Posted on 08/19/2015 7:54:38 AM PDT by don-o
Waco – When Cossack Motorcyle Club member Cody Ledbetter appeared a half-hour early for his examining trial before retired Visiting Judge James Morgan Monday afternoon, August 17, he was surprised to learn the issue of enough probable cause to bind him over for a Grand Jury appearance was already settled.
Paul Looney, a seasoned defense attorney with offices in Houston and Hempstead, told him, “You lose the ankle bracelet, you lose the curfew, and you lose the travel restrictions.”
That’s when Ledbetter and members of his family burst into tears.
During the lunch hour, Looney and lead prosecutor Michael Jarrett had entered into an agreement for Ledbetter to waive his rights to an examining trial in return for modification of his bond conditions.
Waco – When Cossack Motorcyle Club member Cody Ledbetter appeared a half-hour early for his examining trial before retired Visiting Judge James Morgan Monday afternoon, August 17, he was surprised to learn the issue of enough probable cause to bind him over for a Grand Jury appearance was already settled.
Paul Looney, a seasoned defense attorney with offices in Houston and Hempstead, told him, “You lose the ankle bracelet, you lose the curfew, and you lose the travel restrictions.”
That’s when Ledbetter and members of his family burst into tears.
During the lunch hour, Looney and lead prosecutor Michael Jarrett had entered into an agreement for Ledbetter to waive his rights to an examining trial in return for modification of his bond conditions.
Amid the hassles over legal procedure and the rules of court, it was clear that the sub rosa issue is clearly all about the guns. Period.
After slightly more than an hour of bitter dispute between Jarrett and Looney over the phrasing of questions – leading, irrelevant, calling for speculation, recollection of events about which Schwartz had no personal knowledge, an item previously asked and answered – Judge Morgan said in exasperation, “Y’all can keep on beating on that dead horse all you want to…I’ve about heard all I want to on this.”
Fixing Looney with a level gaze from the bench, the judge said, “Mr. Looney, you put a good argument, but I think it’s one for a jury. They (the Englishes) are bound over for the Grand Jury.”
The Englishes are members of a Bandidos support club named Distorted, a five-month-old organization, the membership roster of which numbers only 7.
Their colors are blue and white, but they wear a small patch called “cookie” on left shoulder area of their vests with a picture of the red and gold trademarked Bandidos logo, a man wearing a sombrero, brandishing a revolver and a machete, that says, “I support the fat Mexican.”
The club, like all others affiliated with the Confederation of Clubs, pays dues, and those dues are collected by the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.
During testimony, the defense was able to establish that prior to May 17, the DPS unit had no criminal intelligence whatsover about the Distorted Mortorcycle Club, and had only added Distorted to a database of motorcycle clubs in April.
Looney also elicited testimony from Lt. Schwartz that made it plain that, “The Confederation of Clubs is an alterego for the Bandidos.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You have inadequate evidence to call Distorted a criminal street gang.”
Schwartz agreed.
“To become a support club all you have to do is pay your dues.”
Schwartz agreed. When asked, “Are Bandidos are dangerous?” he answered yes. He also agreed that wearing a patch with Bandidos colors would possibly make riding a motorcycle a safer pursuit.
The position of the State argued by the prosecutor Jarrett is that participation in an ongoing criminal enterprise may be established by a person’s conduct, and not just by an overt act such as murdering another person for an economic gain.
Prior to the arrival of the Bandidos, as many as 40 to 50 membrers of clubs wearing Cossacks colors were standing in “sentry” positions around the patio and the parking lot, said Schwartz.
At one point, Schwartz answered to the question of whether either of the Englishes had a weapon other than the handgun they brought in the car, said, “Most people threw their guns down. When you have an M-4 pointed at and you’re told to throw it down, you throw it down.”
He admitted he had no proof either ever carried a weapon onto the property, and agreed that it is not a crime to carry a weapon in a vehicle.
“It is a crime for a member of a criminal street gang to carry a weapon in a vehicle,” he said.
Asked by the prosecutor, Jarrett, what he personally experienced as the Bandidos arrived, he answered, “As the Bandidos stopped, a lot more support groups began to exit their vehicles and make their way to the front of the building. There was some altercation I did not see, and at that point, shots were fired…I was personally taking fire, yes.”
It was at that point that “All law enforcement officers began to take action to neutralize the situation,” he recalled.
The examining trials will begin again on Wednesday, August 19 at 1 p.m.
“All law enforcement officers began to take action to neutralize the situation,” he recalled.’
“Neutralize”????
“I post from the blogs because they are providing better coverage that I can find elsewhere with at least some detail of what is actually being said in the courtroom.”
In controversial cases, you can NEVER rely on the media; you must always have your own citizen-reporters in the courtroom.
“Looney said Monday he was told by the district attorney’s office that they would present the biker cases to a McLennan County grand jury between October and December.”
I thought I read somewhere that the ballistics report is expected in November.
There is going to be no closure for some time.
Wondering if anything else will be happening after the examining trials and before the Grand Jury? Some resolution to the requests for release of information, to lift the gag order, etc.?
I wish someone local would go to the County Court House and report on all the information that is public record, that has not been posted or presented to the public.
The gag order case and the formal judicial complaint against Peterson are the only other items pending. The results of examining trials are predetermined, the court will ALWAYS find probable cause, even where none exists.
Timing of resolving the gag order case is indefinite, but could come before November. Absence of indictment during this grand jury does not lift the possibility of charges being filed in the future. The statute of limitations on charging is a couple years at least, and forever in conspiracy to commit murder. Absence of indictment in this grand jury only results in the requirement for bail (and any conditions) being lifted. That's the only relief the accused have to look forward to. Some might seek to have their arrest records expunged, but that's something that Texas courts are unwilling to concede, because it amounts to an admission that the arrests were not justified in the first place.
So... again no evidence has made it into a court report on this incident.... I’m not on either side of this, just watching, but even the autopsies were limited in scope just something is off with this whole thing.
With extreme prejudice.
“The club, like all others affiliated with the Confederation of Clubs, pays dues, and those dues are collected by the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. “
And in California it is the Hells Angels.
What a racket!
It has a lot of the same feel as the Duke LaCrosse affair.
Witherspoon from the Waco Trib was live tweeting coverage from the examining trial.
He's a good reporter and it doesn't get any fresher than that.
I suspect you post from blogs because they tend to support your biases and aren't fact checked for accuracy.
Suspect whatever. Makes no difference to me.
Looks like Ledbetter is getting some slack. He must be cooperating with the prosecution. My guess is that the Bandidos will try to knock him off before the trial.
I don’t think the English’s were expecting trouble, because what kind of idiot would bring his wife to a fight? Even an expected fist fight?
Sort of like CLEAT.
Protection.
“It has a lot of the same feel as the Duke LaCrosse affair.”
I don’t remember the Duke players taking out their guns and shooting other players.
“I don’t think the English’s were expecting trouble, because what kind of idiot would bring his wife to a fight? Even an expected fist fight?”
She was a MEMBER of the Distorted MC which is a support club. Support club MEMBERS are required to SUPPORT.
The Distorted MC only had seven members. At least three women. Two of the women were ‘partners’!
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