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Friday 18 May 2018

Cases against bikers struggle 3 years after Waco shootout

By EMILY SCHMALL ing prosecuted. "Instead, back of Bucher's vehicle trial. ning from the firefight or
WACO, Texas (AP) — Tex- Reyna appears intent on by officers. The ATF wasn't Reyna and his first assistant, trying to save bikers with
as prosecutors who have being the last player at the able to positively identify Michael Jarrett, delayed gunshot wounds, have filed
failed to convict a single blackjack table at 3 in the any fingerprints on Walker's subsequent trials, arguing civil suits against the au-
person in the three years morning who keeps dou- pistol. that it would be unethi- thorities.
since a Waco shooting left bling down until he is out of Multiple fingerprints found cal to proceed without re- Bikers' defense attorneys
nine bikers dead are trying chips." on the same gun would viewing evidence from a and outside legal experts
a new tack of targeting Reyna declined an inter- make an analysis of who federal racketeering case have criticized Reyna's de-
fewer cases, but attorneys view request from The As- fired that gun more diffi- against the former presi- cision to immediately arrest
for the bikers say the evi- sociated Press. cult, said ATF spokeswom- dent and vice president of and later indict so many
dence is so shaky and the Then there are issues an Nicole Strong. the Bandidos in San Anto- people on a single charge.
lead prosecutor's credibil- with the evidence that Prosecutors have charged nio. Among the critics is Brian
ity so damaged that it will emerged at the only biker Allen and Battey in the In what could be a positive Roberts, who was brought
be difficult to make the re- trial since the shooting, de- death of Matthew Mark development for the Waco in as a special prosecutor
maining charges stick. fense attorneys said. Smith, another Cossack. prosecutors, jurors in San in four cases in which Rey-
The May 17, 2015, shoot- One of the alleged murder Allen's attorney, Brian Antonio on Thursday con- na recused himself. Roberts
ing also left 20 wounded weapons was recovered Walker, said Allen fired his victed both men on all 13 dismissed the first case for
and nearly 200 arrested by a U.S. Bureau of Alco- weapon in self-defense af- counts, including murder. lack of evidence.
at the Twin Peaks restau- hol, Tobacco, Firearms and ter Battey was shot in the A spokesperson in Reyna's "That day (of the shooting)
rant. Investigators say it Explosives agent from the shoulder. An autopsy re- office said before the con- should have been the be-
was sparked by rivalries backseat of a Waco SWAT port shows that Smith was victions that Waco pros- ginning of the investigation,
between the Bandidos police car, cross-contami- shot twice, but a firearms ecutors had not reviewed not the end of it," he said.
and Cossacks motorcycle nation that makes it harder analysis couldn't determine evidence from that trial. About 40 people in leather
clubs ahead of a meeting. to prove who killed whom. the source of the bullets or Defense attorneys said that vests bearing the names
Waco police monitoring Prosecutors have charged which gun fired the kill shot. proceeding with the new of independent mom-
the gathering said officers Walker in the death of Under Texas law, a person charges suggests that pros- and-pop motorcycle clubs
opened fire after fights and Richard Kirschner, a Cos- can be found guilty of mur- ecutors' cases are not likely gathered at the McClen-
gunfire broke out. Ballistics sack. But police records der even when not directly to be bolstered by the fed- nan County courthouse
evidence shows that po- previously reviewed by the responsible for the death eral evidence. steps Thursday on the anni-
lice bullets struck four of the AP show a Waco SWAT of- during the commission of "These guys sitting in Waco versary of the shooting.
nine dead, at least two of ficer, Michael Bucher, shot another felony crime. desperately needed to be "After three years he's (pros-
them fatally. Kirschner twice with his ri- The one trial so far, of Jake superstars and it destroyed ecutor) not through with us
Prosecutors initially indicted fle. An autopsy report says Carrizal, the president of them," said Paul Looney, a yet. He has brought out the
154 bikers, using a conspir- there were three gunshot the Dallas chapter of the Houston attorney who had shovel to bury us with," said
acy law that is difficult to wounds. Walker's pistol was Bandidos, was also fraught represented some of the Sandra Lynch, a member
apply because it requires later recovered from a pile with questions over wheth- bikers whose cases were of Los Pirados motorcycle
proof beyond all reason- of weapons police reports er prosecutors had fully dismissed. club, who had booked the
able doubt that three or and dashcam footage shared all evidence in the Some 130 bikers, shown in Twin Peaks patio the day of
more people acted to- shows were tossed into the case, and ended in a mis- surveillance footage run- the shooting.q
gether to support a crimi-
nal organization.
In the two weeks before the
anniversary on Thursday of
the deadliest biker shooting
in U.S. history, prosecutors in
Waco dismissed 98 indict-
ments and have narrowed
the cases to 25. Three of
those are murder charges
against Bandido members
Glenn Walker, Ray Allen
and Jeff Battey.
A problem for the pros-
ecution is that McLennan
County District Attorney
Abel Reyna is a lame duck,
having lost a Republican
primary race in March af-
ter being accused of mis-
handling the biker cases.
A new prosecutor won't be
elected until November. In-
stead of resigning or keep-
ing a low profile until then,
Reyna has moved more
aggressively.
"One would have thought
that repudiation in the
March primary would have
resonated," said Clinton
Broden, an attorney for
one of the bikers still be- In this Oct 13, 2016 file photo, McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna appears in court in Waco, Texas.