Cossack Big Jake preparing to shoot Independent Mohawk on patio – photo gleaned from a DPS video surveillance pole camera
Waco – There is new evidence on the table that implicates prosecutors with withholding “Brady material” that is exculpatory in the Twin Peaks cases, a possible violation of the Michael Morton law.
According to an eyewitness, the armed conflict between members of the Cossacks MC and the much smaller number of Bandidos they confronted upon their arrival at Twin Peaks Restaurant during the noon hour of Sunday, May 17, 2015, could have been easily stopped if only law enforcement had acted.
According to the couple, when they arrived at the location to set up for the Confederation of Clubs and Independents meeting to be held there, about 75 Cossacks sporting barely concealed handguns were dominating the patio and parking lot reserved for the political meeting.
Sandra Lynch, who had arranged to reserve the patio area of the restaurant, had arrived earlier than her husband, and she let him know of the potential for danger. He texted Precinct 1 Constable Walt Strickland, requesting backup by armed police, but received only noncommittal response.
She said, in an exclusive interview with The Legendary, “Forty-five minutes earlier it all could have and should have been stopped…At that point there was only 2 clubs there, 6 of mine (Los Pirados) and 75 of the other (Cossacks).”
LEGENDARY: So you and Mike have been unable to comment on any of this now for 29 months, and all the while the exculpatory evidence has been available to the prosecutor?
She replied, “Yes.”
Authorities arrested the Lynches among 177 persons who fled for their lives and took up positions on their bellies on the floor when the bullets began to fly and police armed with AR-15 style assault rifles poured many rounds of suppressed fire into the crowd, killing at least four of the assailants and wounding a number of the 20 felled in the fracas.
They have filed a federal lawsuit that has been on hold pending the forward progress of the Twin Peaks prosecution.
These articles are cited in the motions for recusal. Visiting judge James Morgan ruled during a hearing that yielded the recusal of Judge Ralph Strother in three cases that Tribune-Herald staff writer Tommy Witherspoon should be shielded by law from questioning about his sources for his articles.
Strother’s recusal from the first trial and to be scheduled so far against Dallas Bandido Jake Carrizal is the subject of a motion hearing before visiting Judge Daniel H. Mills of Burnet County on Tuesday morning at 11 a.m., according to the court coordinator.
Jury selection in the Carrizal trial is set for Tuesday morning, September 12 at 8:30 am. He is charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and directing a criminal organization in the original and a superseding indictment.
Attorneys representing multiple members of biker clubs involved in the prosecution have filed motions for their recusal and the recusal of the McLennan County Criminal District Attorney, citing news articles published by the Waco “Tribune-Herald” as part of their evidence.