The Warlocks shooting case continued this morning with the trial of Victor Manuel “Pancho” Amaro (shown above). Forensic evidence indicates that Amaro, a member of one of two Warlocks Motorcycle Clubs, fired the shots that killed two members of a separate and distinct Warlocks Motorcycle Club. The dead men were Harold “Lil Dave” Liddle and Dave “Dresser” Jakiela.

Amaro is a member of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club that wears a stylized harpy back patch. That club is commonly referred to as the “Philly Warlocks.” That club has split into two factions. Amaro is a member of the faction led by the Chester Pennsylvania chapter of the Philly Warlocks.

The dead men were members of a larger and better known Warlocks Motorcycle Club. The mother chapter for that club is in Orlando, Florida. It’s members wear a phoenix back patch and it is commonly referred to as the “Florida Warlocks.

Defendants

Amaro is one of four defendants accused of second degree murder in the shooting deaths of Liddle, Jakiela and Peter “Hormone” Schlette as they rode their motorcycles into the parking lot of a VFW Post in Winter Springs, Florida on September 30, 2012. Two other Florida Warlocks, Brad Dyess and Ronnie “Whiteboy” Mitchell, were wounded when members of a Philly Warlocks chapter began shooting at them. Amaro is accused of the attempted murders of Dyess and Mitchell.

Florida Warlocks have testified in the case that the five victims were simply bringing an $800 donation to a charity poker run that began at the VFW post. Florida Warlocks have also testified that they did not know the event was sponsored by a Philly Warlocks chapter.

Philly Warlocks, on the other hand, have testified that defendants in the case believed that the five victims had come to the poker run to murder them. Jurors believed that defense in the trial of David “Tin Man” Maloney which ended last week.

Maloney

Maloney, the President of the local Philly Warlocks chapter, was acquitted of two counts of murder and one count of second degree murder last Friday by a six person jury. The jury could not agree about whether he tried to murder Mitchell. Maloney was released from jail last Friday after posting a $50,000 bond.

Prosecutors have been cute about whether they intend to retry Maloney on the remaining attempted murder charge. For example, this morning prosecutors asked Judge Marlene Alva to place Maloney under house arrest and order the confiscation of his firearms. At virtually the same time the same prosecutors said they hadn’t yet decided whether to retry Maloney for the attempted murder of Mitchell or not.

This morning Maloney’s lawyer, said his client has received death threats since his acquittal and that his client “needs to be very cautious and needs to keep one eye over his shoulder.” Lafay also argued that Maloney “has the same rights as anyone else as regards to weapons.”

The judge refused to restrict Maloney’s freedom or order the confiscation of his guns.

He was not an American. He was not a Harley guy. His country fought on the wrong side in the Second World War. But you cannot love going fast on a motorcycle without at least acknowledging the passing of Massimo Tamburini April 5 at age 70 in the postage stamp state of San Marino. He was, after all, the most influential motorcycle designer in the world.

He always loved motorcycles. He said, “When I heard them coming I would get so excited and rush out to watch them ride past,” he said. “My passion for bikes started then, they are my first memories.”

He later told the motorcycle journalist Dean Adams, “I was born with this great passion. I remember when I was a little boy, my mother always complained about the obsession which was in my blood with bikes, which continued and grew with time. I have no intention (of designing outside of the bike field), even though I like mechanical things in general. I’ve always liked high speed aircraft, but now at my age I feel quite fulfilled and am happy to stay with bikes. I think I can still contribute to this sector ….”

In 1980 he described his perfect bike as “a 750cc with the power of 1000cc and the weight of a 500cc.”

He may be best known as the designer of the V-Twin Ducati 916, a rocket ship with a unique swingarm that literally saved its manufacturer. He was also well known as the designer of the MV Agusta F4: Another rocket ship that the New York Times described as, “like something Batman would ride in the 21st century.”

In 1998 the poet Jonathan Galassi wrote:

Tamburini was a design perfectionist. He said he wanted his motorcycles to have “soul.” The Canberra Times reported in 2000 that the design staff at MV Agusta would sometimes arrive at work in the morning to discover that their boss had chopped their clay and wooden motorcycle models to pieces with an axe.

Massimo Tamburini was born on November 28, 1943. He was diagnosed with lung cancer last November. He is survived by his wife Pasquina and their three children. He did what he wanted with his life.

Requiscant In Pace

There is really no story here but there is the viral video of the day, which will probably make it to your local news station later this week and be the subject of a police investigation a couple of days after that.

A former Marine named Jacob Hughes who lives near Denver posted the clip of his six-year-old son controlling the throttle and steering his Harley Dyna on an arrow straight stretch of road a couple of days ago. The ride and the video are both nanny state defying acts of rebellion and the reaction to the video has been predictable.

Colossal Moron

One commenter wrote on YouTube: “What a colossal moron! This child should be removed from the dubious care of this criminally negligent and woeful excuse of a father especially in the light that a young four-year-old girl was recently killed at the hands of her knuckle dragging Neanderthal parents who forced her to ride a bike that was far too big for her. What the Hell is wrong with these unspeakably stupid people? I wouldn’t entrust the care of a guppy to these idiots! Make no mistake about it, vehicles such as cars and motorbikes become lethal weapons on the road which, in the hands of inexperienced drivers, will most certainly endanger themselves and other innocent people. There is very good reasons why children cannot drive: Despite being illegal (sic – children are not actually illegal yet, Rebel) they have absolutely no perception of speed, distance nor the danger they impose on themselves and others. Nor do they have the slightest sense of responsibility or understanding of what to do when things go wrong. I emphasize when because it would be inevitable that a child this young would lose control of the vehicle in a short time. Children of this age do not have the ability to make rational judgments and, obviously, the parents in this instance show staggering poor judgment as well. This father would be the first to scream and cry victim if his child lost control of the bike and was killed. Sadly, if that had been the case, and he was damn lucky it wasn’t, he would have been as responsible for the death of his child in as much the same way as if he put a gun to his child’s head! That is the irrefutable measure of guilt that should be placed on a man associated with such a criminal act of reckless indifference towards the safety and life of this little boy and the lives of others!”

Absolutely Stupid

Other commenters have agreed. “I think this is absolutely stupid,” one wrote. “This guy has obviously never been down before as he would know it only takes a second for shit to hit the fan. Granted nothing happened, still should have some gear on or something.”

And another said he was “Glad I don’t live in the USA where people get away with this foolishness.”

But most of the comments have been supportive and are typified by “Much better raising your son like this than letting him be a pussy. Nice video man.”

Decide for yourself.

