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A judge on Friday effectively postponed the start of any Twin Peaks biker trials in McLennan County until after the federal trial of Bandidos national leaders in San Antonio or until federal prosecutors agree to share evidence with McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna. Judge Matt Johnson of Waco’s 54th State District Court granted a motion to delay the June 5 trial of Kyle Smith, 50, an air-conditioning technician from Kilgore and member of the Cossacks motorcycle group. Johnson’s ruling comes in the wake of Reyna filing a letter he got last month from U.S. Attorney Richard Durbin, of San...

On this date in: 1775 - American Revolution Begins 1993 - FBI at Waco 1995 - OKC Bombing 1925 - Hugh O'Brian Born 1937 - Elinor Donahue Born

Clint Broden, the Dallas defense attorney who has done most of the heavy lifting for the last two years in the infuriatingly bogus and misreported Twin Peaks biker brawl case, filed another four motions this morning in the 54th District Court in McLennan County, Texas. The motions were specifically made on behalf of Broden’s client Matthew Clendennen, but the points they raise are relevant to the cases of virtually every other defendant. At present, 154 men have been indicted for “engaging in organized criminal activity” that resulted in nine homicides. Prosecutor Abelino Reyna is threatening to indict 38 more. The...

If the search warrant is not good, then evidence gained pursuant gets suppressed. – Judge Susan Criss Waco – To get a conviction for engaging in organized criminal activity, the DA is going to have to put in the hands of the accused the weapons specified in the indictments of the defendants arrested at Twin Peaks on May 17, 2015. That will be a difficult task if former District Judge Susan Criss’s challenge to the search warrants is successful. She objects to the method used by 19th Criminal District Court Judge Ralph Strother and a colleague, District Judge Gary Coley...

As recently as this morning it seemed impossible, but the Twin Peaks legal fiasco got even more ridiculous this afternoon. McLennan County, Texas District Attorney Abelino Reyna, who is gratuitously prosecuting 192 people who were at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco on May 17, 2015, filed a ridiculous “disclosure” in the 19th Judicial District today, “in the spirit of Brady, the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 39.14 (the Michael Morton Act), our ethical obligations under Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, and our duty to ‘see that justice is done.’ The document is titled “State’s Disclosure of the Existence...

A judge postponed the first Twin Peaks shootout biker trial Friday for the second time after a new attorney was brought onto the case and said she could not be prepared by the May 22 trial date. Judge Ralph Strother of Waco’s 19th State District Court released a panel of 186 potential jurors Friday who had reported to fill out questionnaires for the trial. Christopher Jacob Carrizal, a member of the Bandidos motorcycle group, was set to be the first biker tried in the May 17, 2015, Twin Peaks shootout that left nine bikers dead and dozens wounded. Strother initially...

Eleven more bikers arrested but not indicted after the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday, alleging they were arrested without cause and their "constitutional rights have been trampled on." Daryle Walker, of Franklin County, Ohio; Michael Woods, of Bell County; Don Fowler, of Ellis County; David Cepeda, of Bexar County; Kevin Rash, of McLennan County; Richard Kreder, of Navarro County; Greg Corrales, of Bexar County; Bobby Joe Samford, of Milam County; Jimmy Spencer Jr., of Montgomery County; Craig Rodahl, of McLennan County; and Arley Harris III, of Bosque County, are the latest bikers to allege in a...

A week after postponing the first trial of a biker indicted in the May 2015 Twin Peaks shootout, a judge has set another trial date. Judge Ralph Strother of Waco's 19th State District Court set May 22 for Christopher Jacob Carrizal's trial to start on a first-degree felony engaging in organized criminal activity charge. If the trial starts that day, it will come a week after the two-year anniversary of the deadly shootout in which nine bikers were killed and more than 20 were injured. Strother granted a request from Stephenville attorney Landon Northcutt last week to postpone an April...

A Brenham woman who says she was wrongfully charged in the 2015 biker gang shootout that left nine dead and 177 people arrested has filed a $350 million federal lawsuit against the City of Waco, McLennan County, the district attorney, police chief and other investigators. Morgan English, 32, filed the suit Wednesday in federal court in Austin, contending officials violated her constitutional rights and lied to authorities in wrongly claiming that she was a known member of a criminal motorcycle gang who participated in ongoing criminal activities. "This is especially outrageous because a perjured arrest affidavit was issued for a...

Hold onto your hats. There’s no way anybody could have seen this coming. The first trial in the Twin Peaks bloodbath case has been delayed indefinitely. In November, Judge Matt Johnson said a member of the Valerosos Motorcycle Club named James Rosas would stand trial beginning January 23 for engaging in organized criminal activity. Rosas would be the first of 154 defendants to stand trial for wearing the wrong clothes to a meeting of the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents on May 17, 2015. Just a month before, there had been 155 defendants but one of them, a Cossack...

