Highwaymen dispute over jury pool denied

MCs in the News

Paul Egan / The Detroit News

Detroit -- Outlaw motorcycle gangs are not known for their racial diversity.

But white members of the Highwaymen Motorcycle Club set to stand trial Thursday on racketeering charges want the charges dismissed or the trial delayed, arguing there aren't enough blacks and Wayne County residents in the jury pool.

U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds denied the motion at a hearing Tuesday, but defendants said an appeal is planned.

Defendant Gary Ball Jr. brought the motion, arguing he is entitled to a jury representing a cross-section of the community, but his will be drawn from a pool that underrepresents "African-Americans, other minorities and low-income residents of Wayne County."

Ball, who is white, was joined in his motion by defendants Leonard "Dad" Moore, Michael "Cocoa" Cichetti, Joseph "Little Joe" Whiting, Gerald Peters, Michael Toney, Keith Hood, Jeff Pittman and Anthony Clark, who are all white, and Aref "Steve" Nagi, who is Yemeni.

Underrepresentation of blacks on federal juries in Detroit has been an issue in recent trials involving former Detroit City Councilman Alonzo Bates, prominent Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger and political consultant Sam Riddle.

Wayne County residents make up almost 40 percent of the Eastern District of Michigan but only 24 percent of the jury pool, resulting in an underrepresentation of blacks, who mostly live in Wayne County, court records show.

Fieger attorney Michael Dezsi, who researched the issue for Fieger's campaign finance case, which ended in acquittal, and Bates' appeal of his theft conviction, which was denied, argued the motion.

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