clendennen on his arrest for August. In the supplement, Broden is...

Police said a shootout between five rival biker gangs took place Sunday May 17th, 2015 in Waco, Texas, leaving at least nine people dead. This is footage of the police arriving on the scene. They has been nearby, as they were expecting trouble. The fight started at the Twin Peaks restaurant and moved into the parking lot, starting as a fist fight, then moving to guns. When the officers arrived, they engaged in the gun battle. Police spokesman Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said, "In my nearly 35 years of law enforcement experience, this is the most violent and gruesome scene...

Tread lightly, Americans: Nearly 9% of people in the United States have outbursts of anger, break or smash things, or get into physical fights -- and have access to a firearm, a new study says. What's more, 1.5% of people who have these anger issues carry their guns outside the home. The findings, published Wednesday in the journal Behavioral Sciences and the Law, suggest that measures to reduce gun injuries and deaths should focus less on diagnosed mental illness and more on a history of violent behavior.

<p>MIDLOTHIAN — The biker shootout at a Waco restaurant in May has evolved into a tragedy on many levels.</p> <p>Not only did nine people lose their lives, but many of those who were arrested in its aftermath lost their jobs and their savings.</p>

snip We suspect that many of the arrested bikers were doing what normal people would do during a shootout – ducking for cover and getting out of the way. But they were jailed anyway, along with some hardened motorcycle gang members. In the newest twist, McLennan County has seated a new grand jury that includes James Head, an active-duty detective with 26 years of experience on the Waco police force. The likelihood is high that Head knows officers who were at the shootout scene, and that he’s discussed the case in detail. That’s reason enough to question his objectivity. Instead,...

Christopher J. Downey is a former Harris County prosecutor who worked in the Civil Rights Division of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. The now criminal defense lawyer has both presented numerous shooting cases to grand juries, and defended police officers on shooting investigations. As a prosecutor he investigated whether any laws were broken or civil rights violations occurred during a police shooting. He is of counsel to a police union, the Coalition of Police and Sheriffs (C.O.P.S.). His job now is to go out on calls when a member shoots someone. Downey told Breitbart Texas, “The role of any...

Earlier this year, the Texas Legislature passed a law outlawing what is known as the “pick-a-pal system” for grand jury selection. Unlike the trial juries we are all familiar with, in which the jury is picked randomly with attorneys questioning possible jurors for bias or prejudice, many grand juries had been picked by judges by offering friends or associates in the justice system the license of nominating prospective jurors or even serving as grand jurors themselves. Research has shown that probation department employees, police officers, bail bondsmen and even court bailiffs decided who served on the grand jury. The problem?...

Statement from ICR CEO about Baylor Policy Change Once again a major Christian institution has capitulated to the “politically correct” immoral noise made by a few. This time, Baylor University has removed language in its sexual misconduct policy that had previously punished homosexual activity among its students.

The Twin Peaks Massacre has always, clearly, been an ATF or FBI operation gone terribly wrong. The Waco police and most of official Waco have been lying about it since May 17. A couple of pieces of evidence became generally available this weekend that shine a little light into this black hole of deceit. First, it is now absolutely inarguable that at least 182 people were arrested on May 17 and that five of them were “unarrested” by 5:28 a.m. the next morning. In an early morning fax from Waco Detective Sam Key to lay Justice of the Peace “Pete”...

It's not a gang, it's a club. When it comes to the Houston-born Bandidos Motorcycle Club, this debate has taken on some urgency and a few twists. Following a May 17 melee in Waco that left nine dead and 18 wounded, police arrested 177 bikers. Each was charged with engaging in organized criminal activity by being part of a conspiracy to commit murder and assault as part of a turf war between the Bandidos and a lesser-known rival, the Cossacks. The distinction carries a hefty penalty, as those charged faced 15 years to life in prison if convicted - even...

Three of the four bikers who remain jailed in the wake of the deadly Twin Peaks shootout have felony charges pending in other counties. Of the 177 bikers jailed following the May 17 melee, only Michael E. Chaney, a Cossack from Fort Worth; Joseph Ortiz, a Bandido from San Antonio; Marcus Pilkington, a Bandido from Mexia; and Daniel Pesina, a member of a Bandidos support group called Macheteros from San Antonio, remain jailed in McLennan County.

This portion of the Don Carlos surveillance video was made from a full surveillance video produced pursuant to a subpoena issued on behalf of Matthew Clendennen by his attorney F. Clinton Broden of Broden, Mickelsen, Helms & Snipes, LLP. It was not altered, only shortened ...

Surveillance video from the Twin Peaks shooting has been leaked. The video from Don Carlos, the restaurant next door to Twin Peaks, was obtained by KCEN late Friday afternoon through an anonymous email sent to various local and national media outlets. The email contained a web link and a password to a section of www.brodenmickelsen.com, the law firm of Clint Broden who represents Matthew Clendennen, a local biker arrested in the shooting. The password takes you to a YouTube page for the law firm. KCEN notified Mr. Broden of the email and password late this afternoon, and hours later, access...

A biker arrested after a deadly shootout involving bikers and police in Waco, Texas, argued Friday that it's a conflict of interest for a policeman to preside over the grand jury that may hear his case. Matthew Clendennen, who sued after he was one of 177 bikers arrested following the shootout, alleged in a court filing that James Head's presence as foreman of the randomly-selected 12-person panel should not be allowed.

This is a condensed version of security camera footage from the parking lot outside Don Carlos Mexican Restaurant before, during and after the shooting at Twin Peaks in Waco on May 17, 2015. The video was released to the news media by Dallas attorney Clinton Broden. The footage above, covering the first 30 minutes of the shooting, has been condensed from the full video, which runs one hour and 30 minutes.

We have been watching the Waco Twin Peaks biker shootout with interest. From the outset, this mass arrest seemed to have some problems, and now that more information has come to light, the City of Waco has opened itself up to serious civil liability. Why? Because this is a textbook example of mass arrests without individual probable cause. At the heart of every arrest, there must be probable cause. Now, of course, probable cause is a very low standard that can usually be met, but not likely in this case. From what is currently known, the Waco Police Department decided...

A Waco police detective was selected Wednesday to preside over a new McLennan County grand jury that could be the panel that considers the Twin Peaks shootings.

On the date of the event, police attempted to enter the restaurant, but were blocked by management. State and local authorities then occupied positions outside the restaurant, including on the rooftop of a neighboring restaurant, Don Carlos, the lawsuit said.

The world's largest Baptist university, Baylor, has dropped language in its sexual misconduct policy that punished those who engaged in homosexual acts, a change the socially conservative school said better reflects its values as "a caring community." Baylor, in the central Texas city of Waco, had been one of a handful of religious U.S. colleges and universities that allowed for the dismissal of students, and sometimes staff, for homosexuality. Baylor has removed "homosexual acts" as a punishable offense in its sexual misconduct policy, an official said on Tuesday. The policy also mandated disciplinary action for sexual assault, incest, adultery and...