WACO — The McLennan County District Attorney's Office will likely dismiss dozens of the cases against bikers connected to the Twin Peaks shootout in Waco before the end of next week, according to prosecutor Amanda Dillon.
Dillon told Judge Ralph Strother in a hearing Friday afternoon the District Attorney's Office hoped to try just 25 to 30 cases. At one point, 156 people were indicted by a grand jury.
Judge Strother said he had planned to set trial dates for many of the bikers who showed up for the hearing but when Dillon said there may be more dismissals he decided to wait.
The Judge told Dillon once she and District Attorney Abel Reyna decide which trials would be dismissed he would start setting the remaining trials five at a time.
"I hope to facilitate what has already been a long process," said Strother.
Judge Strother said he wanted to dispose of as many cases as he could so that the new district attorney wouldn't have to deal with the old cases. Reyna lost in the March primary to Barry Johnson.
Also in court Friday, Houston defense attorney, Paul Looney, filed a motion for a speedy trial for his client, former Cossack Phillip White. White was shot in the left cheek during the shootout, according to Looney. Strother didn't make a ruling on Looney's motion but said White's trial was on the top of his list.
Nine bikers were killed and 20 injured in the shootout involving members of the Bandidos and Cossacks biker clubs at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco on May 17, 2015. Police arrested 177 people and most were later indicted on a charge of Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity. By the end of February 2018 close to 60 of those cases had been dismissed or the District Attorney's Office had refused to prosecute them.
Three years after the shootout just one of the bikers, Christopher Jake Carrizal, has been tried. His trial ended in November 2017 with a hung jury. Only one juror was in favor of convicting him.
