The widely misreported, entirely ridiculous Mongol Nation trial resumes Tuesday in a federal court in Santa Ana, California.
On December 13, after listening to
Assistant United States Attorneys Steven Reuben Welk and Christopher
Michael Brunwin and a parade of prosecution witnesses bloviate,
exaggerate and lie for five weeks; and after listening to a parade of
defense witnesses that included media personality Jesse Ventura (Ventura
was once a Mongol named “Dirty” Jim Janos) protest that “it isn’t like
that in motorcycle clubs at all;” a nine-woman, three-man jury found the
turn of phrase “Mongol Nation” guilty of five racketeering acts
including conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine a decade
ago; the beating death of a man named Leon Huddleston in 2007, and the
attempted murder of two Hells Angel prospects in 2008.
The Mongols Motorcycle Club was not on
trial. “Mongol Nation” which prosecutors told the jury comprised Mongols
patch holders, prospects, hang arounds and “club associates,” was on
trial. Not even the prosecution’s own witnesses could agree on what a
“Mongols associate” was.
Mongol Nation
The idea of putting “Mongol Nation” on
trial originated with a federal district judge named Otis D. Wright II.
Accusing “Mongol Nation” made the subsequent prosecution possible for
technical, legal reasons. The short version is that racketeering
prosecutions require a “RICO person” and a “RICO enterprise.” In this
case the Mongols Motorcycle Club is the RICO enterprise and Mongol
Nation is the named defendant rather than some actual person the law can
put in jail.
Judge Wright eventually threw in the
towel and resigned from the case. He literally threw his hands in the
air and told the Mongols lawyer, Joe Yanny, “You win Mr. Yanny.” The
current judge, David O. Carter eventually inherited the case and
dismissed it. Welk and Brunwin appealed and a couple of years ago the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided that there was sufficient
distinction between the Mongols Motorcycle Club and Mongols Nation for
the case to go to trial.
So it did and Mongol Nation lost. Nobody
is going to jail. There is nobody to put in jail. Mongol Nation cannot
be imprisoned because Mongol Nation is an idea. About the best the
government can hope for is to put tangible expressions of that idea,
like patches and tee-shirts, in virtual jail. And, that is what this new
phase of the Mongol Nation case will be about.
Forbidden Speech
Welk, who is “chief” of the asset
forfeiture section in the United States District Court for the Central
District of California, and Brunwin will try to describe certain
tangible assets that Mongol Nation used to further its crimes. Those
assets will probably include any motorcycles the federal government is
holding that have already been seized from Mongols, firearms and some
vests. All the world expects Welk will try to seize ownership of the
Mongols name and insignia and try to forbid the motorcycle club from
using them.
For all practical purposes, the jury is
being asked to consider whether the Mongols Motorcycle Club is good or
bad. That’s what most motorcycle club trials boil down to: Is club “A,”
“B,” or “C” good or bad? What sort of men join bad motorcycle clubs?
Good men or bad men? Let’s take a vote!
Given its previous verdict, this jury
seems likely to swallow whole the idea that the Mongols Motorcycle Club
is “bad,” that it should not be allowed to exist, and that the
government can, essentially, outlaw it by forbidding its members to wear
their club insignia.
It is essentially a totalitarian idea: Some speech is allowed, some speech is forbidden and random juries decide which is which.
The forfeiture phase of this trial
should be over this week. Judge Carter may then rule on the
constitutionality of the jury’s verdict.
