Three bikers jailed with more
than 170 others for more than a week and a half following a deadly
shootout at Twin Peaks were going home to Austin on Thursday, after
winning significant bond reductions in an agreement with the McLennan
County District Attorney’s Office.
State District Judges Matt
Johnson and Ralph Strother approved bond reductions from $1 million to
$25,000 each for Jonathan Lopez, Theron Rhoten and Ryan Craft, members
of the Vice Grip Motorcycle Club who ride antique Harley-Davidson
motorcycles.
The judges said they met with
District Attorney Abel Reyna Thursday and agreed to consider
significantly lower bonds if attorneys for the bikers and Reyna’s office
could reach accords.
“The DA’s office is going to
make a good-faith effort to try to work out some agreements on bond
reductions,” Strother said.
The three Austin residents were
released on bail under the same conditions as two other bikers released
previously after posting $1 million bonds each.
Some of those conditions
include requiring the men to wear ankle monitors, restricting their
travel, setting curfews and prohibiting them from returning to McLennan
County except for court appearances.
Waco attorney Jonathan Sibley
represented the Austin trio and negotiated their releases with the DA’s
office. He hopes charges eventually will be dismissed against his
clients.
“We are just happy that we
were able to work with the district attorney’s office to reach an
agreement to lower the bonds,” Sibley said. “We ultimately think the
facts will show they had no involvement in anything related to this
incident and we are happy to get them out and let everything play itself
out. But we think the facts will show they weren’t involved in this in
any way. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
He said the three rode from
Austin to attend the meeting of the Texas Confederation of Clubs and
Independents, a biker advocacy group, and had only just arrived when the
shooting started.
McLennan County has been
spending roughly $8,000 a day to house the 175 arrested bikers, many of
whom are claiming civil rights violations for unlawful incarcerations
based on guilt by association.
