Posted on 06/16/2015 5:07:40 PM PDT by don-o
Ester and Walter Weaver say they are not criminals.
“I don’t even have so much as a speeding ticket to my name. Ever,” said Walter Weaver, an analyst at Fort Hood. “I’ve been driving since 1975.”
But as they adjust to life after spending more than two weeks in jail following the May 17 Waco biker shootout, the Weavers are still reeling from their experience.
“I was in the parking lot,” Walter said. “I was looking for (Ester). I didn’t see anything occur. I just heard the bullets. I’ve been a soldier since I was 18 years old. My first thought was, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. This is like being in downtown Baghdad.’
“All I could hear was bullets going off. Then it was get down and get the wife down. It was astonishing that this was in the middle of Texas.”
Once the bullets stopped flying in the parking lot of Twin Peaks in Waco on May 17, the Weavers were swept up in a police dragnet 170 strong. Many attorneys have called the mass arrests unconstitutional and unprecedented.
“The sheer amount of people that they pulled in did surprise me,” said Lewis Giles, the Weavers’ attorney. “And the fact that it didn’t seem like they could have done any investigation into all of those people.”
As he sat on the curb next to his wife, Walter said he thought the police simply wanted to speak to witnesses.
“My impression was we were being detained so we could be witnesses to whatever we did or didn’t see,” he said. “I thought we would be questioned and ‘OK, what did you see?’ and we’d make some kind of a witness statement.”
But police weren’t interested in taking witness statements. Instead, the two were handcuffed and made to wait in the sun for hours before they were thrown in jail without being Mirandized.
“Last month, if you had told me that this could have occurred to us in the state of Texas, I would have called you a liar,” Walter said. “That just can’t happen.”
But it did.
As they sat in the sun before being whisked off to one of two McLennan County jails, Walter said police didn’t provide water or food to detainees for several hours. When food or water was provided, detainees had to eat with their hands cuffed behind their backs.
“I’m a soldier,” Walter said. “I’ve been in some pretty ugly conditions in some pretty crappy parts of the world. But to see (Ester) sitting over there flex-cuffed, trying to nibble on a piece of chicken — that was pretty horrible — having to sit there and watch that.”
As they were at Twin Peaks to eat lunch, Ester said they hadn’t eaten since dinner the previous day.
“I think it was about 10, 10:30 at night is when I finally asked if we could get something to eat because we hadn’t eaten anything,” she said.
‘No clue’ about charges
Once they got to jail, Walter said he was clueless as to what he was being charged with.
“‘Shut up. We don’t want to hear what you’re saying,’” Walter said McLennan County’s corrections officers told him. “You’d ask them ‘Why am I here? What am I being charged with? What’s going on?’ They just kind of (ignored us).”
Walter said he shared cells with businessmen from Dallas, weekend racers from College Station and two Bandidos club members who were “astonished and had no clue” as to why they were being detained.
“There were a whole bunch of people in there,” he said.
After insisting he be given a phone call, Walter said he simply picked Giles’ number at random off a list on the Internet. Giles was able to call Walter’s boss at work and put everything at ease.
“I have a very understanding boss and, again, I was extremely lucky to get Mr. Giles on the phone,” Walter said. “He called work and took care of everything for me. I was extremely lucky. Somebody was smiling when I grabbed (his) name off the Internet.”
Giles said his clients likely have many months, if not years, of legal wrangling to grapple with.
“I think if we went to trial, that’s the absolute safest bet because there’s no way they could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they did anything,” Giles said. “But that could take years. It could easily take a year, but it will probably take two or three years.
“It would also be safer to let several of the other 168 cases go to trial so that … you’re essentially seeing the same battle over and over again. If you see it enough, you can see what the DA’s going to do and you can make a plan around it. That’s safe, but it’s long term,” Giles said.
“Another example would be going in right now and waiving indictment and saying we want a trial next month. I don’t think that would ever be smart, but it would be an option. It would be over quick — 90 days, 180 days — but that’s not a whole lot of time to prepare. Even though I feel like they didn’t do anything, I still would want more time to prove to 12 very important people, at least in their lives, that they had nothing to do with it.”
‘What’s right’
Giles has a common saying in his line of work.
“I always tell people, there’s what’s right, there’s what’s legal and there’s what is and they don’t always match,” Giles said. “What is, is they basically got arrested for eating at a restaurant. What’s legal is they should have never been arrested because they weren’t doing anything wrong. And what’s right is this should have never happened.”