The trial of Chester Warlock Victor Manuel “Pancho” Amaro ended in a mistrial today.

Amaro is one of four members of  the throwback faction of the Philadelphia based Warlocks Motorcycle Club accused of murdering three members of the totally distinct and different Orlando based Warlocks Motorcycle Club. The three other defendants are David “Tin Man” Maloney, Robert William “Willy” Eckert and Paul Wayne Smith.

Maloney was acquitted on two counts of second degree murder and one count of attempted murder six days ago. The jury deadlocked on a second count of attempted murder against Florida Warlock Ronnie “Whiteboy” Mitchell and a mistrial was declared. Prosecutors, who seem to be the sort of prosecutors of whom defendants dream, keep acting as if they intend to retry Maloney on the mistrial count but also keep saying they don’t know whether they will or not. Maloney is now free on a $50,000 bond.

Amaro

Prosecutors have also insisted that Amaro fired the shots that killed Florida Warlocks Harold “Lil Dave” Liddle and Dave “Dresser” Jakiela. Amaro, like Maloney, has argued that he shot in self defense and that one of the five Florida Warlocks who rode into a VFW Post parking lot in Winter Springs, Florida on September 30, 2012 shot at him first.

Amaro faces three counts of second degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. His trial began Monday. A jury had been selected, opening statements had been made and the prosecution had almost completed its case when the prosecutors tripped over their own feet Thursday afternoon.

The State’s lawyers played Amaro’s tape recorded statement to police after he was arrested. The recording included the defendant’s admission that he was a convicted felon. In certain jurisdictions under certain circumstances jurors may hear that a defendant is a convicted felon. It is not permissible for jurors in a state trial in Florida to hear that. So Amaro’s lawyers objected and state Judge Jessica Recksiedler granted the defendant a mistrial.

Ongoing

It is not immediately apparent when Amaro will be in court again. In coming weeks, Judge Recksiedler is scheduled to preside over the trials of Eckert and Smith. Lisa Haba, the Assistant State Attorney who just botched this case, is nine months pregnant and has a due date of April 21.

The defendants in this case have all claimed to have acted in self defense. At his trial, Maloney argued that he lived in constant fear of the Florida Warlocks.

At his trial, Maloney testified: “I figured they were there to kill me…all of us…. They’ve told us numerous times they wanted us dead. They told me I had to leave the state of Florida. Shutting us down meant they were going to kill us…. My office was about a mile from my house. So, whenever I would leave my house, I would never leave in the same direction. I would never come home the same way. I never went to work the same time. I varied my routes all the time.”

A company named Logos Technologies announced last week that it had received a $100,000, small business innovation research grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a stealthy dirt bike for use on covert missions by military special operators. The new motorcycle will have a top speed of about 80 miles per hour.

According to Logos press release, the motorcycle will be “developed in partnership with San Francisco-based all-electric motorcycle producer BRD, the platform will combine Logos Technologies’ quieted, multifuel hybrid-electric power system with a cutting-edge, off-road electric motorcycle platform developed by BRD. This initiative will be the first time that a two-wheel-drive, multifuel hybrid capability has been integrated into a full-size off-road motorcycle.”

The release quotes a Logos Executive named Wade Pulliam as saying, “Quieted, all-wheel-drive capability at extended range in a lightweight, rugged, single-track vehicle could support the successful operations of U.S. expeditionary and special forces in extreme terrain conditions and contested environments. With a growing need to operate small units far from logistical support, the military may increasingly rely on adaptable, efficient technologies like this hybrid-electric motorcycle.”

Other Military Bikes

The stealth motorcycle will be based on the all electric, BRD RedShift MX, a 250-pound motorcycle that retails for $15,000. Logos will contribute a new “multi-fuel” diesel engine that will allow the bike to run either on battery packs or “JP8.” Most United States military vehicles are designed to run JP8. DARPA expects the motorcycle to be silent when running on batteries and to be quieter than 25 decibels when running on JP8. Twenty-five decibels is about as loud as a whisper in a quiet room.

The Pentagon has been developing very quiet motorcycles for at least a decade. Last year, Zero Motorcycles of Scotts Valley, California announced it had a development contract to supply blacked out and quiet dirt bikes for the United States Special Operations Command.

Zero’s stealthy motorcycle is called the MMX. According to a Zero press release, “an undisclosed number of MMX motorcycles are currently undergoing full operational testing.” You can read more about the MMX here.

In addition to special operations, the new motorcycle would replace the U.S. military’s current the M1030M1 motorcycle. The M1030M1 (photo above) is a dirt bike based on the Kawasaki KLR650. It is powered by a a liquid-cooled, 584 cc, single-cylinder four-stroke engine and has a top speed of about 85 miles per hour.

The trial of Robert “Willy” Eckert, a patch holder in the Warlocks Motorcycle Club whose members wear a stylized harpy on their backs, began today in Courtroom 5D of the Seminole County Courthouse Sanford, Florida.

Eckert was charged with three counts of second degree murder and two counts of attempted murder after a minutes long shootout in the parking lot of a VFW Post in Winter Springs, Florida in September 2012. The five victims were all members of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club that wears a stylized phoenix patch. The dead men were Harold “Lil Dave” Liddle, Peter “Hormone” Schlette and Dave “Dresser” Jakiela. Two other men, Brad Dyess and Ronnie “Whiteboy” Mitchell, were wounded. Schlette didn’t have time to get off his motorcycle before he was shot in the arm and the face, allegedly by Harpy Warlock Paul Wayne Smith.

Mistrials

Two other Harpy Warlocks, David “Tin Man” Maloney and Victor Manuel “Pancho” Amaro have already endured trials.

Maloney was acquitted of the three murder charges and one of the attempted murder counts. A jury could not decide whether Maloney tried to murder Mitchell and Judge Marlene Alva declared a mistrial on that count. Prosecutors have been obtuse about whether they intend to retry Maloney for trying to kill Mitchell but Maloney will probably be back in court May 14. He is now free on a $50,000 bond.

Prosecutors have claimed that forensic evidence indicates Amaro fired the shots that killed Jakiela and Liddle. Nevertheless, Judge Jessica Recksiedler declared a mistrial after four days of arguments and testimony in Amaro’s case last week after a prosecutor made a procedural error that jeopardized Amaro’s presumption of innocence. Amaro will probably be retried but he doesn’t yet have a trial date. He remains in custody.

Self-Defense

Both Maloney and Amaro argued that they acted in self-defense. So is Eckert. Prosecutors have alleged that Eckert fired a pistol during the gun battle but there is no evidence that he shot anybody. Given the ineptness of the prosecutors and the cogency of the defenders so far, it seems unlikely that Eckert will be convicted of anything. He is represented by a lawyer named Adam Pollack.

