Bikers’ attorneys argue against conspiracy charges

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Monday, Dec. 13, 2004 | 8:43 a.m.

Lawyers representing motorcycle gang members who allegedly participated in the deadly riot at the 2002 Laughlin River Run contend that charges of conspiracy against the bikers should be dismissed because, technically, the charges allege that rival gangs conspired together to hurt members of their own gangs.

The fight between the Mongols and Hells Angels at Harrah's Laughlin resulted in the deaths of 50-year-old Robert Emmet Tumelty, 27-year-old Jeramie Dean Bell and 43-year-old Anthony Salvador Barrera.

In addition to the murder charges filed in those deaths, all 14 defendants scheduled for trial on April 5 are facing two conspiracy charges. They face counts of conspiracy to commit battery and conspiracy to commit a challenge to fight. Both charges allege they acted with the intent to promote the activities of a criminal gang.

Defense attorneys contend the charges of conspiracy should be dismissed because by having the Hells Angels and Mongols defendants all charged under the same count of conspiracy, the prosecution is essentially saying members of each gang conspired together to hurt members of their own gang.

The lawyers also argued that case law states the results of a conspiracy must be "intentional" for the charges to be valid, which in this case isn't so.

For the conspiracy charges to be valid, a member of the Hells Angels would have had to have conspired with members of the Mongols to harm a member of the Hells Angels or vice versa, the defense lawyers argued.

Prosecutors contend the case law cited by the defense addresses the charge of aiding and abetting and not conspiracy. Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens said "unintentional consequences" do fall under the scope of conspiracy charges.

Owens said it was similar to the state's felony murder rule. Under the felony murder rule if a murder is committed during the commission of a felony, whether intentional or not, the individual committing the felony is held accountable for the murder.

District Judge Donald Mosley, who once again handled the daunting task of keeping two dozen or so lawyers in order for close to four hours, said it seemed the two parties "agreed to rumble" and the injuries that occur, foreseeable or not, could validate the conspiracy charges.

Mosley asked all interested parties to file briefs on the issue of the conspiracy charges for him to consider at another pretrial hearing scheduled for Jan. 13.

Another issue to be argued at that hearing will be whether the Clark County grand jury should have received an instruction regarding self-defense.

Several of the defense attorneys on Friday said if the jury was given an instruction regarding self-defense many if not all of the charges facing their clients would have been dropped.

Mosley asked the attorneys to file briefs on the issue. Mosley said the "entire procedural scheme" for the trial, which by some accounts could take as long as six months, would also be discussed at the Jan. 13 hearing.

A Clark County grand jury returned a 73-count indictment April 19 against seven members of the Hells Angels and two members of the Mongols.

The original indictment alleges that Hells Angels members Calvin Schaefer, Sohn Regas, Dale Leedom, James Hannigan, Raymond Foakes, Maurice Eunice, Rodney Cox, along with Mongols Alexander Alcantar and Roger Pinney, entered Harrah's in Laughlin with the intention of causing or provoking a fight "to assist the activities of the criminal gang."

Hells Angels member Frederick Dennis Donahue and Mongols members Kenneth Dysart, Pedro Martinez Jr., Victor Ramirez, and Benjamin Leyva were indicted in June, bringing the total number of defendants in the case to 14.