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Posted on 05/31/2015 5:20:38 PM PDT by don-o
WACO, TEXAS—After a gunfight between rival motorcycle gangs outside a crowded restaurant left nine dead, police rounded up everyone on the scene wearing biker vests. Now, as 174 people sit in jail on organized crime charges, legal experts say prosecutors face a difficult challenge, and that many of those arrested could end up going free.
“They have bitten off more than they can chew,” said Robert Draskovich, a Las Vegas criminal defence lawyer who represents bikers. “Prosecutors often overreach and charge too many people, but I’ve never seen it to this extent.”
To prove the current charges, which have capital murder as the underlying crime, prosecutors must show each defendant took part in the shootout. Although the law allows for broad interpretation of participation, experts say the case is muddled by Texas’ strong self-defence and gun rights, as well as issues with witness credibility and a lack of co-operation.
snip
The last mass biker arrest in the U.S. occurred in 2002 in Las Vegas after a brawl broke out between the Hells Angels and the Mongols at Harrah’s Casino. Three people were killed and about a dozen others were wounded. Authorities rounded up 120 people. Only six of 44 Hells Angels indicted in federal court were convicted; six Mongols members were convicted in state court.
Draskovich represented one of the Hells Angels defendants whose charges were dismissed. He sees parallels between that case and the one in Waco.
“There’s generally a smaller group who, if a law was broken, they broke it,” he said. “So that’s why I say the majority of the people they arrested (in Waco) are going to walk.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thestar.com ...
Exactly.
Negatoree
There were at least 5 motorcycle clubs there, not all of them identified as gangs or organized crime, and many unaffiliated riders.
Saying they are all “crips or bloods” is dishonest.
Saying the restaurant is culpable is like saying that the Kmart/Sonic Drive-In that was “home” late night street racing was likewise culpable for organized criminal activity. Police raided the parking lot picking up teens out after curfew and others who were guilty of numerous criminal offenses (merely those in the parking lot, not the business owners) and the city of Houston had the book thrown at it for “abuse of power”. Pays to be a minority, I guess.
“How many of the dead were killed by police?”
The cops have “owned up” to four or five out of the nine. But I am betting they killed all of them. Ask yourself, “why don’t we know, at this juncture, how each of the nine died?” The answer is probably that the cops are busily trying to concoct a story that’s plausible enough to pass scrutiny. The other thing we should be knowing is how many of the bikers took shots at the cops. This looks more and more like “murder by cop” all the time! Now, all you Freepers who are on the “they deserved to die because of who they were” side, pipe up! But when you do remember that one day you could end up being someone the cops “don’t like.”
And on a bail of one million dollars. They've had their bikes, cell phones, and cameras confiscated ... They're being held incommunicado and their bail is set so high that there's not a chance in hell they can get out and talk to folks about what happened. And do you really think their cel phones and cameras are going to be returned to them without anything being erased??
Published photos taken of the site during the investigation indicate that the bikers were shot with rifles from far off, not at pistol range. Hmmmm ... the only ones who died, (except for the Marine Purple Heart recipient whose family says he used to be a "bad" biker in his younger days but the gangs he'd belonged to are now defunct, so belonged to ZIP motorcycle group) -- were all bikers. Not a single cop got killed nor even injured, as far as I can tell. It is known that 18 various LEO types, including under-cover cops, were already on the scene. And we're supposed to be buying this incomplete, take-the-official-word-for-it story that this was just a bunch of bikers shooting it out and then the cops showed up and saved the day.
Horse puckey.
Short answer: Yes. Yes they can.
will the obama DOJ comment on this I wonder. There seems to be a curious lack of inquiry by those concerned about police over reaction
When I lived in Milwaukee, I was a Hippy musician, but I was an oddball, as I was very Conservative. A “Head: shop had opened, and the cops didn’t like it! I was there one night when the place was attacked by the Outlaws. I managed to get out with just being punched a few times. Around the block were a bunch of police cars! Set up! I later made friends with the leader of the Milwaukee Outlaw club. They were generally good guys, working class. The leader, whose name I won’t mention, told me the attack on the head shop was a set up by the cops, who had busted an Outlaw for drugs. “Barf” taught me how to drive a stick shift Harley. Good guy!
Seems to me that SOMEONE needs to be charged with murder to be holding the rest on conspiracy.
When Giuliani was going after the mob with RICO, the conspiracy he proved was for crimes that had already been committed.
I am having a real problem with understanding how 174 people can conspire before an overt act is committed. Even going with their garb identifying them as a member of a criminal gang...there were not 174 Bandidos or Cossacks there by any account I have seen.
I heard one was a Software Engineer.
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And why were BATF and swat prepositioned before the fight broke out?
Since they were set up laying in wait, where’s all the video?
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Judge-rips-Kmart-raid-s-mass-arrests-1925397.php
"Calling the operation "almost totalitarian," a federal judge says a Houston police plan that led to 278 arrests in a Kmart parking lot almost three years ago was unconstitutional.The ruling by U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas allows all 10 lawsuits filed in the wake of the Aug. 18, 2002, mass arrest, and a smaller operation the previous night, to proceed.
The "plan to detain all persons ... with no regard for the existence of open businesses and their customers, is facially unconstitutional," Atlas wrote in an opinion made public this week.
The sweep by police was planned to crack down on illegal street racing, but the lawsuits contend that most of those arrested in the parking lot in the 8400 block of Westheimer were innocent Kmart customers or diners at a nearby Sonic restaurant. Police had arrested 25 people the previous night outside a nearby James Coney Island restaurant.
Most of those arrested were charged with trespassing or curfew violations, but no one was accused of street racing."
Texas police do seem to step in it big-time.
There’s still a lot of stuff that really stinks about this.
Texas law says it’s legal to carry a firearm in your vehicle as long as it’s not in plain sight, so I’m wondering how many of the 300+ alleged weapons found were being legally carried or transported in vehicles and found in searches. Unless those firearms are in the possession of folks who aren’t allowed to posses them, the law will have real trouble prosecuting on that issue.
State law also allows the personal carry of a knife with a blade under 5-1/2 inches, so unless they’re bloodied it’s going to be tough prosecution on that issue. Daggers, throwing knives and a couple other specific forms are not legal to carry on the person, but can be transported legally in a vehicle. Prosecuting for that’s going to be tough too.
One of the reports said that weapons such as chains with padlocks were also found and could be a ‘club’ under the law. Again, if not carried on the person there’s going to be another problem with persecution.
Then, there’s a good chance that the feds will come in with RICO and re-prosecute everybody.
This whole thing is, I think pretty serious.
"I’m wondering how many of the 300+ alleged weapons found were being legally carried or transported in vehicles and found in searches."
Got a link? I know sometimes it’s hard to find it again if you’ve found it once, but ... I’d sure appreciate it if you could find it. This is a story that needs to be hammered. I loved where one commenter, somewhere, scornfully asked why NPR wasn’t looking into answers to the real questions instead of just being press release mouthpieces for LEO.
I do not.
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