OFF THE WIRE
RENO, Nev. —Citing the potential to taint the jury, a state judge told
prosecutors in Reno on Tuesday not to refer to the Hells Angels or Vagos as
motorcycle (*club*) during an upcoming trial for suspects in a 2011 shootout at
a casino in neighboring Sparks.
Washoe County District Court Judge Connie
Steinheimer said that referring to the rival entities as outlaw (*club*) could
deny defendants a fair trial. But she also warned defense lawyers not to
emphasize that Hells Angels are formally incorporated in the U.S. as the Hells
Angels Motorcycle Club.
"From now on, no (*club*), no clubs," the judge
ruled during a hearing on a series of pretrial motions for the joint trial of a
member of each (*club*) set to begin July 22.
"Use proper names. Refer to
the Hells Angels as the Hells Angels and the Vagos as the Vagos," she
said.
Ernesto Gonzalez, 53, president of the Vagos chapter in Nicaragua,
pleaded not guilty to open murder in the September 2011 death of Jeffrey
Pettigrew, president of the Hells Angels chapter in San Jose, Calif.
In
another homicide, a Santa Cruz man who was also Hells Angels member was slain
while attending Pettigrew's funeral in San Jose. Steve Tausan, nicknamed Mr.
187, was fatally shot at the funeral in October 2011.
Richard Schonfeld,
a lawyer for Villagrana, said witnesses and prosecutors in Gonzalez' trial
referenced the Hells Angels motorcycle (*club*) "probably 50 times in two hours"
of testimony on Monday.
"You can't continuously refer to the 'Hells
Angels (*club*), Hells Angels (*club*), Hells Angels (*club*)' during the whole
trial, and then say to the jury it now is your duty to decide whether the Hells
Angels is a motorcycle (*club*)," he said Tuesday. "It is inherently
prejudicial."
"Our position is they are the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.
It's not arguing the case. That is their name," he said.
But Steinheimer
said that in the same way that "(*club*)" carries a negative connotation,
labeling an organization as a "club" can have a positive connotation and could
be used in arguments to skew the jury's viewpoint as well. She said she would
allow the lawyers to use the phrases during closing arguments, and for expert
witnesses to offer their opinions as to whether a particular group operated as a
(*club*).
Cesar Villagrana, a member of the Hells Angels, pleaded not
guilty to attempted murder. His lawyer said he was only defending himself and
Pettigrew when gunfire erupted and turned the casino floor of John Ascuaga's
Nugget into a shooting gallery during a weekend biker festival in Reno and
Sparks. He's accused of shooting a Vagos member in the leg.
Assistant
district attorney Karl Hall said he was confident the judge could differentiate
when the phrases were being abused during the trial. He said the (*club*)
element is necessary to prove additional penalties are warranted as part of a
criminal "(*club*) enhancement" under Nevada law, and that ignoring that would
preclude the reading of the indictment at trial.
"We have charged murder
and there are victims and we have charged (*club*) enhancement," he
argued.
Steinheimer said at the close of two days of hearings Tuesday
that she wasn't ready to rule on several other motions, including the
prosecution's requests to bar (*club*) colors and symbols from the courthouse
and to keep the jurors anonymous for fear of intimidation or
retaliation.
Defense lawyers, meanwhile, have asked her to relax what
they say is an exaggerated security presence in and around the courtroom that
could potentially impact the jury's outlook. The lawyers also want to suppress
statements Gonzalez allegedly made when he initially was detained by campus
police in San Francisco on Sept. 29, 2011 about his fear that rival assassins
were hot on his trail.
The judge said she'd take those motions under
advisement and rule in the coming days or weeks.
Sgt. Wade Mullen, a
20-year veteran of the Washoe County sheriff's department in charge of
courthouse security, testified Monday in support of the added security that
includes at times nearly a dozen uniformed officers, police dogs and a second
security check with magnetic wands at the courtroom door in addition to the
metal detector at the courthouse entrance.
"If you paid off a janitor, he
could secure a gun in a bathroom or somewhere in the courthouse," Mullen
said.
He also urged a strict ban on (*club*) colors, something he said
only fuels animosity between "rival (*club*) that don't like each
other."
"When you wear colors, you are throwing it in the face of the
other (*club*)," he said. "My fear is it will continue to build until somebody
looks at each other the wrong way and a fight will break out. And I can't have
that in here."
Schonfeld said during Tuesday's arguments that keeping the
jurors' names secret from even the defense team "is a drastic
measure."
But prosecutors said they have provided numerous incidents of
members of both (*club*) trying to intimidate jurors and threatening
witnesses.
http://www.ksbw.com/news/central-california/hollister-gilroy/Judge-Don-t-call-Hells-Angels-Vagos-outlaw-(*club*)/-/5738758/19291094/-/hk9kcl/-/index.html#ixzz2NNU2nVt5
