Posted on 12/07/2005 8:37:47 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
Hells Angels clear legal hurdle to sue city, county officers
Supreme Court denies review of earlier ruling
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for the San Jose chapter of the Hells Angels to sue city and county officers for killing three dogs and hauling away truckloads of items, including motorcycles and part of a driveway, during 1998 raids.
The court, without comment, denied review of a lower-court ruling that said police who searched the homes of motorcycle club members during a murder investigation might have caused needless destruction and violated the residents' property rights.
"You just can't treat American citizens like this,'' said Karen Snell, an attorney in San Francisco who represented the Hells Angels. "These were citizens, taxpayers, parents and dog-lovers. ... It's not illegal to be a Hells Angels member.''
Santa Clara County's lawyer, Deputy County Counsel Aryn Harris, noted that the Supreme Court granted hearings in only a small fraction of the appeals it received. "We're not inferring anything with respect to the merits of our case,'' she said.
The simultaneous searches by police and sheriff's deputies in January 1998 arose from the fatal beating in August 1997 of Kevin Sullivan, a customer at the Pink Poodle, a strip club west of San Jose. The club's manager, David Kuzinich, and a bouncer, Steve Tausan, a Hells Angel, were later tried for murder and acquitted in 1999 on the grounds of self-defense.
Officers who went to members' homes were looking, among other things, for symbols that would show the Hells Angels was a gang, a circumstance that could have added three years to Tausan's sentence if he had been convicted.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Someone out there may find this funny but The Hells Angels are well known litigators and have some of the best lawyers money can find.
> hauling away truckloads of items, including motorcycles and part of a driveway...
Driveway?
Aren't the H.A. basically an organized crime group with good PR?
"> hauling away truckloads of items, including motorcycles and part of a driveway..."
And killed their dogs... It does sound a bit like the police were trying to make a statement rather than take forensic samples for testing.
I wonder how many cops you take when you are gonna take the Hell's Angels motorcycles away? I would think you would take a lot of cops...
Dennis Kucinich manages a t!tty bar?
(sorry, half asleep)
Only if you believe Hollywood Hype.
The Hell's Angel's... like any large group of people has bad apples in it. But for the most part they are blue collar workers and law abiding folks who like to ride Harley's. There is a criminal element sure. But they as a whole are rather good people who will help out one another in times of need.
I know a number of Angel's.... none of them are "criminals"
It ain't illegal to be a biker.
Yet.
Almost, but not quite yet.
Viva NCOM!
Basically, what we have here, is the cops using the system to "punish" the boys.
This means that we throw them into the legal grinder, knowing that we can't win, but hey, at the end of the day, look at the mess we made of their lives for awhile!
Cops do it all the time.
Please.. I live in Ontario, CA. Fontanna the birthplace of the Hell's Angels is right next door. They are a largely criminal organazation and like the Crips and the Bloods they are primarily interested in drug trafficking, paticularly methamphetamine.
Hell, there was a shootout between rival biker gangs in Norco in which a firefighter was shot just a few days ago, at a friggin TOY DRIVE.
Yeah, and Tookie only formed the Crips as a book reading club.
The Hell's Angels originally formed by WW2 bomber crews. Unfortunately, in the 60's they got into drug dealing and prostitution. Of course not all are bad guys. SOme just buy into the bad guy image and join. BUt, the group as a whole is a gang as much as MS 13 is.
Yeah
Just good ole boys
never meaning no harm
Been in trouble with the law
since the day they were born.
Sure they are
Officers who went to members' homes were looking, among other things, for symbols that would show the Hells Angels was a gang, a circumstance that could have added three years to Tausan's sentence if he had been convicted. At the direction of Deputy Sheriff Robert Linderman, they seized every item with an insignia, including jewelry, plaques, photos, motorcycles, a refrigerator door, a mailbox and part of a driveway outside a clubhouse that club members had signed when the cement was wet.
San Jose police shot and killed a 100-pound Rottweiler that came at them in a yard of one home, and they fatally shot two large mastiff-like dogs that were inside a fence at another home.
The court labeled as "utterly irrational'' officers' explanation that they had shot two of the dogs to keep them from barking and awakening their owners.
Hmmm...so the cops orchestrated breaking and entering, theft, and malicious destruction of property (the fenced-in dogs). Just to show that the Hell's Angels is - surprise! - a gang, to potentially enhance a criminal sentence.
There is clearly a sizable criminal element in the Hell's Angels (I mean real, violent crime: prostitution and selling plants don't count). I understand they're a big problem in Canada. But all cases have to be judged individually. In this case, the court ruled that these particular cops should not have done some of these particular things against these particular people. That's all.
Everyone needs to be held accountable for wrongdoing - whether gang member or cop (but I may be repeating myself).
LOL!!! Well, we didn't realize they were dog-lovers. Pardon the mistake.
Hooligan ping . . .
If what you say is true, then why is anyone [ former or current ] who is associated with law enforcement prohibited from joining? This prohibition is enforced with in depth background checks for any 'prospect'.
HA's have long been associated with criminal enterprise including drug trafficking, protection, and stolen property. They are different from the Gypsy Jokers, Banditos and other 1% ers only in that they have been PR with their 'toy rides' etc.
"or symbols that would show the Hells Angels was a gang"
WTF????
here in canada, they control the bud trade. B.C. bud. Due to this income,they control loads of real estate on Vancouver Island as well as greater Van. They appear legitimate. As far as crime groups go, they are the number one penetrator of the ports for international shipments such as cocaine. They control escorts and prostitution.
if you take some of their market in any endeavor you have to defend your actions with a gun or concede.They have entered into agreements with certain asian groups under certain circumstances.
they been doing things like this for over 50 years
and someone is looking for evidence they are a gang?
jokers.
Around here (Massachusetts), it is 100% criminal 100% of the time. They make their money from drugs and stealing motorcycles. About every ten years there is a raid and the chapter leadership and key players get fifteen to thirty... then it takes about five years to reform, and five more years for the Feds to be ready to bust 'em.
In the plea agreement for the last batch, they admitted to drug trafficking and agreed to surrender their clubhouse.
The dogs which they keep in the clubhouse are vicious, underfed and abused animals that are used as a part of their violent image, to intimidate people.
Blue collar workers, my eye. Dog lovers, my foot.
I never understood why the Feds didn't put a top prosecutor on them and bust them for RICO.
As far as high-quality lawyers, well, this is just one more example where lawyers by and large are low-quality human beings. But they're not as low as the slime they work for in this case. They ought to have to live with these scumbags when they help them beat a rap.
I will say two things for the Hell's Angels -- they do have in-group standards and morality, but it does not apply to anyone outside their group, who are all seen as targets. And they are, God bless 'em, patriotic.
But they are an "outlaw" gang for a reason, because they enjoy committing crimes, particularly violent crimes.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
My brother, the one who taught me how to ride, was a Hell's Angel. I happen to know a LOT about them. Apparently, I know a lot about the ugly underbelly you either have no idea of, or you refuse to see it.
There is an old story about an elderly lady who prayed God would supply her needs. A local ne'er-do-well ruffian heard her prayer as he passed her window.
Deciding to teach her that there is no God, he went to the store and bought her all kinds of foods. Steaks, fruits, cereals, just about everything he could afford.
He returned to the old lady's door. Left the groceries. Rang the doorbell, and hid behind the bushes to see her reaction.
The old lady opened the door and to her surprise, she found the food...enough for and entire month. She openly praised God for His goodness, to which the hood stepped from behind the bushes. "Lady, you are crazy. I am the one who gave you those groceries," he mocked.
The lady replied, "Sometimes, to do His Will, God uses devils."
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