Free Republic

A Texas judge on Monday accepted a controversial plea deal sparing a former Baylor University fraternity president accused of rape any jail time, prompting outrage from the victim and her parents. Judge Ralph Strother signed off on the plea agreement for 24-year-old Jacob Walter Anderson, who was indicted on sexual assault charges and pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of unlawful restraint. A no contest plea means a defendant does not admit guilt, but will offer no defense.

There will be no trials in 2018 involving Twin Peaks biker defendants after a state district judge granted a defense motion to postpone what would have been the second Twin Peaks trial. Timothy Shayne Satterwhite, of Gordon, a member of the Cossacks biker group, was set to stand trial Nov. 5 in Waco’s 54th State District Court. However, Satterwhite’s attorney, Bob Gill, of Fort Worth, filed a motion this week seeking to postpone the trial because he is involved in other trials in late October and early November. Judge Matt Johnson approved his motion and reset Satterwhite’s trial for Jan....

W.H. "Pete" Peterson had just left church on May 17, 2015, and was on his way to his granddaughter's high school baccalaureate ceremony when he got the call of mass casualties during a biker brawl that shattered the otherwise calm of the Sunday afternoon. Like many others that day, Peterson, a Vietnam veteran and a 38-year law enforcement officer, was not prepared for what he saw at the Twin Peaks crime scene after rival biker groups and police officers were involved in the deadly shootout that left nine dead and 20 injured. As McLennan County Justice of the Peace for...

The total cost of the May 2015 Twin Peaks shootout has run into the solid seven figures and the state, at least so far, has little to show for its effort, all the while realizing the final cost is not yet calculated for the defendants and in some cases may never be. McLennan County reports $1,317,835.96 in total identifiable costs related to Twin Peaks. Francis Bartlett, CPA, first assistant county auditor in McLennan County, said the county has received $914,058.07 in the form of grant reimbursements from various sources, leaving a net cost to date of $403,777.89. That figure does...

Law license of former Twin Peaks attorney temporarily suspended Attorney Casie L. Gotro, of Houston, who was honored in June by the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association for her representation of a biker charged in the deadly May 2015 Twin Peaks shootout hasn’t been eligible to practice law in the state since Sept, 1, the State Bar of Texas confirmed Tuesday. Gotro’s dues, which were due on June 1, have not been paid, a State Bar spokesperson said Tuesday. She was given a three-month grace period in which to pay and was sent several notices, but the State Bar did...

Lame duck District Attorney Abel Reyna continues his personal war against members of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club who attended the Confederation of Club’s and Independents meeting at the Twin Peaks restaurant on May 17, 2015. Approximately 70 members of the Cossacks Motorcycle Club and two Cossacks support clubs attended the meeting with the intention of intimidating members of the Bandidos, members of clubs that were friendly with the Bandidos and motorcycle enthusiasts who were not affiliated with any club. Multiple Cossacks in attendance at the event and Cossacks who were not at the event explained to police and the press...

Waco – A criminal district court judge is accused of picking and choosing what part of the law is convenient over that which is not in a murder case stemming from a biker shootout that occurred in this city more than three years ago. Lawyers for a Twin Peaks defendant alleged in court papers that 54thCriminal District Judge Matt Johnson failed to perform his ministerial duty to ensure due process when he refused to quash a superseding indictment for rioting returned by a Grand Jury under the same cause number as the original charge of engaging in organized criminal activity....

A judge, who said Friday he has been "troubled by the whole Twin Peaks matter from its inception," put off the trials of bikers in his court until after the first of the year because he wants the new McLennan County district attorney to review how the remaining Twin Peaks cases will be handled. Judge Ralph Strother, the morning after conducing a daylong pretrial hearing in Twin Peaks defendant Tom Modesto Mendez's first-degree felony riot case, decided on his own to postpone Mendez's trial, which was set to start Sept. 10. Strother denied a motion Thursday by Mendez's attorney to...

In a phone hearing this morning, before 7 a.m. Pacific Time, 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother in McLennan County Texas indefinitely continued the trial of Bandidos Motorcycle Club San Antonio chapter president Tom Modesto Mendez. Mendez had been scheduled to stand trial September 10. He is accused of first degree felony riot for allegedly participating in the so-called “Biker Brawl” at the now defunct Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco on May 17, 2015. The brawl erupted after a pack of about 20 Bandidos and their supporters were ambushed by about 70 members of the Cossacks Motorcycle Club and their...

Lauren Daugherty opposes Pete Peterson for Justice of the Peace, Pct. 1, Place 2 in his first-ever contested election WACO – Ask the Libertarian candidate’s campaign manager, Stephen Carter. He’s going to say: “He’s not raising any money; he’s not campaigning; Twin Peaks is not popular, he isn’t, either…They got rid of the DA and they want to get rid of him.” Who he? Judge Pete “Smiley” Peterson, the guy who set bond on 177 politically active bikers at $1 million each on a cookie cutter affidavit signed by Manuel Chavez, a Waco Police detective who wasn’t there on May...

