Hermanos' gang charges dismissed

SANDPOINT — Bonner County’s effort to prosecute motorcycle gang members for trying to bolster their ranks is sputtering out.

Felony criminal gang-recruitment charges are being dismissed against five people associated with the Hermanos Motorcycle Club, documents in 1st District Court indicate.

Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank moved to dismiss the gang related charges in light of an Idaho Supreme Court analysis of the Idaho Criminal Gang Enforcement Act.

Bryan Michael Lukezich, Steven Jay Beal, Dale Michael Champine, James Ray Smith and Jonathan Brandon Bates were indicted by a grand jury for allegedly recruiting criminal gang members for the Hermanos, a group which authorities say is a support club for the outlaw Bandidos Motorcycle Club.

Lukezich, a 35-year-old from Ponderay, is purportedly the Hermanos chapter president, while Beal, 34, of Sandpoint, is said to be the chapter’s road captain. Smith, 52, of Samuels, is described as the chapter’s sergeant of arms. Champine, a 43-year-old from Sandpoint, and Bates, a 30-year-old from Ponderay, are identified as chapter members.

All five were arrested during a series of high-profile raids conducted by sheriff’s officials in the fall of 2010. The raids were part of an even broader undercover investigation targeting criminal activity, theft and illegal drugs.

In addition to the gang-recruitment charges, Beal was charged with felony drug possession, grand theft and obliterating manufacturer’s identification numbers of vehicle parts. Champine faces an additional charge of grand theft by possession of stolen property.

But Greenbank moved for the dismissal of the gang-related charges after the supreme court took up a Caldwell woman’s challenge of the law. Simona Manzanares, who was prosecuted for gang recruitment, argued the law was unconstitutionally overbroad because it criminalized association, speech and expressive conduct rights protected by the First Amendment.

The high court upheld the recruitment law in January, although its analysis of the code underscored the difficult burden the state must bear in order to win a conviction. The analysis concluded that a conviction can only be won if the state can prove the recruitee was drawn into the gang specifically to engage in criminal conduct.

Merely inviting a person to be a member of a criminal gang does not necessarily amount to inviting that person to actively participate in criminal activity, Justice Roger Burke said in the supreme court’s 39-page opinion.

“It’s almost impossible to try to get to that level of activity,” Greenbank said. “These groups, they just want numbers. Once they get the numbers up, then everybody falls into step.”

The recruitment case against Beal was dismissed on April 4. Motions to dismiss are still pending in the four other recruitment cases.

Beal’s trial on the drug, theft and motor vehicle parts violations is set for April 24. Champine’s trial on the theft charge is scheduled for May 14.