Defense Evidence “does not rise” to level of a recusal order…
Principals in the case of Bandido Jake Carrizal waited for noon and a visiting judge, The Honorable Robert Stem from Marlin…
Waco – Just as the judge began to laud the venire of about 150 persons by saying it wouldn’t be possible to clear cases in McLennan County’s State District Courts without persons just like them serving as jurors, he was brought to a screeching halt.
Defense Counsel Casie Gotro served him with a recusal motion, and he immediately dropped what he was doing.
When he ordered her to remain in the courtroom, she questioned his authority to do so. “By what authority am I being held?” she asked repeatedly as he left the room to contact the regional administrative Judge to call for a visiting judge to hear the motion.
A rumor rippled through the crowded room that he would have her arrested if she did not obey. She stalked out of the room.
When there was news that a visiting judge would arrive at noon to begin her hearing, she returned.
A court officer explained that the judge had “requested all parties to remain here.”
And so a stormy day of conflict began that did not end until half-past 7 pm.
As District Clerk told the venire to return at 9 am on Wednesday morning, a loud groan filled the room. “I know, we’re just as happy about it as you are,” he said.
After a 7 and half hour legal wrangle, a District Judge ruled the level of evidence presented in support of recusal of 54th District Judge Matt Johnson insufficient to warrant his removal.
Judge Robert Stem promised prosecution and defense counsel as well as witnesses and spectators he would work until he had perfected the record of defense counsel Casie Gotro’s motion.
In the final two hours past quitting time, he repeatedly asked her, “Is there anything else,” as she added items and testimony, waited for incomplete transcripts to be printed, and recalled several previous witnesses to clarify their testimony.
As in the successful motions for removal of 19th District Judge Ralph T. Strother, Gotro’s motion focussed on a “DNA docket” to summon the entire list of accused offenders arrested following an extremely bloody gunfight followed by a police massacre with assault rifles that took place at Twin Peaks Restaurant on May 17, 2015.
Similarly, Gotro’s motion questioned just how did court coordinators in the 54th District know on which list to place the accused – the “B” list (Bandidos), or the “C” list (Cossacks).
Lead prosecutor Michael Jarrett was able to prove up the fact that the Court Coordinator determined their club affiliation from a “bridge” list kept by the McLennan County Jail Classification Officer, who used various clues including the suspect’s statements, tattoos, jewelry and the patches on their jackets.
Not all persons on the lists are patch holders in the Bandidos and Cossacks Motorcycle Clubs – which are referred to by the State as “outlaw motorcycle gangs.”
Many of them are “affiliated” with one or the other, according to the officers, while their peer motorcycle enthusiasts classify them as “support” clubs or merely “riding” clubs.
Through detailed questioning, the state convinced the visiting judge that Johnson and his staff had no ex parte communication with the DA’s staff, nor did the two judges, Johnson and Strother, collude with one another to deny the defendants due process by summoning them to the courtroom and directing them to the DA’s staff to submit tissue samples seized through search warrants.
Judge Johnson testified that he disapproved a request to just some of the defendants in order to serve a warrant. He insisted that all should be treated equally, and the record shows they were.
At 8 a.m., jurors will be qualified and questioned for a venire of 12 persons who will eventually be charged with making a finding that the Bandidos Motorcycle Club is in fact an organized criminal gang, that they came to Twin Peaks on the fateful Sunday with the intent of harming their rivals, and that Jake Carrizal, served as their director. If convicted, he may be sentenced to a minimum of 25 years incarceration and not more than 99 in the state penitentiary.
Under intense questioning, Austin attorney Millie Thompson explained that she signs her e-mails to court officials “In Resistance,” as “part of the Yellow Dog movement against Trump.”
She vowed of the recusal motion she and a quartet of other attorneys argued successfully to oust Judge Strother that “more are on the way.”