Prosecutors moved Monday to dismiss the case against motorcyclist Burton Bergman, a Dallas trucker and a member of the Desgraciados, according to Bergman’s attorney Clint Broden.
Broden filed a motion Monday to dismiss the case, and it was immediately dismissed by Judge Matt Johnson. The McLennan County District Attorney's office also moved to dismiss another Twin Peaks case on Monday -- ending its effort to prosecute former Cossack Cody Ledbetter.
Bergman was arrested, along with roughly 177 others, and charged with Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity after the 2015 shootout at Waco's Twin Peaks restaurant. Roughly 60 cases have been disposed so far -- by either dismissal or through prosecutors declining to prosecute them.
On January 11, 2018, a joint motion was filed by prosecutors and the defense for Bergman’s trial to be pushed back 180 days. The 54th District Court had granted the motion for pre-trial motions for the case on July 6, 2018.
Now that the case has been dismissed, Broden said Berman is ready to put this part of the saga behind him.
Mr. Bergman is ready to put this part of this saga behind him although he will never forget the nine people who died at Twin Peaks and the several others that were injured. Mr. Bergman hopes the actions of Mr. Reyna’s office and the farce that he created has not made it impossible to prosecute those who are truly guilty of causing the violence. Mr. Bergman will now turn his attention to the civil rights lawsuit and attempt to hold those responsible for his false arrest and imprisonment accountable. – Clint Broden
Broden filed a motion in December 2017, to request a hearing to determine if the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office was withholding evidence.
“In this case, it certainly appears that the State is purposely and with calculated design withholding discovery,” Broden wrote in the December motion.
Following Monday’s dismissal, Broden released the following statement:
The State had agreed to dismiss Mr. Bergman’s charge with prejudice on January 11, 2018 after he called the State’s bluff and turned down a misdemeanor plea offer. The State waited until today to file that motion today and Judge Johnson immediately dismissed the case. The fact that the case against Mr. Bergman is dismissed with prejudice means that it can never again be pursued. .
Regrettably, in an effort to protect various parties from civil liability, the State’s motion includes self-serving language claiming that it believed probable cause existed for this prosecution in the first place. In fact, Mr. Bergman is absolutely innocent of the charges and the State knows it. Had he not been innocent the State never would have offered him a misdemeanor plea for an offense that originally carried a sentence of life imprisonment. So, while the State cannot bring itself to admit it for reasons related to its civil liability, the State knows Mr. Bergman is innocent and is really not fooling anybody. Indeed, video evidence that has been available to the State for more than two years establishes that Mr. Bergman just arrived at Twin Peaks when the shooting started and that he immediately ran and took cover in the Don Carlos parking lot.