LAS VEGAS ? Three Hells Angels motorcycle club members, including one from Petaluma, were sentenced Tuesday to federal prison for their roles in a deadly
brawl with rival biker gang members at a southern Nevada casino almost five years ago.
Maurice ?Pete? Eunice, 51, of Lakeside in San Diego County, received the longest sentence among the three ? 30 months ? for firing a handgun during the brawl with Mongols motorcycle gang members at Harrah?s Laughlin.
U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan noted the sentences were within a range agreed upon by prosecutors and defense lawyers when six Hells Angels pleaded to lesser charges in October to end a racketeering trial involving 11 defendants.
"You guys agreed to this and you set the sentences," Mahan said.
The 11 were the first of 42 Hells Angels to face trial on federal racketeering charges stemming from allegations they conspired to brawl with rival Mongols during the 2002 Laughlin River Run motorcycle rally. Two Hells Angels and a Mongols member died and at least a dozen people were injured in the bloody fight,
which was videotaped by casino security cameras.
Mahan referred repeatedly to what videotapes didn?t show as he imposed lower sentences Tuesday for Dale Leedom, 44, of Two Rivers, Alaska, and Raymond Foakes, 43, of Petaluma.
Eunice and Leedom pleaded no contest and Foakes pleaded guilty with three other defendants in October to federal charges of committing a violent crime, battery, in the aid of racketeering.
The judge noted that the no contest pleas bore the same legal effect as convictions of guilt.
"I tried to look at each individual," Mahan said Tuesday as he sentenced Foakes to one year and one day in prison.
The judge acknowledged Foakes is seen launching a karate-style kick toward the chest of someone in a crowd of Mongols before chaos erupts. But the judge said no one could tell if the kick hit anyone.
Leedom was sentenced to two years after his lawyer, Loren Graham, reminded the judge that Leedom lost a finger and suffered a leg injury in the brawl, and that the charges have kept him away from his Alaska home for almost five years.
"What Mr. Leedom wants more than anything is to put this behind him and get on with his life," Graham said.
Prosecutor Andrew Duncan asked the judge to impose high sentences "so that this sort of thing will never again happen in a public place or a casino in the state of Nevada."
Mahan on Jan. 12 sentenced Calvin Schaefer, 37, of Chandler, Ariz., to four years and three months in a federal prison on similar charges in the federal case. Rodney Cox, 45, of Phoenix, and James Hannigan, 39, of Mountain View are due for sentencing Feb. 23.
The federal sentences are expected to run concurrently with sentences expected to be handed down Feb. 23 by a Nevada state judge. The plea deals in October encompassed state and federal charges ? and will result in charges being dropped against 36 defendants after sentencings are complete.
Mahan set an April 10 date for Eunice and Leedom to report to prison and allowed Foakes to postpone reporting until after he faces federal conspiracy charges in an unrelated case in San Francisco.
Mahan noted that references to Hells Angels were stricken from sentencing recommendations, and made it clear again Tuesday that the club was not found guilty of being a criminal enterprise like the Mafia. That was a crucial element that prosecutors had said they intended to prove when the case began.
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