Free Republic

The McLennan County District Attorney's Office dismissed the case against Twin Peaks shootout defendant Cody Ledbetter on Monday, four days before a jury panel in his case was supposed to report to court. The dismissal, signed by prosecutor Michael Jarrett, says that while probable cause remains in the case, the state is focusing on more culpable defendants in the Twin Peaks shootout, which left nine dead and dozens injured. Ledbetter, a 28-year-old diesel mechanic, and his attorney, Paul Looney, of Houston, eagerly snatched up the April 2 trial date that had been reserved for the retrial of Jacob Carrizal, president...

This man Abel Reyna, the elected Criminal District Attorney, has come adrift from his moorings, his oath to the Constitution, to uphold and protect its tenets, from all enemies, foreign and domestic. A trusted servant, he neglected to touch the bases of the grand experiment set in motion by Franklin and Jefferson, Madison and Adams, Hamilton and Washington. He ignored the guarantees of a republican form of government as his actions spoke in loud tones of the imperial, the cruel dictates of the tyrant. As a spectator, I happened to be seated in the very back row of the cavernous...

Three days after McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna was swept out of office in the Republican primary, a visiting judge who scolded him earlier this week for using a Twin Peaks biker's image in his political ads denied a motion to hold Reyna in contempt of court. Judge Doug Shaver, of Houston, denied a motion Friday from Clint Broden, an attorney for Matthew Clendennen, to hold a hearing for Reyna to show why he should not be held in contempt for failing to immediately remove the campaign ads from his website, TV and his Facebook page as the judge...

While Barry Johnson remains surprised that he vanquished two-term incumbent Abel Reyna by 20 percentage points, he is turning his attention to the general election for McLennan County district attorney and wondering if he will have one opponent or two. Johnson, 61, easily defeated Reyna, 45, by 59.9 percent to 40.1 percent in the Republican primary Tuesday, lining him up for a November showdown with independent candidate Daniel Hare. Seth Sutton entered the race as a Democrat but suspended his campaign last month, citing personal and professional responsibilities as reasons for the move. His name remained on Tuesday’s Democratic ballot....

Barry Johnson ousted two-term incumbent Abel Reyna as McLennan County district attorney, in a contentious race played out under the dark specter of the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout. Johnson, 61, who practiced personal injury law in Dallas for 30 years before moving back to McLennan County last year, got 10,347 votes for 59.9 percent of the vote to Reyna’s 6,930 for 40.1 percent.

Barry Johnson ousted two-term incumbent Abel Reyna as McLennan County district attorney, in a contentious race played out under the dark specter of the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout. Johnson, 61, who practiced personal injury law in Dallas for 30 years before moving back to McLennan County last year, got 10,347 votes for 59.9 percent of the vote to Reyna’s 6,930 for 40.1 percent. Johnson is a Waco native and son of Judge Joe N. Johnson, who served as justice of the peace for 24 years and judge of Waco’s 170th State District Court for 24 years. Johnson promised to serve...

There is some slight possibility that defense attorneys in the Twin Peaks criminal cases will not have Abel Reyna to kick around much longer. Reyna is the Waco politician who cruelly decided to ruin a couple of hundred lives after the Twin Peaks Mass Murder almost three years ago by arresting citizens for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He hit people who could ill afford it with draconian bails. One arrestee, who was disabled and had an annual salary of $10,000 a year was expected to pay a non-refundable $100,000 fee to a local bondsman to...

Visiting Judge Doug Shaver denied a motion Monday to dismiss the case against Twin Peaks biker Matthew Clendennen for alleged speedy trial violations. Clendennen attorney Clint Broden, citing a 10th Court of Appeals option written by former Justice Felipe Reyna, argued the case should be dismissed for speedy trial violations. Broden charged that all delays in Clendennen's case have been caused by McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna. Reyna, the district attorney, won a continuance in the first trial setting and a year later recused his office in Clendennen's case. Felipe Reyna is Abel Reyna's father. Clendennen was arrested at...

In 2014, I made a last-minute effort to bring justice to our community in the form of a write-in campaign for district attorney. More than 6,000 people voted for me and my gratitude cannot be overstated. Once again, I call upon the good people of McLennan County to demonstrate your commitment to justice in our community by voting Barry Johnson for district attorney. If you’ve followed any news this past year, you are well versed with the numerous accusations leveled against McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna. These have been downplayed by the DA as mere musings of “disgruntled former...

When District Attorney Abel Reyna alighted from his car at the early voting center, the private investigator who served him with a witness subpoena had the rare distinction of a rooting section. The rooting section took cell phone in hand to report the news. As quickly as the gumshoe executed the return of service acknowledging that Abel Reyna is summoned to appear as a witness in the status conference hearing in the case of State V. Matthew Clendennen at 9 a.m. on Monday in the 54th Criminal District Court, the news hit the internet like a small pebble making wide...

