The Book of Waco

This is from the Houston Chronicle, what I would consider the first big mainstream source to cover this angle of the story.

The title of the OP is how one lawyer who is representing one of the couples who were rounded up on May 17th, 2015 in a massive operation that included local, state, and federal level law enforcement characterized the use of law in a scenario that has been spun from the beginning to paint those in authority in the most favorable light while also making sure that the image of those whom this was perpetrated upon were made to seem as if they were all members of tier 2 gangs as defined by the Texas Gang Threat Assessment. (direct .pdf link)

"I am spending all of my hours shopping bookstore to bookstore for the Book of Waco," Looney said, "because the criminal procedures being followed in Waco are not in any of the $400,000 worth of books I have in my law library."

Sound of silence in Twin Peaks biker case drawing ire

What's more, is he is not the only legal professional to call out the establishment:

"Any time a prosecutor's office or a politician does not want people talking about something, one should raise a red flag and insist we talk about it," said Patrick Metze, a Texas Tech University School of Law professor. "They may say it is to protect the investigation, but they are protecting themselves from whatever it is that they don't want us to see or know about."

This idea is something many here on ATS have put forth as well as The Aging Rebel blog, a biker focused site that has written numerous articles about the situation with an obvious biker-oriented slant; though much of the information they write about is well documented and verifiable.

As more (or actually less, as the case may be) information comes out, others outside the biker clique are beginning to question whether or not law enforcement were in the right in this circumstance.

You can believe that the big guns are rolling on this and the legal establishment in and around Waco, TX are circling the wagons:

Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who is a professor at Loyola Law School, in California, said that determining what happened at Twin Peaks is especially complicated because of the bulk of forensic, visual and other evidence as well as eyewitness accounts.

She also said that prosecutors will not try and convict everyone charged.

"Some of the people targeted as defendants will undoubtedly become witnesses," she said.

"The goal is to put enough pressure on people to cooperate and go after the key players," she continued. "They basically want everyone to feel the squeeze, so that they would rather cooperate than face trial."

...

"When you combine an extreme level of talent with an extreme level of moral crusade, you can get dangerous outcome, and that is what happened here," English's Houston lawyer, Paul Looney, said of the assistant district attorney spearheading the prosecutions.

Coercive tactics to try and get some to roll on others. The problem is, in this particular instance, there isn't an organized front to roll on. What there is is a collection of people who are enthusiastic about motorcycles that got caught in a web woven by several agencies that really shouldn't be experiencing this nightmare:

At a recent round of hearings here, a judge declined to throw out charges against a Brenham bank teller, Morgan English. She has no criminal record, and authorities conceded at the hearing that they didn't know of any witnesses who saw her take part in the melee.

This is the wife of the couple who were arrested and charged because they were "somewhat involved in criminal activity," and is now having to deal with the fallout from this event.

Instead of enjoying their lives, the people caught up in this debacle are having to deal with an aggressive and political DA who has one goal on his mind:

Charles Rose, a professor at Stetson Law School, in Florida, said the Twin Peaks case is illuminating the warts of a system that has to strike a balance when deciding who to charge.

Prosecutors appear to be stretching for the maximum of what they can do under the law, he said, to make things as painful as possible for the bikers.

"If you are a district attorney who is elected, and you have this shoot-out in your jurisdiction,"he said, "you cannot be perceived by the electorate as not dealing with the problem as strongly and appropriately as possible."

The aforementioned Aging Rebel blog goes even further with it's assertions:

Based on information supplied by various sources who believe their lives, careers and pensions are in actual danger and who have spoken with The Aging Rebel under conditions of either “off the record” or “deep background,” this page will continue to report that the Twin Peaks Massacre was the result of a contrived and avoidable confrontation between members of the Cossacks Motorcycle Club and the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. The Aging Rebel believes that the confrontation was engineered by and anticipated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Texas Department of Public Safety and a Waco area law enforcement agency that was not the Waco Police Department. The Aging Rebel also believes that these police agencies, and possibly the Waco Police Department, began physically preparing for an armed confrontation to include the use of deadly force in the Twin Peaks restaurant parking lot at or before dawn on May 17. And finally, this page believes the Massacre was captured in its entirety by at least 44 video cameras.

The Twin Peaks Massacre Coverup

Are there criminal elements within the culture of those who ride?

Undoubtedly.

Just because you ride a motorcycle and associate with others who do, does that make you a criminal or otherwise worthy of contempt and derision?