False accusers, administrators, prosecutors – no one learned from her lesson It appears to be the end of the road for Crystal Mangum. The accuser at the center of the Duke University lacrosse gang-rape hoax was denied another trial after her conviction for lethally stabbing her boyfriend five years ago. We last covered Mangum three years ago when she asked for a new trial, saying the jury was improperly informed of her attack on another man in 2010. Mangum claimed the butter-knife stabbing was an act of self-defense against a violent boyfriend, but the jury didn’t believe her and she...

A McLennan County judge on Friday denied a motion from Twin Peaks defendant Marcus Pilkington to quash the May rioting indictment against him on procedural grounds. Judge Matt Johnson of Waco's 54th State District Court, who conducted a hearing July 27, issued his ruling in a brief order Friday, saying only that the motion is denied. Pilkington, 40, a Bandido from Mexia, was among 155 bikers initially indicted on engaging in organized criminal activity charges in the May 2015 shootout that left nine bikers dead and 20 injured. Prosecutors sought re-indictments May 9 against 24 bikers on new charges, including...

A biker who was indicted on murder charges over the 2015 Twin Peaks shootout asked for a new lawyer on Monday. Tom Mendez, a defendant, told court officials that he would like to change his lawyer in the Twin Peaks trial. The judge and the prosecuting lawyers were not happy about these developments, however, after they presented more evidence against Mendez he said it had to be done. The judge has authorized that another attorney is added to the defense, but will not withdraw the sitting attorney from the trial. Jaime Pena is the attorney Mendez requested after prosecutors develop...

Exculpatory evidence only recently obtained – after 39 long months – indicates that the state will use DNA markers from a sweatshirt and a swab of Mr. Mendez’ mouth to place him on the scene of a murder during the “melee” that was triggered when Aryan Circle members of the Cossacks MC confronted the Bandits with guns drawn over their intentions to park their scooters at the Confederation of Clubs meeting--- ---Metzger’s motion alleges Mendez was not wearing the sweatshirt. Secondly, the DNA swab obtained during a court appearance was not legally provided, according to the arguments of a lineup...

BOOK OF WACO – BY CHAPTER, VERSE, NUMBERS AND ACTSBelleville – Leaden rain clouds faked a threat to douse sun-drenched blades of coastal salt grass as a lazy Saturday world rolled by the front porch of Newman’s Bakery. Harleys in heat, customized pickups, volunteer fire trucks sporting Glass Packs, and flatulent diesels roared their way up the hill to make the obligatory two-lane blacktop circuit of the Courthouse Square while trial lawyer Paul Looney held his weekly free legal clinic. Situated on a trident fork on the way to everywhere at the corner of State Highways 36, 159 and FM...

The Waco, Texas justice cabal is a little farther from a conviction in the Waco Twin Peaks Mass Murder today than it was yesterday. The only defendant to be tried in the case so far is Christopher Jacob Carrizal. Carrizal is the president of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club’s Dallas chapter. After very many delays Carrizal had to endure a six-week trial last fall. Mostly what the prosecutors in that case were able to prove was that Carrizal is a Bandido, he likes being a Bandido and in 2015 he did not self-censor every text message he sent or forwarded to...

An attorney for the next Twin Peaks shootout defendant scheduled for trial asked a judge Friday to postpone his trial date, set now for Aug. 27. Judge Ralph Strother of Waco's 19th State District Court, who was perturbed by the 11th-hour request, took the matter under advisement and set another hearing for biker Tom Modesto Mendez for Aug. 13. Mendez, the Bandidos San Antonio chapter president, is represented by Mark Metzger, of Galveston. Mendez is charged with riot, a first-degree felony, in the May 2015 biker brawl at Twin Peaks that left nine dead and 20 injured. Metzger and prosecutors...

Roll up your sleeves because the truth is getting deep. The Dead Duck District Attorney Able Reyna is clinging on to power as we gladly watch the walls of lies and corruption come tumbling down. Able Reyna had in mind for his future sight on Texas Attorney General or Texas Governor back in 2015, until he lost the primary election in Spring of 2018. He wanted the notoriety that he would be the first elected public official to take down” Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs” by the droves. Instead what we see here is the first Elected Official that will go down...

Waco – 54th Criminal District Judge Matt Johnson sounded curious when he had heard the arguments from the State and Defense counsel regarding re-indicting felony offenses under the same cause number. “When I was an Assistant District Attorney,” the Judge said, “any time you got a new indictment, you got a new cause number.” That’s the letter of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, and it’s there to prevent any possibility of a defendant having to answer a charge in double jeopardy – a violation of civil rights. Prosecutors explained the policy in use in the McLennan District Attorney’s Office...

Quite simply, said Mr. Callahan, the indictments for rioting returned by a Grand Jury as a superseding count to the original complaint of two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity that took a back seat to what the lawyers laughingly called the “lesser-included” offenses of murder and aggravated assault, are as useless as Sam Goldwyn’s famous verbal agreement. All 155 original indictments have been dismissed except the remaining 25, who have been charged with riot, murder and riot, tampering with physical evidence, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. “The problem with the re-indictments is that the...