1st trial stemming from Texas biker fight ends in mistrial
WACO, Texas — A judge declared a mistrial Friday in a case involving a leader of the Bandidos biker gang after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked in the first trial stemming from the deadliest shootout between biker groups in U.S. history.
Jurors had deliberated for 14 hours in the trial of Christopher “Jake” Carrizal, the president of the Bandidos’ Dallas chapter. Carrizal had testified that a rival biker club, the Cossacks, provoked the May 17, 2015, brawl and gunfight at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco that left nine bikers dead.
The mistrial leaves unclear the prospects faced by other defendants charged in the shootout. Experts had been looking toward a verdict from the Carrizal trial as an indicator of how solid the government’s cases against other leaders and dozens of members might be.
Local police arrested 177 bikers after the mayhem, and more than 150 people were eventually charged.