Reyna says that brings a total of 58 Twin Peaks cases that have been disposed out of 154 bikers who were indicted and 177 total who were arrested. The bikers' cases dismissed are those for Raymond Hawes, Daniel Johnson, Edward Keller Jr., Jeremy King, Brian Logan, Robert Nichols, Anthony Shane Palmer, Victor Pizana, Clayton Reed, Sergio Reyes, Gregory Salazar, Seth A. Smith and Ricky Wycough. Reyna said his office will refuse cases for Steven Walker, Jimmy Spencer, Bobby Samford, Julie Perkins, Morgan English, William English, Benjamin Matcek, Jimmy Smith, Bradley Terwilliger, Justin Waddington, Daryle Walker, Royce Vanvleck, Christopher Eaton, Brian...

A few weeks ago, West resident Don Garretson took stock of McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna’s failure to convict Dallas Bandidos chieftain Jake Carrizal last fall; the likelihood of similar failures in prosecuting 154 motorcyclists indicted in the deadly 2015 Twin Peaks biker shootout; and, finally, more than a hundred potentially costly lawsuits alleging Reyna led in the slaughter of these bikers’ civil rights, upending lives, careers and family savings. Then, in a letter to the Waco Tribune-Herald, Garretson let out what might be interpreted as a primordial taxpayer scream. “What will be the source of these payouts?” he...

The cops are to blame for the bloody events at Twin Peaks as gunfire erupted an inter-regional Confederation of Clubs meeting scheduled to begin within a half hour at Twin Peaks Restaurant on May 17, 2015. Going into a seventh wave rally on the Courthouse Square at Waco on Sunday, Feb. 25 at 1 pm, we intend to interview Big Pete James, former regional vice president of Outlaws MC out of Chicago at 11 pm on Saturday, Feb. 24. About what? Big Pete said on his weekly Thursday evening podcast on Insane Throttle that there are some key elements to...

A city spokesperson (not city attorney) called The Sentinel just as we finished the update below. According to the young lady, the city had rethought their position after my 'clarification' from two days ago and had indeed found some responsive documents to my request. Instead of releasing the documents, The Waco City website regarding OR's now designates my request for 'proof of purchase' as sent to the OAG. Our office has not received any letter or carbon copy of a letter to the OAG yet. The change in designation was made today as we had just gotten a screen snip...

It is time to remember what the Federal Government under the authority of Bill Clinton did to many American citizens during the Waco holocaust. Whole families living in their compound were slaughtered by federal officials. Women and children were burned alive by the Federal Government. The Waco compound was encircled and under seize for many weeks as if it was a medieval city being attacked by an army. The government treated these civilians as if they were a foreign enemy. They used loud noises day and night to psychologically break down the inhabitants which included mothers and children. Tanks crashed...

Cody Ledbetter has been trying to get his day in court for almost three years as the specter of witnessing his stepfather's death in the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout and his pending indictment hang over his life. Ledbetter and his attorney, Paul Looney, of Houston, got their wish Monday when 54th State District Judge Matt Johnson gave them the April 2 trial date initially reserved for the retrial of Jacob Carrizal, president of the Dallas Bandidos chapter, whose November trial ended in a mistrial. Ledbetter's stepfather, Daniel Boyett, was shot and killed at Twin Peaks during the Sunday afternoon brawl...

Abel Reyna and Barry Johnson both have deep roots in McLennan County. Both men like to talk about their fathers and grandfathers. Reyna's father, Felipe Reyna, is a former McLennan County district attorney and a former justice on the 10th Court of Appeals. His grandfather was the janitor at the McLennan County Courthouse and was loved by county employees. Johnson's father, Joe N. Johnson, was a McLennan County justice of the peace for 24 years and was judge in 170th State District Court for 16 years. His grandfather owned and operated the first service station in Waco at South Fifth...

The first Cossack to face a trial jury in the Twin Peaks cases got his day in court by default when the new attorney representing the first defendant to stand trial in a second go-round due to mistrial declared he’s not ready for trial. At that point, 54th Criminal District Judge Matt Johnson shifted gears and scheduled the trial of Cossack Cody Ledbetter as a result of vigorous pre-trial maneuvers by Ledbetter’s attorney, Paul Looney of Hempstead, who has an extensive criminal practice in Houston and the counties surrounding the Bayou City. The case of Dallas Bandidos President Jake Carrizal...

If the DA takes the witness stand in additional disqualification hearings, he will no doubt find himself answering questions about his utterance of a falsehood on the witness stand, something the law defines as aggravated perjury, a felony crime. The defense bar representing clients in the Twin Peaks cases is eagerly awaiting two hearings scheduled in the cases of at least 10 defendants who seek to disqualify the elected Criminal District Attorney, Abel Reyna, on grounds of multiple acts of criminal misconduct. According to Gary D. Smart, an Arlington attorney, 19th Criminal District Judge Ralph T. Strother has scheduled hearings...

An Arlington lawyer said Thursday his client welcomes an opportunity to have McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna testify at an open hearing set for March 1. Gary D. Smart, who represents Raymond Hawes, III, has filed a motion to recuse Reyna, and he says 11 other lawyers who represent bikers have also filed motions seeking Reyna's dismissal from prosecuting still more Twin Peaks trials. Smart said his, and several other similar motions, are set for hearing before 19th District Judge Ralph Strother on March 1 and any testimony offered that day could involve both current and former prosecutors and...