A month ago the remaining defendant, Smith, was scheduled for trial before Judge Recksiedler beginning May 5. Today Rene Stutzman, who is covering the case for the Orlando Sentinel, reported “It’s not clear when the fourth co-defendant, Paul Wayne Smith, 49, of Effingham, S.C., will come to trial.” It is not clear to the Aging Rebel whether she has learned that Smith is negotiating a plea deal or if she simply couldn’t be bothered to look up the fourth defendant’s trial date.

The shooters were all members of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club that has traditionally ridden, brawled and socialized within a 50-mile radius of Philadelphia. The victims were all members of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club that has deep roots in north-central Florida. The Chester, Pennsylvania chapter of the Philadelphia based Warlocks club seceded from the rest of their club in the new Millennium and it was men associated with the Chester chapter who decided to expand their club into Florida.

The law is an ass. It moves slower than most glaciers. It is a racket for the glorification and enrichment of bad men. And, today’s exhibit in support of these immoderate statements is the never ending Georgia Outlaws case.

The “case” is really seven, separate, federal cases dispersed over Georgia and Florida that are the fruit of a two-year-long undercover investigation by the Atlanta Division of the FBI. The “investigation “ was basically a fishing expedition by an “FBI certified Undercover Employee with 10 years of undercover experience, having attended and completed FBI Undercover School,” and two slightly less official agents provocateur officially named Confidential Informant One and Confidential Informant Two. The prosecutions are divided in order to frustrate public scrutiny.

Stings

The idea of the “investigation” was to create crimes that could then be prosecuted. A press release issued on August 16, 2012 bragged:

“‘All but two of the defendants charged in this investigation have direct ties to the Outlaw Motorcycle Club or other motorcycle clubs that are affiliated with and controlled by the Outlaws,’ said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates (photo above). ‘The charges unsealed today allege that these motorcycle club members engaged in substantial drug trafficking and weapons offenses. This case is a big step forward in making sure that these groups don’t threaten the safety of our North Georgia communities.’”

“Brian D. Lamkin, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office, stated, ‘Today’s arrests of the numerous members of the Outlaw Motorcycle Club and those of several of its affiliate clubs represents the unified efforts of our region’s law enforcement in addressing a serious and very structured crime problem. The Outlaw Motorcycle Club, its affiliate clubs, and its membership are not above nor beyond the law and today’s arrests, the culmination of a two-year intensive investigation, should serve as clear evidence of that.’”

The best known defendant is a member of the American Outlaws Association named Larry McDaniel who has held a leadership position in that social organization. Among the crimes with which McDaniel was charged was “impeding a federal proceeding” because McDaniel recommended that a chapter of the Black Pistons Motorcycle Club that had been infiltrated by federal agents and snitches be shut down.

Honeycutt

After almost two years, men are still being sentenced for crimes that were instigated by the FBI. Last week, a man named Phillip Honeycutt learned his punishment for “use of a communications facility in the distribution of a controlled substance.”

A federal judge named Richard Story told Honeycutt, “The public out there wants me to do something. ‘Lock them up as long as you can.’ That’s what the public thinks. This is not one of those things where we can just turn our heads.”

Honeycutt had sort of participated in an FBI orchestrated drug sting. As is usually the case in these things, men who needed money were offered easy cash for working “security” at a drug transaction. Frequently, the victims of these stings don’t even know they are participating in a drug deal until the drugs come out for the hidden cameras. This drug “sting” was shady and Honeycutt hadn’t even been there.

“The government offered him $200 to sit on the street and look for police,” Honeycutt’s lawyer, Michael H. Saul, told Judge Story. “He’s not a leader. He’s not a manager. He’s just some unemployed person being paid to yell ‘police,’ There’s nothing to suggest he’s a bad person.”

Honeycutt was contrite with the judge and admitted he had “done wrong.”

“You have made a mistake and I think you have learned from that,” the judge replied. “There’s no such thing as an easy $200.” Then the heartless son of a bitch sentenced Phillip Honeycutt to 18 months in prison.

Harley wants potential investors to know business is booming so the motor company issued a press release yesterday that was rewritten as a news story in the business sections of most of America’s national newspapers this morning.

The brief version of the news in that release is that Harley-Davidson’s earnings rose 18.7 percent in the first quarter of 2014. Worldwide sales rose 5.8 percent. The company’s net income rose to $265.9 million which is $41.8 million more than a year ago. The news was so encouraging to investors that the price of Harley’s stock rose nearly seven percent yesterday.

The two little tiny bits of semi-bad news is that American sales were nearly flat from a year ago. And the company’s “general merchandise” sales, which includes tee-shirts, fell from $72.144 million a year ago to $64.114 million in the first quarter of this year.

Wandell Speaks

“‘Harley-Davidson delivered gains on many fronts in the first quarter, with shipments up 7.3%, strong margin improvement and solid growth in dealer new motorcycle sales,’ said Keith Wandell, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Harley-Davidson, Inc.

“‘Thanks to the great contributions of our employees, dealers and suppliers, we continue to lead at delivering exceptional customer experiences in 89 countries,’ said Wandell. ‘Our Project RUSHMORE motorcycles were in high demand in the quarter and we began shipping the Harley-Davidson Street 750 and 500 into select markets. These motorcycles, together with continuous improvement in our operations at every level, underscore the momentum we’ve established as a customer-led company.’”

“‘Our dealers had a solid quarter of retail motorcycle sales. Sales in the Asia Pacific region were up strongly, and we are encouraged by the continued growth of new Harley-Davidson motorcycle sales in Europe. We’re also excited to be entering the heart of the retail selling season in the U.S., having achieved first-quarter retail growth of 3.0% in the midst of a long, cold winter,’ said Wandell.

“According to Wandell, ‘there’s also great news for Harley-Davidson in the annual reporting of our demographic market share data.’”

Demographic Market Share Data

“In 2013, for the sixth consecutive year, Harley-Davidson was the number-one seller of new on-road motorcycles in the U.S., both 601cc-plus and across all displacements, to young adults age 18-34, women, African-Americans and Hispanics (‘outreach’ customers) and Caucasian men age 35-plus (‘core’ customers), according to Polk 2013 U.S. new motorcycle registration data from IHS Automotive. The Company grew its U.S. market share and also increased its share gap to the nearest competitor in each of these segments, compared to 2012.

