Hells' Angels lawyer calls arrest unconstitutional
Thursday, 07/22/04
Massachusettes - In a scene all too familiar to most motorcycle club members and even some independants, two members of the Hells Angels were pulled over by police on a fishing expedition while they were headed to the store for ice.
Police say they were cracking down on the local chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club with the arrest on Route 2A of two South Carolina members last week. All over the United States, it's common for police to stop bikers on fabricated or real minor traffic offenses, in order for the chance to search the vehicle.
Defense said state police detectives and the FBI took "unconstitutional" measures when they pulled over Hells Angels members Mario Sepulveda, 45, and Jonathan Davenport, 26, last Saturday.
"They were going to a store to buy ice," said Boston lawyer Michael F. Natola, who has defended Hells Angels members in New England for 26 years. "I'm sure that they probably had their colors on. The Hells Angels are not shy about advertising the fact that they're Hells Angels. They're very proud of it," Natola said.
Natola scoffed when asked about the cocaine police said they found on Sepulveda, calling the substance, "a minuscule amount of cocaine. To characterize it as drugs is going a bit too far." Along with a drug possession charge for Sepulveda, he is charged with illegally carrying a loaded Smith & Wesson .380 semi-automatic handgun. Davenport is charged with illegally carrying a loaded Glock .40 semi-automatic handgun and possession of a dangerous weapon, a double-edged knife.
Natola said the men are licensed to carry their guns in South Carolina, but admitted that license may not be valid in Massachusetts. "That's the big question, and hopefully we're never going to have to face this [because] I fully intend to suppress the evidence," Natola said. "It's unconstitutional, and we intend to prove that."
When asked about the charges last Wednesday, Sepulveda said, "We weren't carrying guns," but referred any further comment to Natola. "I'm not at liberty to say anything about this," Sepulveda added, after returning a phone call made to his home in Greenville, S.C., a city at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. "These things can be a runaway train."
The comment most likely referring to the practice of police and prosecutors to load up the defendent with as many charges as they can manufacture in order to pressure the accused into pleading guilty to just one or two of the charges.
The two Hells Angels members were "visiting friends in the area," Natola said. "Law enforcement has all sorts of what they call intelligence sources, and it may very well be that those sources led them to believe that these guys from South Carolina are in the area so they send the quote unquote gang unit," Natola argued. "And of course nothing happened until the police created the happening. These guys were minding their own business," Natola said. "Their privacy was unreasonably intruded upon."
Thursday, 07/22/04
Massachusettes - In a scene all too familiar to most motorcycle club members and even some independants, two members of the Hells Angels were pulled over by police on a fishing expedition while they were headed to the store for ice.
Police say they were cracking down on the local chapter of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club with the arrest on Route 2A of two South Carolina members last week. All over the United States, it's common for police to stop bikers on fabricated or real minor traffic offenses, in order for the chance to search the vehicle.
Defense said state police detectives and the FBI took "unconstitutional" measures when they pulled over Hells Angels members Mario Sepulveda, 45, and Jonathan Davenport, 26, last Saturday.
"They were going to a store to buy ice," said Boston lawyer Michael F. Natola, who has defended Hells Angels members in New England for 26 years. "I'm sure that they probably had their colors on. The Hells Angels are not shy about advertising the fact that they're Hells Angels. They're very proud of it," Natola said.
Natola scoffed when asked about the cocaine police said they found on Sepulveda, calling the substance, "a minuscule amount of cocaine. To characterize it as drugs is going a bit too far." Along with a drug possession charge for Sepulveda, he is charged with illegally carrying a loaded Smith & Wesson .380 semi-automatic handgun. Davenport is charged with illegally carrying a loaded Glock .40 semi-automatic handgun and possession of a dangerous weapon, a double-edged knife.
Natola said the men are licensed to carry their guns in South Carolina, but admitted that license may not be valid in Massachusetts. "That's the big question, and hopefully we're never going to have to face this [because] I fully intend to suppress the evidence," Natola said. "It's unconstitutional, and we intend to prove that."
When asked about the charges last Wednesday, Sepulveda said, "We weren't carrying guns," but referred any further comment to Natola. "I'm not at liberty to say anything about this," Sepulveda added, after returning a phone call made to his home in Greenville, S.C., a city at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. "These things can be a runaway train."
The comment most likely referring to the practice of police and prosecutors to load up the defendent with as many charges as they can manufacture in order to pressure the accused into pleading guilty to just one or two of the charges.
The two Hells Angels members were "visiting friends in the area," Natola said. "Law enforcement has all sorts of what they call intelligence sources, and it may very well be that those sources led them to believe that these guys from South Carolina are in the area so they send the quote unquote gang unit," Natola argued. "And of course nothing happened until the police created the happening. These guys were minding their own business," Natola said. "Their privacy was unreasonably intruded upon."