A Boise hospice patient had one last wish of hearing the roar of a Harley Davidson, one last time. That wish came true Wednesday. Hearing just one Harley would've been enough for Bill Conklin, but it wasn't enough for the 50 bikers who gathered at High Desert Harley to help make Conklin's wish come true. Conklin told his nurse a while back about his wish, who helped get the ball rolling. "Guess what?" asked Teri Jordan, Conklin's nurse. "Your wish has come true." Surrounding his home were about 50 Harleys and bikers ready to unleash the sound Conklin was waiting...

WACO, Texas (KWTX) McLennan County officials have agreed to pay overtime to Sheriff’s Office employees who provide extra security when the Twin Peaks shooting trials start in April. County commissioners made the decision this week knowing much of the costs could eventually be recovered by the state. Following the deadly May 17, 2015 shootout between rival biker gangs which left nine dead and more than 20 more injured, more than $268,000 in grants was provided by the state for associated costs. Currently, deputies, jailers, and other MCSO employees are given compensatory time in lieu of overtime pay, forcing them to...

Police say two women wearing stockings over their faces pulled a pistol at Elotes Mignelito, 801 N. 25th St., pointed it at stand operators and demanded cash. The women left in a silver Dodge Charger after getting cash from the stand. A witness followed the women to North 18th Street and Colcord Avenue, where one of the suspects started firing a paintball gun at the witness.

Nearly 24 years after the Branch Davidian standoff began near Waco, some federal agents are opening up about their experiences that resulted in the worst day in the history of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and ultimately the deaths of some 70 people inside the compound more than seven weeks later. "I've decided I'm never going to forget, and I owe it to the guys who were killed to tell their story," ATF Agent Gary Orchowski told the Houston Chronicle in a story published Sunday. Four agents were killed Feb. 28, 1993, when more than 130 ATF...

The various criminal and civil cases associated with the Waco Twin Peaks bloodbath 639 days ago remain fossilized and nobody – certainly not the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas – gives a damn. It has been a year, eight months and 28 days since the illegal, mass arrests. The ACLU’s stated mission is “to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.” But the disillusioning truth is that the ACLU is just another meetup group for sanctimonious law school grads. And, for the...

The Kremlin said on Monday it wanted an apology from Fox News over what it said were "unacceptable" comments one of the channel's presenters made about Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with U.S. counterpart Donald Trump. Fox News host Bill O'Reilly described Putin as "a killer" in the interview with Trump as he tried to press the U.S. president to explain more fully why he respected his Russian counterpart. O'Reilly did not say who he thought Putin had killed. "We consider such words from the Fox TV company to be unacceptable and insulting, and honestly speaking, we would...

BEFORE he was elected in 2011 to serve as the McLennanCounty district attorney, Abel Reyna represented criminal defense clients for 13 years. So Reyna, not surprisingly, offers an opinion—or two—about the strategies of a criminal defense lawyer who represents one of the 155 bikers who was indicted based on charges stemming from a May 17, 2015, shootout in the parking lot of a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas. "There is no way in hell I would be a part of those shenanigans," Reyna said about criminal defense lawyer Clint Broden of Broden & Mickelsen in Dallas. So what are...

In re-introducing the ATF Elimination Act on Thursday, January 12, Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) explained one of the primary reasons why: “The ATF is a scandal-ridden, largely duplicative agency that has been branded by failure and lacks a clear mission. It is plagued by backlogs, funding gaps, hiring challenges, and a lack of leadership.”Not once did he explain the real reason the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF for short) should be eliminated: There is no provision anywhere in the Constitution that grants the federal government the powers the ATF exercises.Sensenbrenner’s original bill was introduced on March 4,...

The founder of Bikers For Trump told "Fox & Friends" his organization will, if need be, form a "wall of meat" to protect citizens attending President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday from protesters and the like.Chris Cox said thousands of bikers from across the country are going to converge on the District of Columbia to prevent any violence or wrongdoing at the event. Cox said he has full faith in the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington as well as the Capitol Police and U.S. Park Police, but will be standing by, should things get out of hand.In that case,...

WACO — The first trial over a Central Texas gunfight involving rival motorcycle gangs that left nine people dead, 20 others hurt and more than 150 bikers charged is now set for April, 23 months after the 2015 shootout. "In complex cases, it's not uncommon for the trial to occur 18 months to two years after the alleged incident occurred," 54th District Judge Matt Johnson, who will preside over some of the trials, told the Waco Tribune-Herald. "It's not like we had a shortage of cases before Twin Peaks came along," 19th District Judge Ralph Strother, who also will handle...