“‘Together with our dealers, we continued to expand the appeal of our products and the Harley-Davidson experience,’ said Wandell. ‘Harley-Davidson dealers sold more than four times as many new, on-road motorcycles, 601cc and up, to U.S. young adults last year, and among riders age 35-plus, more than nine times as many to women, more than six times as many to African Americans and more than seven times as many to Hispanics, as the nearest competitor.’

“According to Harley-Davidson’s internal data, retail sales of its motorcycles to U.S. outreach customers grew at more than twice the rate of sales growth to core customers in 2013 compared to 2012.”

“Harley-Davidson, Inc. is the parent company of Harley-Davidson Motor Company and Harley-Davidson Financial Services. Harley-Davidson Motor Company produces custom, cruiser and touring motorcycles and offers a complete line of Harley-Davidson motorcycle parts, accessories, riding gear and apparel, and general merchandise. Harley-Davidson Financial Services provides wholesale and retail financing, insurance, extended service and other protection plans and credit card programs to Harley-Davidson dealers and riders in the U.S., Canada and other select international markets. For more information, visit Harley-Davidson’s Web site at www.harley-davidson.com.”

This is a television and internet story because its heart is a video. This story wouldn’t have even been news a generation ago but it is news now. It has been festering in Fresno, the fifth largest city in California, for about the last week. The story is important because the video that follows these words is likely to pop up in newscasts, press conferences and court proceedings for the next decade and now and forever it will be attached to the phrase “motorcycle club.”

The video was originally posted to YouTube on March 7 but it didn’t start to get attention until this month.

The Stomping

It shows a fairly routine beating in a parking lot. Police say the altercation started in a Fresno bar called the Crossroads. The bar has a reputation for edginess. Last month a man and wife named Herman and Janae Tatum were shot in the bar. Mrs. Tatum died.

When the argument in the Crossroads went outside the two men who lost the fight were set upon by the six winners. One of those losers managed to avoid significant injury by back peddling and dancing and wrestling himself free whenever his arms were pinned. The other loser was wrestled to the ground and stomped. When he went passive he got stomped some more. The stomping hurts to watch and it is probably particularly disturbing to people who have never seen such things before.

The video was apparently recorded on a cell phone by someone acquainted with the winners and Fresno police saw it. “Social media was very, very helpful in this case,” Police Chief Jerry Dyer told Carmen George of the Fresno Bee. “We continue to monitor social media every single day.”

Malos Hechos

Fresno police arrested four men  in connection with the incident. Their names are Apolinio Martinez, Daniel Telles, Christopher Martinez Jr. and Christopher Martinez Sr. And police allege that the four are members of a new motorcycle club called the Malos Hechos – which probably translates most accurately as the “Born Bad.” The police haven’t offered any proof that the assailants are members of the club. And they also allege that Malos Hechos is associated with a notorious fraternal organization called the Fresno Bulldogs.

In his interview with the Bee, Chief Dyer said, “I received a call from an individual who was trying to represent this group as simply people dropping out of the gang and trying to help other people drop out of the gang and get into motorcycle riding, which is nothing further from the truth…. These are individuals that are extremely violent.”

In the same interview Dyer admitted that violent crime in Fresno is down 13 percent from a year ago.

A jury in Sanford, Florida began considering the fate of Chester Warlocks patch holder Robert “Willie” Eckert this afternoon. Eckert stands accused of three counts of second degree murder for the shooting deaths of Harold “Lil Dave” Liddle, Peter “Hormone” Schlette and Dave “Dresser” Jakiela and two counts of attempted murder resulting from the wounding of Brad Dyess and Ronnie “Whiteboy” Mitchell.

Four men faced the same set of charges after the shootings in the parking lot of a VFW Post in Winter Springs, Florida on September 30,  2012. Eckert is the third to go on trial.

David “Tin Man” Maloney was acquitted of all three murder counts and one of the attempted murder counts two weeks ago. A jury was unable to agree about whether Maloney tried to murder Mitchell or acted in self defense. A mistrial was declared after four days of argument and testimony in the trial of Victor Manuel “Pancho” Amaro on the same charges last week. Paul Wayne Smith’s trial was scheduled to begin May 5 but Rene Stutzman of the Orlando Sentinel continues to report that no trial is scheduled for Smith.

The Defendants

All four men have claimed self defense.

Eckert declined to take the stand to testify in his own defense. Police allege that he fired a total of three shots during the fatal encounter and that none of those bullets struck anyone.

Prosecutor Stewart Stone told jurors that Eckert should be found guilty of the murders because he participated in the gunfight. “You participate in these kinds of events, you’re going to be held responsible,” Stone said.

Prosecutors have argued that Amaro actually fired the shots that killed Liddle and Jakiela. According to multiple witnesses Smith fired the shots that started the battle and that killed Schlette.

Self Defense

In his closing argument, Stone also told jurors that Eckert and the other accused men “waited to confront them (the victims) with guns in their hands.”

But the essence of the four cases has been whether greeting the victims with drawn guns was prudent or reckless. Maloney had a bitter history with the motorcycle club to which all five of the victims belonged – the Florida Warlocks. He had been expelled from that club, had been found to have acted in self-defense when he shot a member of the Florida Warlocks in 2011 and he testified that he was afraid for his life when he armed himself and told the other defendants to arm themselves.

“I figured they were there to kill me…all of us…” Maloney said at his trial. “They’ve told us numerous times they wanted us dead. They told me I had to leave the state of Florida. Shutting us down meant they were going to kill us…. My office was about a mile from my house. So, whenever I would leave my house, I would never leave in the same direction. I would never come home the same way. I never went to work the same time. I varied my routes all the time.”

Maloney’s jury believed him.

As of 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time Eckert’s jury was still out.

Last night a jury in Sanford, Florida found Robert “Willy” Eckert guilty of two counts of manslaughter with possession of a firearm, one count of attempted second-degree murder with possession and discharge of a firearm and one count of attempted voluntary manslaughter.

Under Florida law, Eckert faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison for the murder conviction and 111 months in prison for the manslaughter convictions. He will be sentenced Monday by Judge Jessica Recksiedler at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Who

Eckert was the third defendant to be tried in a bizarre case that began with a gun battle between members of two separate and distinct Warlocks Motorcycle Clubs. Eckert’s club was rooted in Philadelphia and he and his club brothers wore a back patch on their cuts that depicted a harpy. In classical mythology, harpies were monsters with the faces of women and the bodies of birds. The victims in the case were all members of a club with a mother chapter in Orlando. Those bikers wore a back patch that depicts a phoenix – another mythological creature that dies in flames and is reborn from the ashes of its former life. The Phoenix Warlocks began in 1967. Harpy Warlocks maintain their club began two years earlier.

