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.
Just an observation.
Reporter always suspect.
Older guy with odd speech pattern - possible.
False flag - possible.
what his lawyer told him to say - possible.
Among other things....
Maybe the kind that like good looking women and damned good food!
Quit the dumbbutt pretense! The article said he got the friggin number off the INTERNET, not some printed out list.
Which is it? the story is either correct or a load of anti-social anti-police leftist dribble. To most with a whit of common sense, the details give away a story.
Quit the dumbbutt pretense! The article said he got the friggin number off the INTERNET, not some printed out list.
Which is it? the story is either correct or a load of anti-social anti-police leftist dribble. To most with a whit of common sense, the details give away a story.
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You need some SERIOUS work on your IQ (which may be beyond raising) and/or your reading comprehension. I routinely print off restaurant menus that I get “OFF the internet” and ask my family members to make their selection. I think that all that boot-licking has overloaded your system with boot polish chemicals and it’s destroying many of your remaining brain cells. Try putting a condom on your tongue the next time you initiate boot-licking.
So you think the jailers are going to conduct an internet search for inmates and post lists on the Pokey wall.
Its great you have no clue on what actually goes on in jail, BUT that still does not address the false story quoting the biker jailbird saying he got the lawyer’s number on the INTERNET in the Waco jail.
So you think the jailers are going to conduct an internet search for inmates and post lists on the Pokey wall.
Its great you have no clue on what actually goes on in jail, BUT that still does not address the false story quoting the biker jailbird saying he got the lawyer’s number on the INTERNET in the Waco jail.
“...Its great you have no clue on what actually goes on in jail...”
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You can say that again.
“...Its great you have no clue on what actually goes on in jail...”
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You can say that again.
Last gasp of the last of the criminal thug bike gang apologists snapping Chihuahua Tag Team?
You and your “friends” can read it and weep.
What a COOL bunch folks to be pretending to be like with your ‘colors’ dressin up and weekend rides, and to excuse these lowest of the low.
Dude, you need to take your anti-hyperactivity meds again...you’ve posted this link three times in less than 5 minutes.
You also might want to check out the ingredients in the boot-polish that is used by those folks whose boots you are licking. One or more of the ingredients could be what triggers your hyperactivity. Of course, it could be the mere thought of yourself getting down to caress and lick those boots.
Nice friends you got there. Looks like Birds of a feather if there ever was one.
Decent conservative people don’t defend the likes of these hoodlums. Trolls that defend these scumbag biker criminals do not belong on FR.
What do you think the Waco authorities are afraid of? The next time you are licking their boots (and doing your anti-biker jihad, for the benefit of those authorities, to distract attention from the actions of the pre-positioned police forces) take a minute, look up and ask that question to those folks. They well may ignore your question and order you to return to your bootlicking-—but at least you can say you asked them that question.
Of course it's likely that YOU will NEVER question them and simply continue to drink the kool-aid they provide to you.
Hmmm. Are you lost? Where’s your daddy&mommy?
After beatin back all the other Chihuahua Tag Teamers, here comes a fresh one out from under some rock.
Sad that some previously sane FReepers found a fantasy escape by worshipping criminal bike gangers who wouldn’t piss on one of you as they stole your shiny new pretend ganger Harleys.
Come on down to Texas pretend Hell’s Angel, we don’t play long with hoodlums.
Ok.
I would be happy to debate this Waco issue with you or anyone else, but not when your opening pop was something out off the 3rd grade playground.
Have a valid point? Let’s hear it.
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