New Intimidation Trial For Three Hells Angels It’s ‘To See Justice Is Done’; Five Defendants At First Trial

Prosecutors have decided to retry three members of the Spokane Hells Angels for intimidating a witness and a public official.

City Deputy Prosecutor Rocco Treppiedi said Friday he’s ready to reschedule a trial sometime this year. It would be the second time in four months the county has prosecuted members of the motorcycle club for intimidation, a felony.

Treppiedi was the prosecutor when five Hells Angels went on trial in September for the same charges.

That trial ended when one juror asked others about seeing one of the Hells Angels drive past the courthouse the night the jury began deliberating. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Tari Eitzen declared a mistrial, saying the jurors could not discuss anything but the evidence presented at trial.

At the same time as the mistrial, Eitzen also dismissed intimidation charges against local Hells Angels president Rick Fabel and Joe Dye. She said prosecutors failed to present evidence that Dye and Fabel had intimidated a public official.

But she did not dismiss four other intimidation charges.

Those were filed earlier this year against Fabel and Timothy Myers for intimidating a witness, and against Michael Cultis and Michael Wooster for intimidating a public official.

Of those four, Treppiedi decided to drop the charge against Fabel because of “witness problems.”

He decided to retry the charges after talking to area law enforcement officials, including Sheriff John Goldman and Spokane Police Chief Terry Mangan.

They agreed, he said, that the charges needed to be retried, even though some have criticized the expense and effort.

Treppiedi said he had no idea how much money the first trial cost.

“But ultimately, this should be retried in order to see justice is done,” he said.

Playing a part in his decision was hearing three jurors from the last trial tell Treppiedi two of the Hells Angels would have been convicted if the jury had finished deliberating.

The acts of intimidation allegedly happened shortly before club secretary Myers went on trial last April for the shooting death of another man in a Hillyard bar fight.

Police say four members of the motorcycle club intimidated David Hearrean and his wife in a downtown lounge a month before Myers’ trial began.

Hearrean was the prosecutor in the Myers murder trial.

On a separate occasion, Myers supposedly intimidated Yolanda Fisette, one of the witnesses in his murder trial.

Myers was acquitted of the murder charge. The jury ruled that Myers acted in self-defense when he killed a rival motorcycle club member who had stolen Myers’ Hells Angels patch.

Defense Attorney Bevan Maxey said the retrial is “unfortunate, because once again, taxpayers’ money is going to be used for what I believe is a personal vendetta against this motorcycle club.”

Club President Fabel said he regarded the second trial as ludicrous.

“Look it up. If they get a conviction for this bogus intimidation charge, the time anyone serves is usually one to three months,” said Fabel. “And they’re spending a million dollars for that?”

The maximum penalty for intimidation is 10 years in prison and a fine.

, DataTimes