The case iwas made even more bizarre because the harpy Warlocks are broken into two factions with both groups claiming the right to manufacture and distribute that club’s insignia. Eckert’s patch and the patches of his fellow defendants were produced and distributed by members of the Chester, Pennsylvania chapter of the Harpy Warlocks. Other Philadelphia area Warlocks have disowned and attempted to separate themselves from the Chester chapter.

When What Where

Eckert was convicted of murders that occurred when five members of the Phoenix Warlocks rode into the parking lot of a Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Winter Springs, Florida on September 30, 2012. The dead men were Harold “Lil Dave” Liddle, Peter “Hormone” Schlette and Dave “Dresser” Jakiela. Brad Dyess and Ronnie “Whiteboy” Mitchell were wounded after a Harpy Warlock named Paul Wayne Smith shot Schlette in the arm and the face. Another Harpy Warlock named Victor Manuel “Pancho” Amaro fired the shots that killed Liddle and Jakiela.  None of those three men were carrying guns. The two men who were wounded were both carrying pistols. They found cover and returned fire.

Eckert and a fourth defendant named David “Tin Man” Maloney engaged Mitchell and Dyess. Maloney was the president of the local Harpy Warlocks chapter. He was a former Phoenix Warlocks chapter president and he had been expelled from his old club. In 2011 Maloney shot and wounded a member of his old club outside Jonny Rotton’s Bar Out Back in Sanford, Florida. He told police he acted in self defense and he was not charged in that shooting.

All four of the Harpy Warlocks defendants claimed they acted in self defense.

In the September 30, 2012 shootout Maloney fired two shots that both apparently missed. Eckert fired three shots that all missed. Two weeks ago Maloney was acquitted of the three murder charges and one of the attempted murder counts. A jury could not decide whether Maloney tried to murder Mitchell and Judge Marlene Alva declared a mistrial on that count.

Nevada police continue to consider motorcycle club members fair game.

Last night at the annual Laughlin River Run approximately 40 police including a Swat team shut down adjoining vendor booths operated by a member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club and the Vagos Motorcycle Club.

According to a usually informed and reliable source the Lucky 7 Motorsports booth owned by Vago Michael Raymond Sincox and the So Cal Clothing Line Booth run by well known Hells Angel Rusty Coones were closed and the operators were compelled to pack up and leave. Both booths were on property owned by the Pioneer Hotel. Police called the booths “potential threats,” presumably because the two operators belong to different motorcycle clubs and members of those clubs have confronted one another in the past.

No Problems

The source said, “There was no sign of any conflict or tension of any kind. In fact, they were extremely friendly with each other, exchanged clothing between the booths, helped each other with vendor supplies, and Sincox and Coones embraced each other multiple times in the last few days. The two booths helped each other pack up.”

Coones may be best known as a member of the band Attika 7 and for television appearances on the television series Sons of Anarchy and The Devils Ride.

Lucky 7 Motorsports is a family owned business operated by Sincox and his extended family. His parents, grandparents, sister and brother-in-law were working in the booth when it was shut down. The shut down left that business with about $20,000 of unsold merchandise and three unsold motorcycles valued at $50,000.

Lieutenant John Healy

The massive police action was initiated by Lieutenant John Healy of the Laughlin Station of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

According to the source, Pioneer Hotel security told Sincox and Coones “Lieutenant Healy is making this call,” “it is out of our control,” “law enforcement is pushing this” and that if hotel security did not cooperate the Pioneer would “suffer the consequences.”

And now the tyrants of social orthodoxy are going after the Devil Dolls.

The women’s club has a slight edge. It started as a Harley only club but now admits women who ride Trumpets, Beezers, Beemers and Nortons. It has “no interest in snitches or plead outs.”  It refuses to judge a prospect’s “checkered legal past as long as your offense was not against children, the elderly or animals.” It describes its members as “punks, rednecks, old school bikers, rockabilly rebels, rockers, moms and professionals.” The Dolls also sponsor numerous fund raising events for numerous charities

“We are a family,” the club says on its website, “and for some of us the only real family we have ever known. The main thing we have in common is that we love to ride and we have each others’ backs in a hot minute.”

The club also proclaims “We are a three piece Outlaw MC” and “We are bikers and we live by the code.”

Apparently San Francisco has a problem with that. The club also maintains cordial relations with several Bay Area Hells Angels charters and the theme park by the bay probably has a problem with that, too.

No Right To Party

The Devil Dolls Motorcycle Club was founded on Valentine’s Day, 1999 and yesterday the club’s women held their 15th anniversary party. The Dolls booked the Pacific Rod and Gun Club for the affair last December.  The Rod and Gun Club is located on land owned by the City of San Francisco and last week the Gun Club cancelled the Dolls’ reservation.

Dolls president Theresa Foglio described the gun club manager as “apologetic. He was pressured by the city and county. They just freaked him out.”

“I have grandmothers, mothers, daughters,” she told the Bay City News. “I have veterans in the club. None of us have criminal records. It’s really odd.”

Protest

According to published reports, the San Francisco Police Department and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission wanted the event curtailed because it involved “bikers.” Foglio was quoted as saying that the real problem is television programs like Gangland and Sons of Anarchy. “It isn’t fair to take what’s on TV and say that is reality,” she said. “Motorcycle clubs are not street gangs. The bigger issue is profiling.”

The Dolls partied anyway. They moved their event to the Bay Riders Motorcycle Club clubhouse. And for two hours yesterday morning a half dozen of the women picketed outside the Rod and Gun Club. The protest was observed by San Francisco Police. The observers greatly outnumbered the protesters.

The sentencing of Robert “Willy” Eckert was continued yesterday until Thursday morning. Last week a jury found Eckert guilty of two counts of manslaughter with possession of a firearm, one count of attempted second-degree murder with possession and discharge of a firearm and one count of attempted voluntary manslaughter.

Eckert’s lawyer, Adam Pollack, asked for the continuance to research case law relevant to Florida’s “The 10-20-Life” law. The law, enacted in 1999. makes a 20-year prison sentence mandatory for anyone who fires a gun during the commission of a violent felony. The 10-20-Life law mandates an enhancement to a sentence for another crime and by law the 10-20-Life penalty must be served after the sentence for the original crime is completed.

Eckert fired three shots that all missed in a gun battle in which three men were killed and two men were wounded. Briefly stated, prosecutor Stewart Stone wants Judge Jessica Recksiedler to sentence Eckert to consecutive 20-year sentences. Pollack thinks he can find a precedent that would allow or compel Recksiedler to sentence Eckert to a pair of 20-year sentences that would be served concurrently or simultaneously.

