There have been two more federal lawsuits alleging false arrest filed against former Waco police chief Brent Stroman, Waco police detective Manuel Chavez and McLennan County, Texas District Attorney Abelino Reyna.

The suits were filed Tuesday by Austin attorney Millie L. Thompson on behalf of Thomas Paul Landers and William Brent Redding. Both Landers and Redding are members of the Escondidos Motorcycle Club. Both were arrested and charged with engaging in organized criminal activity after a murderous brawl in the parking lot of the Waco Twin Peaks restaurant in May, 2015. Landers was indicted by a McLennan County grand jury on November 10, 2015. Redding was indicted on March 23, 2016.

As with 15 previous lawsuits, Landers and Redding are also suing “John Doe…an unidentified employee of the Texas Department of Public Safety.”

Sam Sparks

The two new cases have been assigned to Federal District Judge Sam Sparks. Sparks issued a surreal ruling last month that none of the civil rights cases may proceed until the criminal cases brought by Reyna against the Twin Peaks defendants are resolved. Sparks thinks that if the defendants are found to have been falsely arrested in his court, Reyna will not be able to find them guilty of the charges for which he had them falsely arrested.

Really. Sparks’ principal legal basis for this ridiculous decision was a case titled Heck v. Humphrey. In that case, a man named Ron Heck killed his wife, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, then sued the state of Indiana in federal court for compensatory and punitive damages because he thought prosecutors had conducted an “unlawful, unreasonable, and arbitrary investigation” and had destroyed evidence that might prove his innocence. The Indiana Supreme Court upheld his conviction and a federal appeals court dismissed his suit for damages because he had actually been found guilty. Sparks thinks Heck’s case is analogous to what is happening in Waco.

So far, Reyna has manipulated the legal system to cover his tender parts – first by telling a grand jury to indict 154 defendants. The grand jurors did what Reyna told them to do – which is actually the opposite of what a grand jury is supposed to do. The jurors considered Reyna’s demand for the indictments as the illiterate Baptist congregant considers the Old Testament; by blind faith alone. Reyna has further covered himself by deliberately stalling the case.

The Waco DA obviously acted improperly when he ordered the arrests of 177 witnesses after the brawl and he has a financial interest in the outcome of the false arrest suits that have been filed against him. Lawyers in the case have tried to jump start the trials, so their clients can prove their innocence, by having Reyna removed. But just yesterday, Reyna’s former law partner, Judge Matt Johnson, ruled that Reyna could huff, puff and stall for as long as he wants. So the civil cases must petrify until all the criminal cases are adjudicated. That is likely to take at least 15 years.

John Doe

Depending on how many of those who were falsely arrested file suit in federal court, the potential damages against the named defendants, and also against Waco, McLennan County and, most importantly, the State of Texas could approach $1 billion. Because Waco isn’t one of the seven cities of Cibola, it is likely that only the state could pay that debt. That’s why it is important for the civil complainants, like Landers and Redding, to discover the identity of “John Doe.”

There is, of course, a John Doe. There might be several of them. Some John Does may even work for the Department of Justice which has even deeper pockets than the state of Texas.

There are John Does because, for one thing, authorities knew there was going to be a disturbance at the Twin Peaks that day even though virtually none of those who were arrested knew there was going to be a disturbance. Employees of the Texas Department of Public Safety erected a clandestine pole camera at seven o’clock on the morning of May 17, 2015 in order to video record the anticipated trouble. The police were there because unspecified but often cited “intelligence” told them to expect trouble. Texas Rangers were there because they expected trouble. It is probable that a policemen or independent contractor incited that trouble. But the complainants in federal court cannot discover those connections because Reyna, hiding behind Johnson’s robes, simply refuses to disclose what they are.

Sparks is as oblivious to this injustice as Marie Antoinette was to the plight of the poor. “Plaintiff argues that because his criminal case has not been set for trial, the civil case may be stayed for years,” Sparks wrote last month. “This delay, according to Plaintiff, creates three main problems: (1) Expiration of the statute of limitations with regard to the ‘John Doe’ Defendant; (2) loss of and inaccessibility to evidence over time; and (3) inability to conduct discovery on Plaintiff’s potential Monell claim.” (A so-called Monell claim would allow the complainants to sue the employers of the named defendants.)

Whether the complainants eventually get paid for their trouble depends on whether their lawyers can put a name to the legal place holder currently known as “John Doe.” Sparks is tone deaf to this. “Plaintiff’s counsel,” he snidely wrote last month, “at this point, should have had sufficient knowledge to determine who to sue.”

Landers And Redding

Landers and Redding both have millions of reasons to sue.

Landers’ complaint describes him as: “A 60-year-old native Texan, husband, father, grandfather, lobbyist, and motorcycle enthusiast. In the early part of his career, Landers was an executive chef and then restaurant owner. By May 17, 2015, Landers was employed by a Fortune 500 Company as a Senior Territory Produce Consultant, managing a multi-million-dollar account for the corporation. He was terminated from that position on May 22, 2015, during his incarceration for being present at Twin Peaks in Waco, Texas.”

“Beyond career,” the complaint continues, “Landers has been a motorcycle rights lobbyist for over a decade, authoring and advocating for bills related to the rights and safety of motorcyclists. Landers was the Chairman of the Legislative Task Force for the National Coalition of Motorcyclists. He has spearheaded bills in the Texas Legislature ranging from anti-profiling bills, bills that allocate funds for safety signs on freeways (‘share the road’), and other proposed legislation. To that end, he is a frequent visitor of Texas Senators like Kirk Watson, and has testified in committee at the Legislature on more than one occasion.”

Redding’s complaint describes him as “A native Texan, who grew up on a ranch in South Texas. He and his wife of 15-years have a 14-year-old daughter. He is a small business owner. Other than that, he is a regular, law-abiding, church-going, hardworking man. Riding motorcycles is one of the joys in his life.”

“On May 17, Redding was a member of the Escondidos Motorcycle Club, LLC. The Escondidos MC is a lobbyist-oriented club. As a member, Redding helped set up tables, hand-out flyers, and helped inform people about pending legislation related to motorcyclists. The club would also engage in a ‘legislative day’ with other clubs through the Texas Coalition of Clubs and Independents, where they would meet and advocate for certain legislation at the Capital in Austin, Texas. The club would also engage in philanthropic activities, including feeding the homeless at a soup kitchen, and adopting needy families for Christmas every year.”

All of these 17 lawsuits seek compensatory and punitive damages and reasonable attorney’s fees.

Neither Stroman, Chavez nor Reyna have yet responded to these two newest suits. John Doe is still in the wind. And Judge Sparks will be dead before any of these cases are tried.