Waco (WBAP/KLIF News) – A lawyer for one of the motorcyclists charged with engaging in organized criminal activity has filed a motion to remove the McLennan County district attorney and two other prosecutors from the case.
Abigail Anastasio says District Attorney Abel Reyna went to the Twin Peaks location in Waco while police investigated the shooting on May 17, 2015. She says Reyna and the other prosecutors drafted an affidavit and told police which motorcyclists to arrest.
“This is an extraordinary case. There has been nothing like this that I’ve seen,” she says. “Extraordinary circumstances call for extraordinary motions.”
Anastasio says the prosecutors’ action makes them witnesses and, as a result, makes them ineligible to prosecute her client.
Almost 200 people were arrested after the shooting; a grand jury indicted 154. Several motorcyclists have filed civil suits, arguing that police lacked probable cause.
Lawyers for some who have been indicted had also filed motions that argued their clients’ right to a speedy trial had been violated.
“In the criminal justice system, sometimes things do move slowly,” Anastasio says. “There is a lot of discovery in this case. I do think it is moving slowly. People have filed motions for speedy trials. They’ve been denied.”
A judge has not yet set a date for a hearing on the motion. Reyna’s office has not responded.
(Copyright 2016 WBAP/KLIF News. All rights reserved)
