West Virginia - CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The government's case against the Pagans Motorcycle Club suffered another setback Tuesday when a defendant backed out of his anticipated guilty plea after a federal judge questioned the factual basis of his plea.
Joseph J. "Hard Rock" Schmidt, 37, a union heavy-equipment operator from Marcus Hook, Pa., was on the verge of pleading guilty to aiding and abetting the transportation of proceeds of an illegal motorcycle raffle across state lines.
But U.S. District Judge Thomas E. Johnston balked when he looked over the stipulation of facts intended to form the factual basis of Schmidt's confession.
"It's unclear to me from this stipulation exactly what Mr. Schmidt did," he said. "Was he delivering raffle proceeds on behalf of his club president?" ....
Disclaimer: The opinions in this article are solely those of the writer, and may not reflect the beliefs of anyone at Outlaw Biker World.
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Home
