agingrebel.com
McLennan County District Attorney
Abelino Reyna thinks repeated questions about his integrity by “biker
lawyers” and “disgruntled former employee” are funny.
Since the first “biker brawl” trial
ended with a hung jury, Reyna has been repeatedly called deluded and
corrupt by people who would not seem to have any particular ax to grind
with the small town politician.
In fact, it looks like there is probable
cause to believe that Reyna demanded that almost 200 men and women be
falsely arrested after a tragically botched, biker sting operation (part
of a clandestine joint investigation of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club by
the FBI, DEA. ATF and the Texas DPS) at a time when he was under
investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for corruption.The
only direct evidence of quid prop quo is that the FBI investigation has not yet found a conclusion.
It also looks like Reyna accepted bribes
to dismiss charges against people who were justifiably arrested; that
his chief assistant was spying on him for the FBI; that he was aware of
and protecting a “gambling operation;” that he flaunted his cocaine use
and that he may have acquired some of his cocaine from a police evidence
room; that he consorted with and did favors for drug dealers; that he
deliberately and repeatedly hid evidence that would tend to prove the
innocence of people he hoped to convict; that he committed perjury and
that he suborned perjury.
No Big Thing
None of this has sparked outrage in
Waco, Texas or the rest of the country and it hasn’t attracted anything
approaching the interest, speculation, misinformation or litigation that
the so-called “Twin Peaks Biker Brawl” attracted. Reyna sees all of the
smoke and flames that now surround him from the perspective of an
ambitious politician.
Last month, when he announced he was
running for reelection, Reyna said, “After seven years on the job, the
record is pretty clear. Violent criminals are finally getting the
justice they deserve, crime is down and our streets are safer, and we’ve
come in under budget every year. The criminal defense bar, disgruntled
former employees, and a bunch of out-of-towners from Dallas can try and
smear my name all they like, but the facts don’t lie.”
Recently, Reyna has been metaphorically
slugging it out with a couple of Twin Peaks defense lawyers named David
Conrad Beyer and Brian Bouffard. Yesterday the two Fort Worth attorneys
filed and released an affidavit by former Waco detective Sherry Kingrey.
Kingrey doesn’t have an obvious motive for lying about Reyna.
Reyna reacted to her affidavit with a statement to Waco television station KCEN that argued:
“The affidavit of Ms. Kingrey secured by
a biker defense lawyer and the four-year-old allegations it contains
are equally not true and even more laughable than those previously
asserted. The only calls I remember from the night of Twin Peaks were to
the Waco Police Chief, individuals from my office, my wife, and a
current restaurant owner to arrange for food to be brought to our hard
working law enforcement men and women. Had Ms. Kingrey been at the
scene, she could have enjoyed a tasty chicken sandwich and fries. As for
my conversation with Detective Chavez, her affidavit would mean that
not only myself but at least two other assistant DA’s who witnessed our
conversation are also not telling the truth. Further, had she believed
this was important, why did she not address it in any reports while an
active officer?”
Reyna might be more credible if he was a
little more bold with his lies: If instead of weasel words like “the
only calls I remember,” he came right out and said “the only calls I
made.”
Kingrey told KCEN, through her
lawyer, that her statement was true, that she was at the Twin Peaks that
night and that she had had a “cabbage roll.”
Pardon For Pay
Today Bouffard filed and released a
letter on Reyna’s official stationary dated December 16. 1013 in which
Reyna asks the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole to fully pardon Kevin
Chirafis. Reyna admits in the letter that he met Chirafis through his
uncle Sammy Citrano and describes Chirafis as his “good friend.”
The letter substantiates an allegation
made by Reyna’s former top assistant, Greg Davis, in an affidavit filed
in another Twin Peaks case on November 10. Davis wrote:
“In addition to having cases dismissed
for political and/or personal reasons, I also know that Reyna wrote at
least one letter -requesting .a full pardon for a campaign supporter’s
relatoive. For example, even though the DA’s office had a policy of
opposing early parole for offenders, Reyna wrote a letter in December
2013 requesting a full pardon for Sammy Citrano’s nephew Kevin Chirafis
who had been convicted of the felony offense of Manufacture and Delivery
of a Controlled Substance in Brazos County.”
At the time, Reyna dismissed his former assistant’s claim about the pardon as “fake news.”
