A Bandido arrested and detained at a filling station on his way into Waco on May 17, 2015 because he was wearing “colors” of a club
Waco – A hearing into who will pay the legal expenses of District Attorney Abel Reyna will continue on Friday, October 14 in the motion to disqualify the prosecutor and his staff in 152 criminal cases indicted following a deadly police raid on bikers at Twin Peaks Restaurant on May 17, 2015.
Attorneys representing the Texas Association of Counties refused to answer interrogatories proposed by Abigail Anastasio, an attorney for Hill County Cossacks Chapter President Ray Nelson, who was shot through the neck when a fist fight broke out over parking, and Matthew Clendennen, a member of the Scimitars riding club, which is affiliated with the Cossacks.
Judge Matt Johnson ordered the parties back into 54th Criminal District Court to settle the matter prior to his ruling on the motion to disqualify Reyna, a former law partner of his.
It is the allegation that Reyna and members of his staff became necessary witnesses in the cases when they decided the police should charge everyone wearing the “colors” of “criminal street gangs.”
At that point, according to a motion on the behalf of the two bikers’ attorneys, the prosecutors became police officers and not lawyers representing The People Of the State of Texas in the matter.
A key element of the motion is exactly who is paying Reyna’s legal fees in more than 15 federal civil rights cases filed against him and other officials following the arrests and indictments.
In his testimony of August 8, Reyna claimed he did not know exactly how to answer the question when Clendennen’s attorney F. Clinton Broden asked, “Okay. So if there was a judgment against you for five million dollars, if my understanding – if I’m following you, McLennan County taxpayers would pick up the 400 – $4,500,000.000?
Reyna replied thusly, according to an official transcript:
“That’s my understanding.”
Broden then asked, “And does it mater – is that per lawsuit? Now we talked about the fact –
Reyna replied, “I don’t know that.”
He maintained his posture of knowing nothing about it throughout his direct and cross examination.
In other testimony, police officers indicated that Reyna and members of his staff took charge of the investigation when they arrived at the Civic Center, where Waco Police were taking witness statements, identifying detainees, and making an investigation into capital murder.
When Reyna told former Chief of Police Brent Stroman he could indict and convict every defendant so detained, according to Stroman’s testimony, he turned the decision over to Reyna, who then instructed police to arrest everyone wearing the colors of an “criminal street gang.”
In witness testimony, attorney F. Clinton Broden established that though investigators did not know it at the time, the Cossacks Motorcycle Club and its support clubs, are no so listed in the manuals of the Justice Department, or of the Texas Department of Public Safety.