As a community volunteer who gives her time at nursing homes and has raised thousands for charity events with her women’s motorcycle club, Ester said she hopes Central Texans realize she and her husband are innocent.
“I learned a long time ago, never judge a book by its cover,” she said. “You never know who the person is just by looking at them. Yes, I was probably dirty because I was on the ground. I was hot and sweaty because I was in the sun all day. ... I didn’t look very pleasing. But you don’t know who I am.”
Walter said he hopes residents wait for the truth to come out before some make judgments.
“Wait until it’s over and see what the facts are before you judge,” he said.
Maybe the Feds think that the 1994 murder of the Branch Davidians can serve as a measurement of public reaction. The BATF and FBI got by with murder then and the majority of the public looked the other way. Perhaps the Feds decided to measure public reaction today by murdering another easily demonized group of people. This may be a test that will decide Fedzilla’s next move.
“We have a cabal of halfwits around here who refuse to look even a half inch deep into this thing.”
They particularly despised me because I dared to call them an unnice name that fit and sicced a Mod on me.
It’s exceedingly difficult to forgive or forget that.
I hope she can take come comfort contemplating the six figure settlement that she’s going to get.
You are not going to get one until it is worded to clear the police. when they come up with a version that clears the police, then you will get one.
that was one of his better ones.
Me and you both.
This is beginning to look like a massive police coverup where the police are the ones responsible for most if not all of the deaths. Now they have to coverup one crime with another.
If they release the people being held, it’s admitting they were wrong. So I guess there plan is to hold them without charges forever.
Oh, and please don’t bother the police with pesky questions about constitutional law. There isn’t any. They’re making it all up as they go along, just like their big boss.
If the story is fake, I’m sure that your Gestapo friends ought to be able to come up with the facts to refute these claims. I believe that this story is more than likely to be correct, but it certainly deserves to be carefully checked.
If he was not given the opportunity to make a phone call, until finally insisting (insisting usually doesn’t work with Jail Staff) how was he able to get on the internet (before his phone call) to find the lawyer?
Smart phone.
“She will learn that a good many consider her to be a subhuman. That she and her husband deserved what they got, and that they are guilty, guilty, guilty.”
I’d never seen worse here.
The Mike Schiavo supporters wanted to kill only one person.
“You are not going to get one until it is worded to clear the police. when they come up with a version that clears the police, then you will get one.”
Then many here will be at least as satisfied as they were with the initial news reports.
Walter said he hopes residents wait for the truth to come out before some make judgments.
“Wait until it’s over and see what the facts are before you judge,” he said.
I and many others are on Your side Mr. & Mrs. Walker. Please DO take this all the way to a Jury Trial, yes it will take time, yes the corrupt ones will try to intimidate Y'All. DON'T BACK DOWN!!! Y'All and many others have been wronged in a huge way!!!
These alleged leo's want Justice?
MAKE SURE THEY GET IT!!!They need to pay with careers and BIG MONEY!!!
They need to have their lives scarred forever on this Earth and then when the REAL Judgement Day comes- Well, let's just say I wouldn't want to be in their shoes.
Two points on this:
1. The Waco police are corrupt and have been since at least the early eighties.
2. What kind of idiot goes to a biker gang convention at a quasi-strip joint? I’m sure a lot of them are not really criminals, but the sheer moronic stupidity of it boggles the mind.
If some black idiot was hanging out with Bloods and Crips for the kicks of it, and then got arrested, no one here would have any sympathy.
So would you say that all of ‘em got what was coming to them?
Actually, it would be interesting to hear from the former Solicitor General for the State of Texas on this matter. Might help clear the air around here a little bit.
They would not have access to a Smart Phone while in Custody. There is a List on the wall by the TAPPED LAND LINE that One is allowed to use.
Demonized —
I hope I don’t have to take my motorcycle on a ferry anytime soon. Hate to have an accident.
I with you.
“Maybe the Feds think that the 1994 murder of the Branch Davidians can serve as a measurement of public reaction. The BATF and FBI got by with murder then and the majority of the public looked the other way. Perhaps the Feds decided to measure public reaction today by murdering another easily demonized group of people. This may be a test that will decide Fedzilla’s next move.”
That was my thought on Day 1. It smelled too much like Eric Holder all those years ago, but a crowd here dutifully cheered at the news.
If you carry a few guns in the saddle bags you might accidentally lose them too; therefore, be careful out there on the water. I may have to shave my beard and start wearing some spiffier clothes because I do not look very GQ. I wouldn’t want to be stereotyped as an outlaw!
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