Judge's recusal hearing postponed in earliest Twin Peaks case

A hearing initially set for Thursday morning to determine if 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother should be recused from the first Twin Peaks biker case set for trial was canceled late Wednesday because neither the biker nor his attorney could attend the hearing.

Houston attorney Casie Gotro, who represents Bandidos Dallas chapter President Christopher Jacob Carrizal, notified the court Wednesday evening that she and Carrizal were given inadequate notice of the hearing and won't be able to attend.

No new date for the recusal hearing is set, but Senior Judge Dan Mills, appointed to hear the motion, has suggested 1:30 p.m. Friday.

Gotro could not be reached Wednesday evening and had not responded to the court's email about the alternate hearing date.

The hearing Thursday would have been held eight days after a visiting judge recused Strother from hearing the cases of three bikers arrested at Twin Peaks.

Gotro filed a handwritten motion to recuse Strother on Friday as Strother was preparing to impanel 180 potential jurors in Carrizal's case and ask them to fill out background questionnaires to aid in jury selection.

Jury selection in Carrizal's trial is set to start Tuesday. However, if Strother is recused again, it could put Carrizal's case on hold until regional administrative Judge Billy Stubblefield sorts through the litigation limbo.

Stubblefield appointed Mills, who presided over a court that covered Blanco, Burnet, Llano and San Saba counties, to hear Gotro's recusal motion.

The hearing was set because Strother declined to recuse himself, despite the fact that Gotro incorporated the same set of allegations attorneys for the three bikers used to get the judge recused.

"Judge Ralph Strother should be recused from this case," a supplemental motion filed later by Gotro states. "His comments and his actions have demonstrated he is either unwilling or unable to remain fair and impartial in this case.

"Further, Judge Strother's blatant bias for the state and equally blatant animus for the defendant and his counsel have reached fever pitch and are so extreme they have resulted in an outright denial of defendant's rights to counsel, effective assistance of that counsel, due process and due course of law."

Strother has presided over several heated hearings in which Gotro has accused prosecutors of lying and not providing her the evidence to which she is entitled, putting her in a precarious position of demanding a speedy trial for Carrizal but saying she can't be ready until the state provides the evidence.

McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna has said his office wants to try Carrizal first. He and assistant Michael Jarrett continually have assured the court they have provided all materials they have available to Gotro, adding that when some DNA and ballistics evidence that Gotro wanted retested returns, they will provide that as soon as possible.

Gotro charges in her recusal motion that Strother ignored her pleadings to present evidence regarding the existence of police audio and video recordings made at the May 2015 Twin Peaks shootout that left nine dead and dozens injured.

"When defense counsel was finally able to locate enough independent corroboration proving the evidence existed, the state finally produced the evidence — to include an additional hour of video footage from one police car and nine audio recordings of witness statements — all of which have been in the exclusive possession of the state for two and a half years and all of which are now known to be favorable to the defense," the motion states.

"Judge Strother has failed to make a single inquiry of the state regarding this material and favorable evidence," according to the motion. "Rather he continues to blindly accept the state's illogical and preposterous excuses."

Mills was appointed in 2005 to be the first judge of the newly created 424th District Court. Before that, he served as a federal prosecutor in Austin for the Western District of Texas, which also includes Waco, for 18 years. Prior to that, he worked eight years as an assistant attorney general.

In removing Strother from cases involving bikers Thomas Paul Landers, Rolando Reyes and George Bergman, Judge James Morgan of Bosque County wrote the average man on the street might say, "Judge, you're are just not being fair."

” It was a bunch of people like you shooting people.”

LOL!

The conflict[edit]

According to a 1997 report by The New York Times, the Bandidos presence in the Nordic countries at the time of the war consisted of around 130 members from at least seven chapters while the Hells Angels contingent was made up of around 290 members in total from 15 chapters, with 85 in Sweden, 110 in Denmark, 70 in Norway and 25 in Finland.[4]

The first incident was a shooting at the clubhouse of Morbids MC, on 26 January 1994 in Helsingborg, Sweden, but no one was injured or killed. In February 1994, there was a shoot-out between Hells Angels and Bandidos members in the same city, resulting in the death of Joakim Boman, a Hells Angels member. Just days later, an anti-tank rocket was fired at the Hells Angels clubhouse. On 22 June 1994, the president of Klan MC, an ally of the Bandidos in Finland, was shot dead by the Hells Angels and on 19 February 1995, the war reached Norway as a shoot-out in Oslo between the Hells Angels and Bandidos ended in one biker being wounded.