May 5

Meanwhile the trial of Paul Wayne “Dog” Smith has been continued and a new trial date has not yet been set. Smith had originally been scheduled for trial on May 5. However, according to Rene Stutzman of the Orlando Sentinel, Smith hired a new lawyer last week and that new counsel will need time to research Smith’s case and decide whether to advise his client to negotiate a plea agreement or fight his case in court. There is a significant amount of evidence that Smith fired the first shots that began the September 30,  2012 gun fight between members of two different clubs that call themselves Warlocks.

Numerous witnesses in previous trials have said that Smith fired the shots that killed Peter “Hormone” Schlette.

The open slot in Recksiedler’s calendar will now be filled by the second trial of Victor Manuel “Pancho” Amaro. Prosecutors allege that Amaro fired the shots that killed Harold “Lil Dave” Liddle and Dave “Dresser” Jakiela. Amaro was tried the first time during the week of April 14 but a mistrial was declared four days into that proceeding after a sloppy prosecutorial error.

Former Florida Warlocks

Both Smith and fellow defendant David “Tin Man” Maloney are former club brothers of the victims in the September 2012 gunfight. The victims were all members of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club headquartered in Orlando. Both Smith and Maloney were expelled from that club and became members of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club headquartered in Philadelphia.

Smith was expelled from his old club after numerous arrests involving methamphetamine abuse. He appears never to have done time for any of his crank arrests and he also somehow avoided jail after brandishing a knife in an altercation between Philly Warlocks and members of the Red Devils Motorcycle Club in the Out of Bounds bar in Florence, South Carolina.

Around the same time, Maloney was not charged after shooting a member of his former club outside Jonny Rotton’s Bar Out Back in Sanford, Florida

The tragedy of Robert “Willy” Eckert found its anticlimax today when he was sentenced by Florida judge Jessica Recksiedler to live the next 27 years of his life in prison.

Eckert was a former member of the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the Warlocks Motorcycle Club. He was expelled from that club and moved to Florida where he was reunited with a former club brother named Edward Frederick “Chester Eddie” Glowitz. Glowitz is also known as “Nightmare One Percenter” and “John Furin.”

Nightmare

After the Chester, Pennsylvania chapter of the Warlocks was decertified by the mother club in 2011, Glowitz recruited members for a Florida chapter certified by the Chester chapter of the Warlocks. The new chapter wore the traditional insignia worn by Glowitz and Eckert’s old club – a patch that depicted a harpy. The new chapter had between six and ten members and at least three of those members were former members of the better known Warlocks Motorcycle Club that established its first chapter in Orlando.

The new Warlocks chapter was pugnacious and friction developed between the new chapter of the Harpy Warlocks and the big, Florida Warlocks club that wears a Phoenix patch. In a little more than a year that friction led to a shootout in the parking lot of a VFW Post in Winter Springs, Florida.

Three members of the Florida Warlocks, Harold “Lil Dave” Liddle, Peter “Hormone” Schlette and Dave “Dresser” Jakiela, were shot and killed in the incident. Two other Florida Warlocks, Brad Dyess and Ronnie “Whiteboy” Mitchell, were wounded.

Legal Aftermath

Eckert and three other members of the Harpy Warlocks chapter, David “Tin Man” Maloney, Victor Manuel “Pancho” Amaro and Paul Wayne “Dog” Smith were charged with multiple counts of second degree murder and attempted murder. Maloney was acquitted of all three murder counts and one of the attempted murder counts last month. Prosecutors have not yet announced whether he will be retried on the remaining attempted murder count. Amaro’s trial ended in a mistrial earlier this month and he will be retried starting next Monday. Eckert was the first defendant to be convicted.

Eckert appears to have fired three shots during the gunfight. None of them found a target. Like Maloney and Amaro, Eckert insisted he had acted in self-defense.

Although he declined to testify at his trial last week he did speak today. “I’d like to apologize to all the families involved,” Eckert told Judge Recksiedler. “I wish that day had never happened.”

Eckert’s lawyer, Adam Pollack, told the judge his client’s crime was using “poor judgment.” He asked the judge to sentence his client to 20 years in prison which would have been the minimum sentence allowed under Florida law. “It’s unfortunate the decisions made that day by everybody,” Pollack said.

Prosecutor Stewart Stone asked the judge to give Eckert at least 24 years.

Recksiedler thought three more years than that was about right.

The Last American Outlaw, Nick Mead’s documentary about George Christie’s ordeal by federal justice, will have it’s British debut in the cinema tent of the Glastonbury Festival of the Performing Arts in the evening of June 29. The film will close this year’s festival and will be followed by a question and answer session with Christie and Mead via Skype.

Christie was the long standing president of the Ventura, California charter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club. He was indicted in July 2011 of conspiring to firebomb two tattoo shop competitors out of business in July 2007. His prosecution was unreasonable even by the skewed standards of federal justice. Christie finally negotiated a plea deal in January 2013 and was sentenced last August to serve a year in prison. He will be released to a halfway house in Los Angeles later this month.

Mead had already begun a documentary featuring Christie that was intended to be an homage to Easy Rider. After Christie’s arrest, the film’s focus changed and Mead (photo above) began to document Christie’s legal ordeal. The United States Attorney for the Central District of California tried to stop production of the film which, among other subjects, examines the methods used to obtain convictions against motorcycle club members in federal court. Both former Mongol Al Cavazos and former Bandido President George Wegers are interviewed in the movie.

The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts is an annual five day music festival in Pilton, England. You can learn more about this year’s festival here.

Mead And Christie Say

Mead calls Glastonbury “the perfect venue for this film. We shot it in harsh black and white so it can be projected against a brick wall or on a canvas hung between trees, a renegade festival like Glastonbury is the perfect home for it. I don’t want it ever to be shown in a movie theater…a campground, a bike dealership, a rock concert, it’s got that edge to it, and we need to maintain that edge.”

The festival is a major event in the British summer and attracts extensive news coverage in Europe. “It’s so cool that George will be getting out of jail in time to see his film in it’s rightful home, a rock festival of all places, and the most credible festival in the world.”

Christie said showing the film “at Glastonbury is very personal for me. During my two year term on house arrest waiting for my case to resolve I watched many Glastonbury concerts via satellite. I never imaged Nick and I would become part of such a great festival. My only regret is because of my felony conviction my travel is restricted and will prevent me from attending in person.”

