Page 6 - ARUBA TODAY

A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 17 OcTOber 2017
Driver of deadly First Waco biker trial could have domino effect

migrant smuggling
run pleads guilty By EMILY SCHMALL pability. Carrizal’s attorney,
Associated Press Casie Gotro, has said that
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — WACO, Texas (AP) — Steel the McLennan County Dis-
The driver of a semitrailer barriers and sheriff’s depu- trict Attorney’s office de-
packed with at least 39 im- ties surrounded the court- nied her client access to
migrants, 10 of whom died, house in Waco, Texas, in a certain records and may
pleaded guilty Monday to show of heightened secu- have “tampered” with evi-
making the deadly smug- rity as the trial began for dence.
gling run. an alleged leader of the Investigators recovered
James Matthew Bradley Bandidos biker gang in hundreds of weapons af-
Jr., 61, pleaded Monday connection to the deadli- ter the shooting, including
in federal court in San An- est shootout between biker firearms, knives and brass
tonio to one conspiracy groups in U.S. history. knuckles strewn across the
count and a count of trans- But experts say the trial — restaurant and adjacent
porting the immigrants re- the first stemming from the parking lot. State prosecu-
sulting in death. He faces fatal May 2015 shooting — tors said they were also
up to life imprisonment could reach far beyond awaiting results from DNA
when he’s sentenced on the single case, as the gov- tests to determine who
Jan. 22. ernment tries to convict held the weapons used in
The Clearwater, Florida, other leaders and dozens the deaths and assaults.
man could have faced of members. Jacob Carrizal, right, the first biker to be prosecuted for his Carrizal’s trial was sched-
the death penalty had he It has been nearly 2 ½ years alleged role in the May 17, 2015, Twin Peaks shootout heads to uled to begin Sept. 11,
gone to trial. since a confrontation be- court with an unidentified woman in Waco, Texas. but it was reset after the
Authorities say at least 39 tween the Bandidos and (Rod Aydelotte/Waco Herald via AP) first presiding judge was
immigrants, most of them the Cossacks left nine bik- law enforcement instructor dard for getting evidence recused over the appear-
Mexicans, were packed ers dead and 20 wounded and a former informant on admitted in lower, can be ance of potential bias in
into the sweltering trailer outside a Twin Peaks restau- California biker gangs for used in the federal trial,” favor of the state. Carrizal
found by San Antonio po- rant in Waco. Local police the federal Bureau of Alco- said Heidi Lambros, a crimi- unsuccessfully sought the
lice last July in a Walmart arrested 177 bikers after the hol, Tobacco, Firearms and nal law public defender in removal of the replace-
parking lot, although court mayhem, and more than Explosives. Chicago. ment judge, too.
records show that surviving 150 people were eventu- Carrizal, 35, is charged with Biker gangs are a small but Gotro said the tight security
immigrants estimated that ally charged. directing organized crimi- violent criminal force in at the Waco courthouse
between 70 and 180 to Federal investigators also nal activity that led to a vio- the U.S., with some 44,000 during Carrizal’s trial was
200 people were carried in indicted the president and lent brawl at the restaurant members or associates having a chilling effect on
the trailer during the trans- vice present of the Bandi- in Waco on May 17, 2015. If of a handful of “outlaw” public access to the trial.
port. The truck’s refrigera- dos — though not for the convicted, he could face a gangs, according to a 2015 Last week, Gotro asked
tion system wasn’t work- shooting in Waco — and maximum sentence of life FBI report. The Bandidos, presiding state District
ing, and investigators say are set to bring them to trial in prison. founded in Texas, is among Court Judge Matt Johnson
passengers had difficulty next year. Five other Bandi- The outcome of his trial also the largest of the criminal if there had been specific
breathing as temperatures dos have pleaded guilty to could affect federal prose- gangs, along with the Hell’s threats that required addi-
climbed. Temperatures in federal charges. cutions of former Bandidos Angels and a couple of tional security for the trial.
San Antonio topped at 101 The first to stand trial in president Jeffrey Pike and others. She said a review of jury
degrees that day. Waco is Christopher “Jake” vice president John Porti- The Cossacks were consid- questionnaires showed that
A co-defendant, Pedro Carrizal, the Bandidos’ llo. While the Waco shoot- ered less violent until the half of the potential jurors
Silva Segura, 47, still faces Dallas chapter president, out isn’t mentioned in the Waco confrontation. were scared to be there.
two conspiracy counts, in- whose trial began last federal indictments against The start of any Waco tri- Johnson deferred to Mc-
cluding one of conspiracy week. Experts say a con- both men on racketeering als was delayed by the Clennan County Sheriff Par-
to transport and harbor un- viction in the case could charges, including ordering enormous volume of evi- nell McNamara, who told
documented immigrants have a domino effect by killings and assaults, gov- dence and several bik- The Associated Press on
for financial gain result- convincing other bikers to ernment witnesses have ers’ attempts to have their Thursday that “I have to do
ing in death. The Laredo, plead guilty and testify. discussed the Waco inci- cases dismissed. Defense everything I can to provide
Texas, man also is charged “Guys who are less involved dent in pretrial hearings, attorneys argued the bik- safety to the citizens.”
with two counts of trans- start to turn and lead prose- court records show. ers were hastily arrested McNamara declined to say
porting undocumented cutors all the way to the top “Anything presented in and charged without con- whether the measures ad-
immigrants resulting in seri- guys,” said Charles Falco, a state court, where the stan- sideration of individual cul- dress a specific threat.q
ous bodily injury and plac-
mains in custody in Laredo Capital murder charges filed in teen’s death
ing lives in jeopardy. He re-
without bond awaiting
transfer to San Antonio. No By MATTHEW BARAKAT meal ahead of pre-dawn Torres. Nabra’s mother conditions. Those include
trial date has been set. Associated Press Ramadan services, rattled threw a shoe at him. murder in the commission
“Today’s admission of guilt FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A the region’s Muslim com- Police had said previously of a rape and murder dur-
by Mr. Bradley helps to northern Virginia man ac- munity. More than 200 sup- they were investigating ing an abduction with in-
close the door on one of cused of killing a 17-year- porters wearing “Justice for whether Nabra had been tent to defile.
the conspirators respon- old Muslim girl as she walked Nabra” T-shirts showed up sexually assaulted, but The seven-count indict-
sible for causing the tragic back to her mosque is now at a preliminary hearing Fri- Monday’s indictment is the ment handed up Mon-
loss of life and wreaking facing a possible death day for the man charged in first time that prosecutors day actually includes four
havoc on those who sur- penalty after an indictment her death, 22-year-old Dar- brought sex-crime charges counts of capital murder,
vived this horrific incident,” Monday charging him with win Martinez-Torres of Ster- of any kind against Marti- spelling out in sometimes
said Shane Folden, special capital murder and rape. ling. The hearing was de- nez-Torres. graphic detail the ways in
agent in charge of Home- The June slaying of Nabra layed when Nabra’s par- Virginia law allows pros- which prosecutors believe
land Security Investigations Hassanen, who had been ents had to be restrained ecutors to pursue a death the slaying qualifies for the
in San Antonio.q out with friends eating a from charging at Martinez- penalty only under certain death penalty.q