Waco, Texas (CNN)A judge declared a mistrial Friday in the case of Jake Carrizal, a leader of the Bandidos motorcycle group who was charged with organizing the Twin Peaks biker brawl that left nine people dead in May 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA9ON67oH5Q
Carrizal faced two counts of engaging in organized criminal activity and one count of directing the actions of a criminal gang.
A mistrial was declared on all three counts on Friday after the jury was unable to reach unanimous verdicts on any of the counts.
The Twin Peaks biker brawl shootout stands as one of the most notorious chapters in outlaw motorcycle biker history.
Carrizal, the president of the Dallas Bandidos chapter, is the first biker whose case has seen the inside of a Waco courtroom. Carrizal faced up to life in prison if he was convicted. Prosecutors have faced scathing criticism from the bikers, attorneys and families of those arrested for taking so long to begin the trials.
On May 17, 2015, a simmering feud between the Bandidos and Cossacks motorcycle clubs erupted into a wild shootout that ended with nine dead bikers and about 20 others wounded.
Nearly 180 bikers were arrested in a roundup that day, and months later 154 bikers would be indicted on the exact same criminal charge of engaging in organized criminal conduct.
Carrizal spoke exclusively with CNN last year for the documentary “Biker Brawl: Inside the Texas Shootout.” Carrizal said the Bandidos were ambushed and surprised by the Cossacks bikers, who weren’t expected to be at the Twin Peaks restaurant that day.
“We were ambushed in a war zone,” Carrizal told CNN. “I had never been that scared in my life.”
In Carrizal’s interview with CNN and with investigators after the brawl, the Bandidos biker said he didn’t have a firearm. But prosecutors presented evidence that Carrizal had a small handgun that he fired twice at a Cossacks biker who had fired shots at him while he was on the ground. Carrizal said he acted in self defense.
“I am a Bandido. I’m not a criminal,” Carrizal told the jury during almost two days of testimony in the case. “I’m hoping the jury can see that.”
The Bandidos are considered part of the 1% outlaw biker world. It’s a label that has repeatedly made the club’s members targets of law enforcement investigators.