Posted on 08/08/2016 7:22:39 AM PDT by Elderberry
WACO, Texas (AP) — A federal judge has questioned whether the Texas district attorney prosecuting bikers arrested in a deadly melee outside a Waco restaurant has a conflict of interest because he's also being sued for his handling of the shootout that left nine people dead.
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks also said it "makes one wonder" why 154 bikers were indicted following the May 2015 shootout outside the now-closed Twin Peaks restaurant, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported Sunday (http://bit.ly/2b5iQ4D ). Sparks did not ask attorneys to respond to that comment during a June hearing in Austin, according to a transcript obtained by the newspaper.
"It's just so far from all of the experiences I've had. It's just staggering to think of the problems," said Sparks, referring to the number of people indicted.
Sparks is overseeing a civil lawsuit that several indicted bikers filed against McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna, the Waco police chief and others law enforcement officials. The bikers claim they were unlawfully arrested and jailed under $1 million bonds with no justification or evidence of wrongdoing.
Sparks is not presiding over the criminal case. On Monday, a hearing in state district court in Waco begins over whether Reyna should be disqualified from prosecuting the cases. Reyna is opposing those efforts while simultaneously trying to stop the civil lawsuits against him in federal court.
"These people have a substantial interest. They're being sued in their personal as well as official capacities," said Sparks, referring to Reyna and others named in the lawsuit.
Dallas attorney Don Tittle, who represents 15 bikers suing Reyna, said that although district attorneys usually can't be sued that immunity is lost, he said, when a prosecutor "steps into the role of the police." Records filed in the case show Waco police officials had already interviewed, identified and photographed a busload of bikers detained that afternoon and decided to send them home when Reyna and two of his top assistants arrived at the Waco Convention Center, where bikers were being held.
Attorneys for the bikers have claimed from that point on, almost every biker was jailed under $1 million bonds after Reyna gave orders to arrest anyone with ties to rival biker groups the Bandidos or Cossacks.
"If you are asking me personally, unless the county has already told Reyna that they will pay for any jury verdicts against him, then he clearly and without a doubt has a direct financial interest in virtually every case he is prosecuting," Tittle said.
Neither Reyna nor his attorney returned calls to the newspaper for comment.
Sparks called the situation a "logjam" and has not ruled on whether the civil lawsuit will proceed.
“but I also think that everyone who runs afoul of the law deserves to be treated equally. “
10 mph over the speed limit is running ‘afoul’ of the law.
Gang warfare in a public plaza on a Sunday deserves harsher punishment ...
“Just a crazy coincidence that 90% of bikers are conservative voters.”
How many gangsters are conservative voters?
“Reminds of that old comic where the cowboy is holding a very angry rattlesnake, and his friend says, Okay. So you snuck up on it and grabbed it. How you gonna let go of it, now?”
You chop off the head!
“Gang warfare in a public plaza on a Sunday deserves harsher punishment ...”
Agreed! But thanks to the corrupt “judical system” in Waco, we still don’t really know what happened that day. Furthermore, mass arrests without any basis, are antithetical to this country and it’s Constitution. The idea that a government entity can deprive 117 individuals of their liberty without specific charges is gestapo-like.
But even in Waco, the truth will eventually come out. And that’s why Reyna has been dragging his feet, because when the truth does finally come out, he’s headed for disbarrment at the minimum, and being charged with abuse under color of authority more likely. Solving crimes with criminal activity on the part of prosecutors may be o.k. in Texas, but it sure as hell isn’t Constitutional. Reyna is like a cat trying tocover a 15 inch turd! I hope in the end, that the “good citizens of Waco” will face a multi-million dollar payout that really hurts. Then maybe they will choose their public officials more carefully!
“Agreed! But thanks to the corrupt “judical system” in Waco, we still don’t really know what happened that day. “
“We don’t claim any territory, but the reason that the Bandidos have such an issue with us is that we wear the Texas rocker on our back, but we don’t pay them $100 a month per chapter to do it,” the Cossack said. “When you’ve got 100 chapters. That’s a lot of money.”
I have no issue with the prosecution of the bikers. They aren’t good people. That said, Waco still has to follow the law when it comes to their prosecution! There can’t be any shortcuts to justice! Somehow, you and some others here seem to think that because “everybody knows” biker’s are scum, that they should have their due process rights abused. Many of those bikers who were at Twin Peaks, didn’t harm anyone and even though you may not like them, they don’t deserve anything less than any of us would get if we were in a similar circumstance.
“Somehow, you and some others here seem to think that because “everybody knows” biker’s are scum, that they should have their due process rights abused. “
Not really. I have been a biker since 1961. There are bikers and then there are the gangsters. The gangsters are scum.
I believe that all the scum arrested in Waco have had their due rights processed according to the law and the constitution. NO ONE here has ever cited any specific legal abuses of their rights.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.