Free Republic

The Massachusetts Secretary of State sent a gentle reminder to Hillary Clinton’s camp today — neither former President Bill Clinton, nor anyone else, can campaign at the polls today. “We received some complaints that he was campaigning, and the office reminded the campaign that state law prohibits campaigning within 150 feet of a polling place,” said Brian McNiff, spokesman for Secretary of the Commonwealth, William F. Galvin. The former president was on the road today in the Bay State, shaking hands at polls at several stops. However, no evidence was presented that he was actively campaigning at the polls, and...

Media Release #1022 CNN Releases Alleged Twin Peaks Video/Photos In reference to the CNN release of video and crime scene photographs that appear to be from the Twin Peaks Incident, neither Waco Police Department nor the McLennan County District Attorney Office released those to any media outlets. CNN has stated that “they” put the Waco Police Department graphic at the top of the video which indicated we released it. Again, we did not. They have now removed that graphic as the video is not attributed to us and CNN is in the process of updating their sites. There is a...

[Star-Telegram must be excerpted.] GRANBURY A 68-year-old driver involved in a weekend motorcycle wreck that left a woman in critical condition was arrested Monday night, Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said. William Crum faces two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which is a second-degree felony, for his involvement in the motorcycle wreck, Rob Christian, Hood County district attorney, told the Star-Telegram on Monday night. Crum’s bail was set Tuesday morning at $75,000 for each charge, Deeds said...

Plenty of folks responded by Facebook to a Sept. 30 Trib editorial that questioned the notion of the state’s helping local authorities pay for expenses arising from the deadly May 17 Twin Peaks shooting, particularly given the ongoing lack of transparency by those local authorities. A selection of the comments: Tonya Hilcher Gonzales: Waco should not get a dime from the state for the mess they created. Over four months later, they still won’t release the ballistics report. Four months later and we still don’t know how many of the nine were murdered by Waco police. I hope everyone remembers...

A visiting judge ruled Monday that Waco police had sufficient probable cause to jail a biker and his wife in the wake of the deadly May 17 shootout at Twin Peaks. Retired State District Judge James Morgan denied a motion from attorney Paul Looney, who represents Brenham residents William and Morgan J. English, to clear them of engaging in organized criminal activity charges after a brief examining trial Monday morning. In denying the motion, Morgan ruled that there was sufficient evideince to bind them over to a grand jury for indictment and that authorities had sufficient probable cause to arrest...

Police said a shootout between five rival biker gangs took place Sunday May 17th, 2015 in Waco, Texas, leaving at least nine people dead. This is footage of the police arriving on the scene. They has been nearby, as they were expecting trouble. The fight started at the Twin Peaks restaurant and moved into the parking lot, starting as a fist fight, then moving to guns. When the officers arrived, they engaged in the gun battle. Police spokesman Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said, "In my nearly 35 years of law enforcement experience, this is the most violent and gruesome scene...

Earlier this year, the Texas Legislature passed a law outlawing what is known as the “pick-a-pal system” for grand jury selection. Unlike the trial juries we are all familiar with, in which the jury is picked randomly with attorneys questioning possible jurors for bias or prejudice, many grand juries had been picked by judges by offering friends or associates in the justice system the license of nominating prospective jurors or even serving as grand jurors themselves. Research has shown that probation department employees, police officers, bail bondsmen and even court bailiffs decided who served on the grand jury. The problem?...

Motorcycle riders sent letters to officials connected to the Waco Twin Peaks arrests, putting them on notice to “CEASE AND DESIST ALL DEFAMATION OF MOTORCYCLE RIDERS’ CHARACTER AND REPUTATION.” ...

Two days after a state district judge extended the term of a McLennan County grand jury to consider the Twin Peaks shootout case, he changed his mind and withdrew the order. Judge Matt Johnson of Waco’s 54th State District Court declined Thursday to discuss why he reversed his decision, but his order says a new grand jury plan for McLennan County was approved on June 11, which requires selection of all McLennan County grand juries from a randomly drawn panel. While Johnson declined comment, McLennan County District Clerk Jon Gimble said the judge thought it best to use the new...

A Dallas attorney who represents Hewitt biker Matthew Clendennen filed an emergency appeal Wednesday seeking to lift a gag order a judge imposed in Clendennen’s case on Tuesday. Clint Broden, in his emergency petition for writ of mandamus filed with Waco’s 10th Court of Appeals, argues that because his client has not been indicted, 54th State District Judge Matt Johnson had no jurisdiction to impose a gag order, which bars Broden, prosecutors, witnesses and police officials from publicly discussing Clendennen’s case. The gag order violates Clendennen’s right to free speech and the judge’s findings to adopt the gag order are...