About the film, the former Hells Angel said, “The outlaw biker is to motorcycles what jazz is to music. It started in America and has spread around the world. Law enforcement has declared war on the outlaw bike culture and become so obsessed with its pursuit that in many instances federal police have compromised their own oath to uphold the law. The United States Government is now trying to deny freedom of expression by taking away the right to wear club trademarks. If this is allowed to happen this will tear the very fabric the United States Constitution was written on.”

Mead added, “It’s good to get my friend back.”

Summer is coming so tens of thousands of West Coast motorcycle enthusiasts will be passing through Wyoming in the next five months.

It is a pretty and sparsely populated state. Most of the left coast passes through some part of Wyoming to get to Sturgis every August. This summer, the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club will hold its National Run in Cody. And, this year the police in Rock Springs, Wyoming will be better prepared than ever to make life miserable for all those tourists on two wheels. A week ago Steve Cook came to town to offer his “expertise” on the frequently discussed, mostly invisible motorcycle gang menace.

Cook

Cook describes himself as a “public figure” and as an “outlaw motorcycle gang expert and  documentary television personality.” That is Steve in the photo above, jauntily leaning on a Hells Angels mailbox as if he owned it.

Cook is both the Executive Director and President of a racket called the Midwest Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association.  According to one of his many official biographies, “Detective Cook has extensive knowledge and experience in investigating and prosecuting Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. He has prosecuted members of the Fairbanks, Alaska Hell’s (sic) Angel’s (sic) Motorcycle Gang and Colorado Springs, Colorado Sons of Silence Motorcycle Gang for methamphetamine and firearms charges. He has also participated in surveillance operations of ‘church meetings,’ bike shows, and swap meets of several well known
outlaw gangs.” And “Steve has also been featured in the History Channel’s Gang Land (sic) programs on the Outlaws, Bandidos and Galloping Goose, on Biographies (sic) Gangsters Americas Most Evil twice, History Channels (sic) Americas Book of Secrets and Biographies (sic) Gangworld (sic) One Percenters.”

Cook mostly provides training “for law enforcement officers, prosecutors, corrections personnel and criminal analysts addressing the problems and pitfalls of investigations of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.” His assertions are often fatuous and imaginative. He gets paid with public money but most of what he has to say about the motorcycle gang menace must remain secret “Due to the sensitive nature” of his training programs. Generally, “the exact locations” of his training programs can only “be revealed to those who register.” “Special security” is maintained. And his “training programs” are “only open to law enforcement officers, corrections officers, prosecutors, probation/parole officers and other criminal justice professionals. You must show proper agency credentials or identification to be allowed entrance into the training program.”

Rock Springs

Cook also does business as the Heartland Law Enforcement Training Institute and that’s the patch he wore when he rolled into Rock Springs, a city of about 23,000 that is pretty unavoidable on an east-west ride because the city squats astride Interstate 80. The local police chief, a fellow named Mike Lowell, told the Rock Springs Rocket-Miner, that because “Motorcycle gangs, also referred to as motorcycle clubs, have driven through Rock Springs and Sweetwater County,” on the Interstate on their way to someplace else, they have “caught the attention of police.”

“Lowell said they (local police) have stopped motorcycle gangs inside the city limits including the Bandidos, Sons of Silence and Hells Angels.”

“No community in Wyoming is safe from an outlaw motorcycle gang because they are so mobile, Lowell said.”

Lowell asked Cook to help him with the problem that is mostly between Lowell’s ears because, “There is enough of a concern with these groups to me to hold this class. To us, motorcycle gangs are identified by criminal action. We refer to them as OMGs.” The chief also told the Rocket-Miner “he wants outlaw motorcycle gangs to know he is willing to spend money to better understand them and their actions.”

Training Conference

Cook called his Rock Springs performance the “Patrol Response to Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs Training Conference.”

It covered: the “Origin and History of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs; Organizational Structure and Recruiting Process; Tattoo and Patch Identification; Intelligence Gathering; Study of the “Big 4” Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs; Weapons Identification; Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs and the Drug Trade; Motorcycle Gang Related Violence; Combating Lawsuits and Legal Actions; Unique Investigative Techniques;” and “Safe Methods of Conducting Vehicle Stops on OMG Members.”

Trainees paid $200 each to attend this thing and afterward, according to the Rocket-Miner, Chief Lowell had learned “when OMGs come to Rock Springs, they should realize police are going to stop them. If everything is on the up and up with no warrants, possession of illegal drugs or any other criminal activity, it will just be a little bit of an inconvenience.”

He told the paper “OMG members also claim they are being misunderstood.”

“They are saying they are just working guys who drink pop and like to work on their motorcycles,” he said. “We refer to them as motorcycle gangs.”

In the future Rock Springs will always conduct traffic stops on motorcyclists with multiple officers because “It’s nice to be able to meet them with force.” Drug sniffing dogs will always be dispatched to those stops whether a reasonable, articulable suspicion exists to conduct a canine search or not. And the Chief “wants the community to be vigilant and call law enforcement if they spot a group of motorcycle riders who they suspect may be a part of a motorcycle gang.”

Incidentally, one can also get to Sturgis from the West Coast by way of Interstates 70 and 90.

Milton Charles “Barbwire” Wilson, who is identified in court documents as the current president of the Kansas City chapter of the Sons of Silence Motorcycle Club, was arrested and charged yesterday with transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. A source has also identified Wilson as a former member of the Vagos Motorcycle Club.

If convicted, Wilson faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole and a maximum penalty of life in federal prison without parole. Wilson is 58-years-old. He has a bail hearing tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.

No Bail

The government has already moved that he be denied bail because he “is a potential flight risk because of his high-level leadership as president of the Kansas City chapter of the Sons of Silence Motorcycle Club.”

The motion alleges “The Sons of Silence has been designated an ‘outlaw motorcycle gang’ due to its members having been ‘implicated in numerous criminal activities, including murder, assault, drug trafficking, intimidation, extortion, prostitution operations, money laundering, weapons trafficking, and motorcycle and motorcycle parts theft.’ By numerous estimates, the Sons of Silence outlaw motorcycle gang has over a dozen chapters in the Southeastern, Midwestern and Western United States, as well as multiple chapters in Germany. Due to the inherently transitory nature of this outlaw motorcycle gang and its numerous chapters in disparate areas of the United States, Wilson’s presidency of the Kansas City chapter of the Sons of Silence affords him ready access to a preexisting network of confederates to aid any potential flight and evasion of law enforcement, and complicates this Court’s ability to meaningfully ensure Wilson’s appearance at future proceedings and supervise his release on conditions of bond.”

