F. Clinton Broden, the attorney for ex-Scimitar Matt Clendennen
Dallas – Elected McLennan County Criminal District Attorney Abel Reyna and Waco Police Detective Manuel Chavez are a step closer to an arrest warrant for perjury or aggravated perjury for their part in the Twin Peaks arrests of 177 persons that resulted in 155 indictments for engaging in organized criminal activity on May 17, 2015.
District Judge David Peeples will appoint a special prosecutor to conduct a Court of Inquiry into the matter.
A Dallas District Court found probable cause to go forward with the inquiry when an attorney representing Matthew Clendennen filed an affidavit alleging falsehood on the part of both officials – Chavez for signing an affidavit of warrantless arrest alleging facts of which he had no personal knowledge, and Reyna for false testimony at a hearing for his disqualification in which he asserted he had urged Chavez to assure himself of all the facts.
Chavez would have found that difficult had he done it because he was not involved in the investigation and had no personal knowledge of the allegations in the affidavit, which was prepared by Reyna’s staff, not the police.
But he admitted from the witness stand that he made no such effort; he simply signed the 177 affidavits as requested after all other detectives involved had refused to do so, according to testimony.
If Judge Peeples holds the two officials have committed the crime of perjury, he will issue an arrest warrant. The future of the charges against 177 persons arrested for the offense would then be in limbo.
“Again, Messrs. Reyna and Chavez are presumed to be innocent unless found guilty of perjury by a jury of their peers,” said F. Clinton Broden, who represents Clendennen, a former member of the Scimitars, a support club of the Cossacks Motorcycle Club involved in a deadly rumble with Bandidos at the Waco restaurant just minutes prior to a joint scheduled Confederation of Clubs and Independents meeting for Regions One and Two of the interclub body representing the DFW and Austin and Central Texas areas.