The May 17 war zone around Twin Peaks cost lives, liberties and livelihoods, but local companies monitoring GPS ankle bracelets and writing bail bonds have enjoyed a virtual biker bonanza in recent months. While McLennan County officials have been trying to sort out how to deal with the multiple ripple effects from the shootout and mass arrests of 177 bikers, Waco’s Recovery Healthcare Corp. and local bail bond companies have chalked up banner profits. As of Friday, of the 177 arrested, three posted $1 million bonds and 163 were released from jail after their attorneys and prosecutors negotiated reduced bonds...

The city of Waco is seeking to quash a subpoena issued to the former Waco Twin Peaks franchise holder for video of the May 17 shootout that left nine bikers dead and 20 wounded. Dallas attorney Clint Broden, who represents Matthew Alan Clendennen, a member of the Scimitars Motorcycle Club, obtained a subpoena after speaking with Patrick Keating, a Dallas attorney who represents the Twin Peaks franchisee. Broden said he sought the video to help him prepare for an Aug. 10 examining trial set in Clendennen’s case in McLennan County Justice of the Peace W.H. “Pete” Peterson’s court. The subpoena...

Twin Peaks Update #3 I’ve been asked for a timeline of the events leading up to the Twin Peaks Incident. In Mid-March, Waco PD personnel became aware of rising tensions between the Bandidos and Cossacks in the state and the Waco area. The two gangs, as classified by the Texas Department of Public Safety Gang Intel Unit, were increasing their violence against each other. It was reported that the increase was due to the Cossacks wearing a “Texas rocker patch” on their vests. As all of the violent events between these individuals has already been reported in detail and in...

If you thought violent biker gangs were a relic of the Altamont era, the shootout at a Waco, Texas, restaurant on May 17 might have come as a shock. A long-simmering beef between the Bandidos and Cossacks boiled over into gunfire. When police arrived at the scene, gang members shot at them too, leaving nine bikers dead, 18 people injured, and 170 suspects in police custody. Over 100 weapons have been confiscated. The scale of this incident dwarfs a typical urban gang confrontation, says Harold Pollack, co-director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab and an expert on gangs and...

The leader of the Dallas County Bandidos motorcycle gang opened fire on rival bikers at a shootout in Waco last month, police claim in newly-released court documents. David Martinez, 45, pulled out a 32-caliber pistol, started shooting, and then hid the weapon in the back of someone else's car, police said. A search of his motorcycle later found a Glock 40-caliber handgun with a box of bullets, police said. Martinez is charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and was released from jail on $1 million bond. Even though the court records claim Martinez led the Dallas County Bandidos, jail...

Patrol officers were seldom sent to investigate trouble at Twin Peaks restaurant prior to the May deadly biker shootout in Waco, Texas, records obtained by Yahoo News reveal. The scarce number of calls conflicts with how law enforcement portrayed the self-described “breastaurant” immediately after the brazen lunch-hour rampage. ...

The Waco Police Department decision last week to attempt weekly press conferences updating the press and public on the latest information in the May 17 shootout at Twin Peaks that left nine dead and 177 bikers in jail is smart if overdue. One reason this saga is becoming increasingly controversial is that, in recent weeks, local authorities have let the biker community and its advocates get out in front of them in both questions and conjecture. That’s been a mistake. Many in the biker community raise legitimate questions, including the slow pace of bond-reduction hearings (more the province of the...

SAN ANTONIO -- A former San Antonio Police detective arrested in connection to a fatal shootout in Waco last month broke his silence Wednesday, less than two weeks after being released from jail. Martin Lewis, 62, acknowledged he is a member of a Bandidos "support club" but adamantly denied he is a gang member. Lewis faces a felony charge of engaging in organized criminal activity, after being present at a May 17 shootout at a Waco Twin Peaks. Nine people were killed and more than 170 people were arrested. "I could have been freaking killed," Lewis said off camera. He...

Breitbart Texas must be excerpted... Breitbart Texas sent a Texas Public Information Act request to the City of Waco for certain enumerated information and videos related to the Twin Peaks biker arrests on May 17, 2105. The City of Waco responded to the request… sort of. ... On June 16, 2015, Breitbart Texas received an email response from the City of Waco. ... The 19 pages of incident reports included summaries and incident reports relating to only 13 of the arrestees. ...

...At 12:24 p.m. Sunday, according to the AP, the first shots are fired and the video reportedly shows bikers, patrons and staff fleeing, running inside the restaurant. Some run into the bathroom and others go to the kitchen. At least three people reportedly were seen on the video with handguns. The video doesn’t show the parking lot where much of the violence occurred, the AP reported. The restaurant has said the fight began outside. Two minutes after the shooting starts, the footage shows police entering the restaurant with assault rifles...