New indictments returned against 3 more Twin Peaks bikers

Matthew Clendennen (left), Thomas Landers (center), and Cody Ledbetter. (Jail photos)
Matthew Clendennen (left), Thomas Landers (center), and Cody Ledbetter. (Jail photos)(KWTX)
Published: Aug. 16, 2017 at 12:28 PM CDT
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New indictments were returned Wednesday against three more of the bikers charged in the deadly May 2015 shootout at Waco’s Twin Peaks restaurant.

Matthew Clendennen, 32, of Hewitt, Thomas Landers, 61, of Georgetown, and Cody Ledbetter, 28, of Waco, were among the 177 bikers arrested after the May 17, 2015 shootout that left nine bikers dead and more than 20 others injured.

They were originally charged with engaging in organized crime, but the new indictments handed up Wednesday charge one count of engaging in organized criminal activity with the underlying offense of murder and one count of engaging in organized criminal activity with the underlying offense of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The three are set for trial this fall.

“We sincerely appreciate this grand jury’s careful consideration of the evidence in these cases,” McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna said Wednesday.

A new indictment was returned in June against Christopher Jacob Carrizal, 35, who will be first of the more than 150 bikers indicted in the melee to go on trial.

He was originally indicted on Nov. 10, 2015 for engaging in organized crime, but the new indictment charged Carrrizal with directing activities of a street gang, engaging in organized criminal activity with the underlying offense of murder and engaging in organized criminal activity with the underlying offense of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The superseding indictments returned in June were the most detailed of any so far issued in the case.

The indictment charging engaging in organized criminal activity (murder) linked Carrizal to the deaths of bikers Wayne Campbell, Matthew Smith, Charles Russell, Daniel Boyett, Jacob Rhyne, Richard Kirshner, Richard Jordan II, Manuel Rodriguez and Jesus Rodriguez.

The indictment charging in engaging in organized criminal activity (aggravated assault with a deadly weapon) linked Carrizal to attacks that left 18 other bikers injured.

The indictment charging directing activities of a criminal street gang alleged that Carrizal “as part of the identifiable leadership of a criminal street gang,” directed ‘the commission of or a conspiracy to commit murder and/or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, by members of a criminal street gang, Bandidos.”