Grand jury indicts 106 in biker melee
Defendants are charged with engaging in criminal activity, could get life terms
A McLennan County grand jury indicted 106 bikers over the bloody melee at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco in May that left nine people dead, at least 18 wounded and 177 arrested for alleged ties to a gang fight.
The indictments, handed up Tuesday, charged each defendant with engaging in organized criminal activity, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
But the indictments — which mirror the charges all bikers were arrested for in May — did not specifically charge anyone with murdering, assaulting or inflicting any other harm on anyone else.
Authorities still have not disclosed which of the dead or wounded were shot by bikers, and which were shot by Waco police, who along with their chief were lying low in the vicinity of the restaurant when the bikers arrived that Sunday afternoon.
After the shooting, investigators found 151 guns and hundreds of other weapons, such as hatchets, machetes, pipes and hammers on the bikers as well as scattered around the scene, from vehicles in the parking lot to inside the toilet of the Twin Peaks bathroom.
In a nine-hour session, grand jurors indicted all 106 cases they were asked to consider, The Associated Press quoted District Attorney Abel Reyna as saying at a news conference.
He said the grand jury will return to consider charges against the other 71 bikers who also were arrested that day on identical charges.
“We are not done,” Reyna said. “We still have a lot of work to do. We will continue to do that. My office is dedicated, as is the team, to seeing that justice is done in all those cases.”
The indictments come as authorities are up against a six-month deadline, after which defense lawyers can file motions to have charges dropped and bail conditions revoked for those persons who have been charged but not indicted.
Among those indicted are leaders and ranking members of the Houstonborn Bandidos Motorcycle Club as well as their rivals, the Cossacks Motorcycle Club, along with supporters of each group.
Law enforcement contends the Bandidos and Cossacks had been locked in an ongoing feud that resulted in multiple beatings around the state.
The attacks involved fists and tough words, but no one was ever shot or killed, according to authorities.
The Bandidos, which are one of the largest and most storied motorcycle clubs in the country, consider Texas to be their home turf.
The Cossacks, which have also been around for years, but have traditionally been far smaller and kept a lower profile, had recently started wearing “Texas” patches on their motorcycle riding vests, without the approval of the Bandidos.
In the world of motorcycle clubs, such a move amounts to the Cossacks declaring Texas to be their turf, and is an open and bold defiance of the Bandidos.
The groups clashed at the Twin Peaks shortly before what was to be a gathering of regional motorcycle clubs to which the Cossacks were not invited.
Houston lawyer Paul Looney, who represents a Cossack who was indicted said the bikers were no closer to being convicted than the day they were arrested.
“I think they probably presented the cases they wanted indicted and the rest will just dangle there until they see if they find some information they don’t know about, and they come back and get them,” he said.
His client, Cody Ledbetter, has said he saw his father, Danny “Diesel” Boyett get shot in the back of the head by a man wearing a turned-around baseball cap that read, “Support Your Local Bandidos.”
Ledbetter told the Chronicle that his father told him the morning of the shootings that they were headed for a meeting with the Bandidos.
Looney said that by going after so many defendants in such a complex case, prosecutors and the courts have more than they can handle.
“It is just completely unsustainable for prosecution,” he said of the prospect of 106 defendants, and maybe more, going to trial. “It is not something they are going to be able to pull off.”
At the same time, Looney said he suspects prosecutors are going to bank on some of the bikers opting for plea agreements and cooperating in order to avoid hefty prison time.
“There is just not much they are going to be able to say about any (co-defendants),” he said. “The video I saw on CNN indicated to me that there are precious few, if anybody there, that did anything illegal; they just tried to get out of the way of one idiot firing a gun.”
Among the bikers who have described scrambling from gunfire was Cossack’s member Jorge “Bubba” Salinas, a former Marine who served two tours in Afghanistan before being discharged in 2013.
Salinas, who was indicted, maintains he broke no laws that day.
“Unless going to eat and having a beer with my buddies is against the law, I haven’t done anything wrong,” Salinas said after his arrest. “We aren’t criminals just because we ride bikes together, hang out together and wear colors.”
The indictments were no surprise to Houston attorney Mark Thiessen.
His client, Marcus Pilkington, was the last to be released from jail after all were arrested and initially ordered held on $1 million bail a piece.
“They had to indict a lot of people just to save face. It would have been a huge black eye for (the district attorney and the Waco police) if no one had gotten indicted in this case,” Thiessen said.
The indictment means defense lawyers will be able to examine the evidence against his client, he said.
“We’re finally going to get to the bottom of this. We’re going to figure out the truth of what happened out there,” he said.
“We’re finally going to get to the bottom of this. We’re going to figure out the truth of what happened out there.”
Mark Thiessen, Houston attorney