OFF THE WIRE
agingrebel.com
There were six more guilty pleas today in the Hells Angels racketeering case
in South Carolina titled United States versus Bifield and Others. Nine
defendants have now pled guilty to one of the accusations the government made in
a superseding indictment unsealed last September 19. Eleven defendants in the
case are going to trial.
Richard Thrower, Frank Enriquez, Jr., Johanna Looper, Ronald Dean Byrum, Jr.
James Rhodus and Bruce Ranson Wilson pled guilty today. The plea deals were
signed yesterday. Looper and Rhodus asked that their plea agreements be “filed
in open record” and Rhodus signed a public “statement of acceptance and
responsibility” in which he stated: “James’s belief, based upon his experience,
is that the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (worldwide) and South Carolina Nomads
are not a criminal enterprise. James Rhodus further states his money laundering
crime was not committed or done in any manner whatsoever on behalf of or as part
of his participation in activities of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club of which
he is a prospective member.” Rhodus also stated that “he has not and will not
under any circumstance cooperate with the government or testify for the
government.”
Secret Justice
The plea agreements made by Thrower, Enriquez, Byrum and Wilson remain
sealed. Trent Allen Brown pled guilty December 18 and his deal is also
secret.
The lead defendant in the case, Daniel Bifield, and his wife pled guilty on
January 3. They both asked that their plea deals be filed publically.
Daniel Bifield, Richard Thrower, Frank Enriquez, Jr. and Johanna Looper all
pled guilty to “Racketeering Conspiracy” which is punishable by up to 20 years
in prison. Lisa Bifield pled guilty to possession of a firearm in furtherance of
drug trafficking and could be sentenced to up to five years. Brown and Byrum
both pled guilty to “Narcotics Conspiracy.” Rhodus pled guilty to money
laundering and Wilson confessed to an illegal firearms sale.
Mark William Baker, David Channing Oiler, Bruce James Long, Robert David
Pryor, James Frederick Keach, Jr., Donald Boersma, Kerry Chitwood, Carlos
Hernandez, Thomas McManus Plyler, Jamie Hobbs Long and Somying Anderson will
begin trial February 11.
Prosecutorial Games
The case is remarkably rushed for a biker racketeering case. When the trial
for the eleven remaining defendants begins defense attorneys will have had
exactly 150 days to prepare their defenses since the release of the superseding
indictment. Total government evidence disclosed to date amounts to more than two
terabytes of data. Most of that “evidence” is irrelevant to the case.
Prosecutors have called this noise “evidence” as a way to conceal pertinent
evidence in the case in the same way that a needle may be hidden in a haystack
or a leaf may be hidden in a forest. As recently as December 4 prosecutors
completed what one defense attorney described as “another massive evidence
disclosure that included 5,882 photographs, 137 audio clips and 20,851 pages of
phone records.” Additional evidence may be hidden from defense attorneys until
up to five days before trial.
In a motion filed six days ago prosecutors asked District Court Judge Cameron
McGowan Currie to forbid defenders to use entrapment as a defense even though
the same prosecutors have publically described the events that led to the
defendants’ arrests as a “sting.”
