Posted on 09/06/2017 6:14:55 PM PDT by Elderberry
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."
“So Gator, what’s your solution?”
Pick a topic.
“Pick a topic.”
That’s what I would have expected from you. You have an alligator mouth and a hummingbird a$$!
But here you go anyway!
Topics:
1. “Why All Texas “Bikers” Deserve Killing!”
2. “How McLennan County, Texas is Shredding The Constitution!”
3. “Well-Known Crooked Texas Judge, A Discussion of Judge Strother”
4. “Best-Known Crooked Texas DAs, Abel Reyna, Ronnie Earle & The Drunk Woman from Austin”
5. “Why No One With Any Money Should Live in Waco, Texas, The Coming Financial Crash of Waco when the Twin Peaks Defendants Win their Lawsuits”
Take your pick Bubba!
“1. “Why All Texas “Bikers” Deserve Killing!””
You really think that all Texas Bikers deserve killing? Get a life, dude.
2. “How McLennan County, Texas is Shredding The Constitution!”
You asked for solutions. Tell me where they are shredding the constitution.
“3. “Well-Known Crooked Texas Judge, A Discussion of Judge Strother””
Please cite his crimes.
“4. “Best-Known Crooked Texas DAs, Abel Reyna, Ronnie Earle & The Drunk Woman from Austin””
Never heard of the drunk woman from Austin.
“5. “Why No One With Any Money Should Live in Waco, Texas, The Coming Financial Crash of Waco when the Twin Peaks Defendants Win their Lawsuits””
ROTFLMAO!
Michael and Sandra Strickland.
Yes. I can see that you are splitting hairs to avoid admitting the truth.
Interesting that my facts are to you ‘splitting hairs’.
Please address the facts!
I Googled and got ‘Real men wear pink’!
What are you drinking?
Just go ogling your names. Of course you could give me some facts to go on ...
Escalating tensions had also drawn the attention of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Two months before the Waco shootings, a warning went out from the Texas Joint Crime Information Center, an intelligence entity run by DPS. The bulletin outlined an incident that occurred in the town of Lorena, just 15 minutes south of Waco. There, a gang of up to 10 Cossacks armed with a chain, a baton and a metal pipe had beaten a Bandidos member and stolen his bike.
The bulletin also noted that on the same day, 150 miles north in Palo Pinto County, a group wearing the Bandidos’ colors (red and gold) hit a Cossacks member in the head with a hammer for refusing to remove a Texas patch from his vest. The right to wear the patch was reserved for Bandidos and their affiliates. The bulletin ended on a note of caution, saying the Cossacks were attempting to get national recognition as a club, and that tensions could “escalate at any time” between them and the Bandidos.
Stupid post.
Probably all true! So the open question becomes if the local cops had an idea that. violence was a distinct possibility, why didn’t they prepare to protect innocent bystanders from the potential carnage? Surely just having shooters with AR’s wasn’t a preventative posture. It appears designed to kill.
They did. Cossacks surveyed the area before Bandidos showed up and commented that there was no way bandidos would try anything with the number of cops there.
But I am sure you knew this, right?
“Michael and Sandra Strickland”
Did you make these names up?
“why didn’t they prepare to protect innocent bystanders from the potential carnage? “
As I understand , no innocent bystanders were hurt.
Having another 'emotional reaction' ?
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