Not in the slightest.

Related threads:

Corruption, Collusion & Cover-ups in the Waco Biker Shooting

Autopsies released in Twin Peaks biker deaths

JP Peterson removed from Hewitt biker’s case

Waco Is Suppressing Evidence That Could Clear Innocent Bikers

Waco police detective named foreman of grand jury that may hear Twin Peaks cases

At Least 9 Dead and Many Injured in Biker Gang Shooting in Waco, TX

What says ATS?

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Are there criminal elements within the culture of those who ride?

Sometimes, yes.

In this situation, from the photos I've seen, they were a notorious "1%" club, known as the Bandidos. Along with rival colors there as well. Thus setting the stage for a battle.

However, not all of the "1%er's" are involved in criminal acts. A lot of them are good people, but I can say first hand that there are bad ones. Very bad.

Good thread though! S&F

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

That's why I get concerned ANY TIME, some one calls for banning anything! Information should be just as free as opinions. We all have opinions right? Imagine going to jail just because your opinion didn't fall into line of the political flavor of the day! Those who want to Ban information, prevent the possibility of truth and corruption.

Nice post OP!

a reply to: slapjacks

I absolutely agree that there are indeed some of the 1%ers, and even plenty of people who ride and aren't associated with and club, who are every bit as violent and dangerous as implied by LEOs, I even indicated that with the, "Undoubtedly" answer to my own question.

I have a problem with them trying to justify their royal pooch screw by painting with as wide a brush as is being used on everyone present.

I have a major problem if a multi-agency operation lead to the wounding and death of American citizens who were innocent of involvement in any activity which would require lethal force.

And it sure as hell looks like that is exactly what has happened.



a reply to: seeker1963

100% Agree, the fkow of information about this tragedy has been a trickle thanks to the obstructions placed by a legal system which seems to be following its own (secret) playbook and thumbing its nose at due process.

Others across the country are beginning to call in to question the story which has been spun by the legal establishment in Waco regarding the events of May 17:

"I don't know of any defense lawyer who hasn't looked at the facts of this case and gasped," said Grant Scheiner, a criminal defense attorney in Houston not connected to the bikers' case.

But not to worry, right? Proper due process is always followed, right?

Some 177 people were arrested and remained in custody until their bonds were reduced. Defense attorneys have been critical of how the cases have been processed, accusing District Attorney Abel Reyna of writing "fill-in-the-blank" arrest affidavits. A police officer testified a justice of the peace approved the affidavits without making any individual determination of probable cause.

And of course, only those who are absolutely a potential danger to society would be targeted in such an operations, correct?

Although police and the district attorney described last spring everyone who was taken into custody as criminals, an Associated Press review of a Texas Department of Public Safety database found no convictions listed under the names and birthdates of more than two-thirds of those arrested.

And just why is this happening in the first place?

Remember, close knit groups tend to look out for themselves to the exclusion of all others:

It's a city where a district judge and district attorney are former law partners, the mayor is the son of a former mayor, the sheriff comes from a long line of lawmen and Waco pioneers and the sheriff's brother is the district attorney's chief investigator.

And not only do they share duties concurrently, they have shared #roy as well:

Justifying the mass arrests, Sheriff Parnell McNamara said, "A message was sent to the whole country that we will not tolerate this type of disorder in our community."

McNamara describes the county's criminal justice system as a close-knit Christian "posse" of Baylor University graduates committed to "putting away as many hard-core criminals as possible."

That kind of mentality led the county's former district attorney, John Segrest, to compare the McLennan County criminal justice system to a "bubble, a separate realm. When you're a member of the system, you tend to think that most everything revolves around anything that you do. You get an unrealistic view of the world from inside."

...

Sheriff McNamara, the descendent of one of Waco's early settlers, was formerly a U.S. marshal who participated in the Branch Davidian siege in which federal agents tried to arrest cult leader David Koresh for stockpiling weapons at a ranch outside town. The confrontation led to a 51-day standoff that ended when the complex caught fire, killing Koresh and nearly 80 followers.

The international attention brought by the tragedy left Waco residents wary of outside law enforcement, and they say they'll handle the biker shootout themselves.

Seems to me that there is a great deal of history in Waco within it's law enforcement establishment that likes to do things their own way regardless of actual legal precedent.

Waco officials under fire for biker shootout case

And here I thought we lived in a land where government performed it's duties by the consent of those whom are governed and follow the constitution.

Guess I thought wrong.