WACO, TX — On Wednesday, Houston criminal defense attorney Paul Looney filed a petition in the McLennan County District Court to return property to those arrested during the Twin Peaks shooting in Waco.
During the incident on May 17, 2015, nine people died, 23 were hospitalized and 177 were arrested.
Looney represented six of those bikers, but as far as he knows, no one involved in this case has had their property returned.
"I would love to quit coming to McLennan County over these biker debacle cases," Looney said. "There's just a never ending mess over here and I don't know why that keeps happening."
Looney said much of the property is being held by various law enforcement agencies, although every case has been dismissed.
Only one person, Jacob Carrizal, was tried, resulting in a hung jury.
"Now, nobody knows where it all is, nobody is bothering to try and get it back to them," Looney said. "It doesn't belong to the government."
Under Looney's petition, the court would appoint a Special Master to oversee the return of that property, which he said includes clothing, cars, wallets and lawfully owned weapons.
"There are hundreds of cell phones," Looney said. "I don't know anybody had in somebody's pocket, but somebody needs to go find this stuff and get it back to the rightful owner."
He added that the state believes some of the property may be helpful in ongoing federal civil litigation, but he said that doesn't justify them holding on to something that doesn't belong to them.
McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson said right after those cases were dismissed, he received a preservation letter from another attorney.
Johnson said there's a defendant involved in a wrongful death lawsuit in Dallas and they can't let go of any property until that's wrapped up, or until a court order demands them to do it sooner.
"We've got a lot of property stored and we're anxious to get it back," Johnson said. "We cannot release property right now. Hopefully, here in the not so distant future, we'll get the green light from the judge up in Dallas or somebody and get the property back to these folks."
