California - SANTA CRUZ, Jury acquits Live Oak man charged in rival motorcycle gang fight

OFF THE WIRE
By Stephen Baxter - Santa Cruz Sentinel
A jury acquitted Thomas Froberg of Live Oak on Tuesday. He was on trial... »
SANTA CRUZ - A jury on Tuesday acquitted a Live Oak man charged with brawling with members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club on Front Street.
The jury deliberated for roughly five hours on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, weighing a charge against Thomas Froberg for fighting in public and a related allegation of participating in a criminal street gang.
Tears came to Froberg's eyes after the jury read their verdict of not guilty. Froberg has no other felony convictions, and he would have faced one to three years in state prison had he been convicted.
He was not held in custody during the trial.
"I think that the jury came to the correct decision," said public defender Mark Briscoe, who represented Froberg in the case.
"This was a case where there was whole lot of conflicting information, and I think the jury took seriously the concept that we don't convict people in this country who are not beyond a reasonable doubt," Briscoe said.
Froberg, 37, is a member of the Vagos motorcycle club, which prosecutors said were in a turf war with Hells Angels club members who have long claimed Santa Cruz County as their territory.
Froberg had been accused of participating in a mid-day, Jan. 27 fight at Front Street just north of Soquel Avenue.
The defense acknowledged in court that Froberg drove a white, Chevy Astrovan south on Front Street and swerved into the opposite lane of traffic to the sidewalk in front of the pharmacy's parking lot.
Froberg exchanged obscenities with two Hells Angels members then attacked one of them, prosecutor Charlie Baum alleged in the trial. Several witnesses who were in the parking lot and on Front Street testified in court - although the defense argued that their recollections conflicted.
During the trial, the defense showed bloody pictures of Froberg and said he was attacked with a hammer. Briscoe said Froberg acted in self defense, and that the witnesses' stories did not match or were not enough to convict Froberg.
The defense also asserted that Froberg was not a hard-core Vagos member because after the fight he made statements to police.
Prosecutor Baum had argued that Froberg fought the Hells Angels to show moxie to other members of the Vagos motorcycle club, and he commemorated it with a tattoo. A tattoo on Froberg's left wrist depicts brass knuckles with a green background - the Vagos' color.
It was disputed in court whether the Vagos are a "criminal" street gang. State and federal law enforcement agencies have classified both the Hells Angels and Vagos as outlaw motorcycle clubs participating in criminal activities.
Baum said Tuesday that he was disappointed with the verdict.
"But if that's the will of the community to have people fighting in downtown, then OK," Baum said facetiously.
The trial started Nov. 8 and lasted five days, with a recess for Veterans Day.

As the 12-member jury deliberated, they asked attorneys for more information on the legal definition of self defense.

"This is proof of the jury system working," Briscoe said. "The system's not perfect, but it's the best we have."