Wilson is also charged with being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of four firearms. An 18-year-old woman named Kayla “Foxy” Pinkerton was charged as Wilson’s accomplice. A federal grand jury indicted the pair on April 30.

The alleged victim is only identified as being under 18-years-of age. The alleged victim’s name, exact age and sex remain secret.

Child Victim

In his motion to deny Wilson bail, Assistant United States Attorney Patrick D. Daly claimed “the Government will produce evidence that on the evening of December 3, 2013, Wilson paid for an advertisement on Backpage.com, which facilitated the listing of Child Victim (a minor under the age of 18) to engage in prostitution activity. Wilson also reserved and paid for a hotel room at a Kansas City, Missouri area hotel. Wilson also picked up the Child Victim from the house he/she was staying at in Missouri, transported him/her to the hotel room, and drove him/her to at least two locations in Overland Park, Kansas, where he/she engaged in prostitution activity for money. Wilson waited in his car while the Child Victim engaged in these prostitution acts. After engaging in this prostitution activity in Kansas, Wilson transported the Child Victim back into Missouri in the early morning hours of December 4, 2013, and returned him/her to the residence where he/she was staying. Based on his admissions and numerous corroborating details, Wilson was fully aware that the reason and purpose for the transportation of Child Victim was so that the Child Victim could engage in prostitution activity.”

Daly also claims that “The Government will produce evidence that, on the night he and Pinkerton transported the minor into Kansas for prostitution activity, Wilson expressed concern at the Child Victim’s nervousness. Pinkerton attempted to reassure Wilson as to the Child Victim’s involvement in these prostitution acts, and Wilson responded that if ‘this came back on him’ he would harm Pinkerton and her family.”

John G. McDougall, Delaware County, Pennsylvania’s first public defender and one of the most tenacious and dedicated defense attorneys who ever lived, died May 1 at an acute care facility in Havertown, Pennsylvania a month after injuring himself in a fall.

McDougall’s finest case was a 12-year-long battle to acquit Terence McCracken Jr., an 18-year-old high school senior who was arrested for and convicted of murdering a 71-year-old man named David Johnston during a robbery in a place called Kelly’s Deli on March 18, 1983. McCracken became a suspect because he wore a red sweatshirt that day and because he was the son of a Warlocks Motorcycle Club patch holder named Terence “Screw” McCracken.

The McCracken Case

Two weeks after the young McCracken was jailed a nearly identical robbery took place at a liquor store in a nearby town. Two men named William Vincent Verdekal and John Robert Turcotte were arrested in connection with the second robbery and a .38 caliber handgun in Turcotte’s possession proved to be the gun that killed Johnston.

But because McCracken’s father was a Warlock police assumed the young man must have been guilty of something and a local district attorney named William H. Ryan Jr. charged all three suspects with the murder and put McCracken on trial first. After a mistrial the young son of a notorious biker was convicted of second-degree murder, robbery and conspiracy. Astoundingly, charges against Verdekal and Turcotte were then dropped because no one could find any evidence that McCracken was connected in any way to the two guilty men. Even after Verdekal admitted that he had participated in the robbery at Kelly’s Deli and that McCracken had not, the prosecutor refused to reopen the case.

McCracken spent four years in prison before he was released while McDougall pursued his young client’s appeals. McCracken was finally acquitted in 1995 when he was 31. At that retrial the prosecution’s chief witness, a man named Michael Aldridge who had identified McCracken as being at the scene of the crime, recanted his testimony. After the acquittal District Attorney Ryan said the witness had changed his testimony because he had been intimidated by the Warlocks. “You cannot overestimate the fear factor in this case,” Ryan said.

The case is now frequently studied in law schools. It was merely the first of a very long list stunning defenses based on  McDougall’s distrust of the police and  his sensitivity to prosecutorial malice and incompetence.

McDougall

McDougall was born in West Philadelphia, served in the Marine Corps, attended Drexel University on the GI Bill, and went to Temple University Law School at night.

He is survived by his sons Sean and Jonathan, his daughters Kelly and Colleen, his wife Jean, his sister and 12 grandchildren. His buried Tuesday in a private ceremony. His family asks that any memorial contributions in his name be made to the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys Fund for Criminal Justice, 1660 L St. N.W., 12th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20036.

John G. McDougall was a friend in need to many innocent men and proof that one man can make a difference.

Requiscant In Pace

About 11 p.m. local time last night a Florida jury found Victor Manuel “Pancho” Amaro guilty of the murders of Harold “Lil Dave” Liddle and Dave “Dresser” Jakiela. Under current Florida law Amaro faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison.

There was never any question that Amaro killed the two men as they rode into the parking lot of a VFW Post in Winter Springs, Florida on September 30,  2012. His defense attorney, a man named Junior Barrett, told jurors that Amaro had acted in reasonable fear for his life when he retrieved two hidden pistols, held one in each hand and lit up Liddle and Jakiela.

Neither of Amaro’s victims had time to turn off their motorcycles. Liddle died first. Jakiela, an Orlando architect, was shot in the head as he tried to hide behind his motorcycle and died two days later in a hospital. Barrett argued that Amaro “was scared. He was firing (because) he believed they were coming to hurt or kill” Amaro and his codefendants, David “Tin Man” Maloney, Robert William “Willy” Eckert and Paul Wayne Smith.

Previous Trials

It was Amaro’s second trial on the same charges. His first trial ended in a mistrial after four days following a prosecutorial error that might have prejudiced his jury.

Maloney was acquitted of the three murder charges and one count of attempted murder in a trial that ended last month. The jury in that trial hung on whether Maloney was guilty of a second count of attempted murder. Prosecutors have not yet announced when or if they will retry Maloney on the unresolved count. Eckert was found guilty of two counts of manslaughter and sentenced to 27 years in prison last week by Judge Jessica Recksiedler, the same judge who will sentence Amaro. Smith will stand trial beginning May 21.

Bad Blood

The murders culminated a bizarre feud between an eight member chapter of a Philadelphia area motorcycle club and a large and widely respected Orlando based motorcycle club. Both clubs call themselves the Warlocks. Members of the Philadelphia based club wear a Harpy patch. The Florida Warlocks wear a Phoenix which is often referred two as a “Warbird.” About half the members of the small Harpy chapter were former Florida Warlocks who had been kicked out the big club. At least three of those disgruntled ex-members openly expressed bitter grudges against their former club.

Maloney, the president of the Harpy Warlocks Florida chapter is a former Warbird Warlocks chapter president who shot and wounded a member of his old club outside a bar in Sanford, Florida a year before the VFW murders.