LAKEPORT >> Jurors were given their first viewing of a series of video clips depicting the altercation between Vagos and Hells Angels motorcycle club members at Konocti Vista Casino, the incident that brought about the trial.
District Attorney Deputy Art Grothe walked the courtroom through all 27 clips originally collected by Sheriff Frank Rivero from the casino”s surveillance footage following the incident. Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO) then-detective and current Sgt. John Gregor, who led the investigation of the case, narrated the happenings of each clip with Grothe.
The fight took place at approximately 1:22 p.m. on June 4, 2011, but the first handful of clips showed events from as early as 10:30 a.m. and focused on the Hells Angels” booth at the tattoo convention in the Konocti Vista Casino (KVC) banquet room. A total of seven clips preceded Vagos members Michael Burns” entrance into the casino.
“Would it be a fair assessment to say we”re going to show every single video clip you collected from start to finish?” Grothe asked Gregor. “Even the dull bits?”
“Yes,” Gregor replied.
All three defendants — John Johnson, Nicolas Carrillo and Timothy Bianchi — could be seen milling around the booth in early footage and there certainly were some clips lasting as long as 5 minutes or more appearing to lack relevant activity. Grothe intermittently asked Gregor questions, including a few about the significance of the number 81 and the colors red and white, which are associated with the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC).
David Dabbs, another HAMC member involved in the altercation, was also introduced to the jury by name for the first time. Dabbs has been at large since a warrant for his arrest was issued in 2011 and his name has scarcely been mentioned in court proceedings.
Nearing the time of the altercation, Grothe pointed out that Bianchi and Dabbs had both taken off either their long-sleeved shirt or sweatshirt by 1 p.m., still 16 minutes before Burns made his first alleged appearance at the casino. Grothe later noted the rainy weather, as if to infer the removed the articles of clothing in order to prepare for a tussle.
Burns was shown entering the casino at 1:16 p.m. and heading straight for the door of the banquet room. At 1:19 p.m., Christopher Perkins, another Vagos member involved in the fight, entered the banquet room.
Perkins and Burns are seen casually strolling through the room, perusing the booths. Burns and Dabbs are shown passing by each other at least once, if not twice, but don”t interact.
At 1:21, Dabbs, Bianchi, Carrillo and Johnson are shown together at the Hells Angels booth.
Suddenly, just before 1:22 p.m., Burns and Perkins walk back into the main room of the casino, followed by Bianchi and Dabbs, and all four parties exit double doors into the KVC foyer.
With the men closely grouped together, it”s difficult to tell precisely from the video what happened, except that almost immediately after entering the foyer, Bianchi threw the first punch.
While the fight is under way, Johnson appears to casually walk into the main casino room with a hand in his pocket. Upon seeing the fight and with Carrillo following, both HAMC members join the fight.
Security rushes in as Bianchi and Burns are on the ground. Less than a minute before Bianchi”s first punch was thrown, the brawl was broken up.
Being separated from the tangle by two security guards, Perkins is seen struggling to get back in and at one point his hand appears to make contact with a guards” neck.
Security guards also come in with a mop cart, supposedly to mop up blood, as Burns makes it to his feet. His face is streaked with blood but he is otherwise under enough control to stand and steadily walk out of the casino.
Perkins and Burns are shown leaving the casino just as LCSO Sgt. Gary Frace arrives. Meanwhile, Bianchi, Johnson, Carrillo and Dabbs make it back to their booth and other members begin packing up their support gear.
In the last hour of the trial day, attorney Jai Gohel, representing Bianchi, began his cross-examination of Gregor.
At Gohel”s prompting, Gregor said he had been aware of the incident on May 14, 2011 when Rivero attempted to block Hells Angels members” entry into Lake County when he began participating in the investigation of the KVC fight.
“As far as I knew, they weren”t related to each other at all,” Gregor said of the two incidents.
Asked if he ever investigated how the Hells Angels were invited to the KVC tattoo convention, Gregor said he “never looked into that.” He also affirmed a LCSO deputy had said the casino didn”t want to give up their surveillance video clips to the office, although Rivero was able to quickly get a hold of them.
Asked if he ever went back to KVC to request all the videos from the time of the fight be preserved, Gregor denied doing so.
“So whatever you got from Sheriff Rivero was what you worked with?” Gohel asked.
“Yes,” Gregor replied.
Gregor also said he didn”t know if Burns had made an appearance at the casino before 1:16 p.m.
With the day ending, the cross-examination of Gregor was continued and will be heard this morning at 9 a.m. Rivero has also been subpoenaed to appear today as a witness.