Michael “Joe” Ljunggren, the president of Bandidos MC Sweden, was assassinated on 17 July 1995 and the Bandidos retaliated by firing anti-tank rockets at the clubhouses of Hells Angels prospect clubs in Helsinki, Finland and Helsingborg, Sweden nine days later. Two Bandidos members were later sentenced, Kai Tapio Blom was given six years imprisonment and Antti Tauno Tapani was given four years. When Bandidos MC Finland’s president arrived at a Helsinki court house for the trial of Blom and Tapani, he was attacked and beaten by Hells Angels and Cannonball MC members. A Hells Angels-owned tattoo parlour in Helsinki was later destroyed in retaliation.

Anti-tank weapons were stolen from Swedish Army bases and used to destroy a number of clubhouses.
On Christmas Day 1995, two Hells Angels members were beaten up by Bandidos at a nightclub in Copenhagen, signalling the beginning of the war in Denmark. In January 1996, there was a series of bombings in Norway, Hells Angels prospect club, Screwdrivers MC’s clubhouse in Hamar and the Hells Angels’ clubhouse in Oslo were the targets. A Hells Angels-owned bar in Helsinki, Finland was also bombed a month later. On 1 March 1996, the Hells Angels attacked the Bandidos’ Helsinki clubhouse where two Bandidos members suffered gunshot wounds. Jarkko Kokko, the vice-president of Bandidos MC Finland and one of the men shot, died sixteen days later in hospital from his wounds. Two Hells Angels prospects were later arrested for the murder, Ilkka Ukkonen was sentenced to twelve and a half years in prison and Jussi Penttinen was given six years.

On 10 March 1996, there were twin attacks on Bandidos members at airports in Denmark and Norway; at Fornebu airport in Oslo, several Bandidos were wounded and at Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen, Bandidos who were returning from a weekend in Helsinki were shot, three wounded and one, Uffe Larsen, was killed.[5] Six Hells Angels members and associates were arrested and sentenced to a total of 53 years in prison, and one was given a life sentence.[6] In April and May 1996, there was another series of bombings as the Hells Angels clubhouses in Helsingborg, Sweden and southern Denmark were attacked and the clubhouse of a Hells Angels prospect club, Avengers MC, was also attacked in Aalborg, Denmark.

Jan “Face” Krogh Jensen, a Danish Bandidos member, was shot and killed in Drammen, Norway on 15 July 1996 and Hells Angels supporter was shot six days later in Oslo. Two Hells Angels were also shot and wounded that month in Malmö, Sweden and at Jyderup prison in Denmark. On 28 August, the vice-president of Hells Angels MC Sweden was shot and wounded in Helsingborg.

In October 1996, there were three attacks on Hells Angels clubhouses; in the third of these, an explosion in Malmö wounded twelve civilian bystanders and three days later, an anti-tank rocket was fired at a clubhouse in Copenhagen during a party. Hells Angels member Louis Linde Nielsen and guest Janne Krohn were both killed. Bandidos prospect Niels Poulsen was convicted of carrying out the attacks and sentenced to life in prison.[7] On the 30th, a car bomb exploded outside the Hells Angels clubhouse in Oslo. Toward the end of 1996, there were shootings of Bandidos members in Horsens and Aalborg in Denmark.

At the beginning of 1997, a member of Hells Angels, Kim Thrysöe Svendsen was murdered in Aalborg and the president of the Outlaws, Thore “Henki” Holm and a French member were shot and wounded by a member of Untouchables MC, a Hells Angels ally. Bandidos foot-soldiers were also shot in Amager and Køge in Denmark. The Bandidos responded by ordering shootings on Hells Angels members and allies in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen.

On 4 June 1997, a car bomb exploded outside a Bandidos clubhouse in Drammen, Norway, killing Irene Astrid Bækkevold, a civilian passing by in her car. A Hells Angels member was convicted of the bombing in 2002. Three days later, Björn Gudmandsen was killed and three other Bandidos were wounded after a shooting in Liseleje, Denmark. Hells Angels member Vagn Smith was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The last incident happened on 11 April when the Bandidos clubhouse in Dalby, Denmark was bombed.

The war ended on 25 September 1997 as “Big” Jim Tinndahn, the president of all of the Bandidos’ European chapters, shook hands with Hells Angels Europe president Bent “Blondie” Nielsen in front of Danish TV news cameras.[8]

Aftermath[edit]

By the end of the war, 11 murders and 74 attempted murders had been committed and 96 people were wounded. Both clubs signed a treaty saying that no more chapters would be opened up in Scandinavia, but both sides had already broken the treaty by the end of the 1990s.[citation needed] In Denmark, a law that banned motorcycle clubs from owning or renting property for their club activities was passed. The law has subsequently been repealed on constitutional grounds.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Nordic_Biker_War

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.