50 people with insignias of the Renegades Motorcycle Club

Danny Justice, William Wolf and Jerry Gurganus, charged in connection with the abduction and beating of William Roberts on East Washington Street on Jan. 7, were charged with abduction, assault by mob and conspiracy to commit abduction, charges that were certified to the grand jury.As about 50 people with insignias of the Renegades Motorcycle Club looked on, General District Judge Jim Moore ruled that prosecutors did not prove that the three men were members of the same motorcycle gang that was implicated in illegal acts in federal court in 1988 and 1989.judge on Monday dismissed gang-membership charges against three men but convicted them on misdemeanor assault charges and sent felony charges to a grand jury.
Justice, who was accused of punching Roberts in the face when Roberts went into Monk's Auto Salvage on Jan. 5 to buy a used auto part, was found guilty of misdemeanor assault and sentenced in the lower court to six months with five months suspended. He was also sentenced to six months, with five months suspended, on the Jan. 7 assault charge.Wolf and Gurganus were found guilty of the assault charge on Jan. 7. Wolf was sentenced to the same term as Justice, and Gurganus was sentenced to a year with six months suspended.The three men will have a bond hearing at 9 a.m. Thursday. They were denied bond when originally charged.The disagreement started when Roberts visited Justice's junk yard. Roberts testified that he left the business after being struck by Justice. But two days later, when visiting a motorcycle shop on East Washington, near the police station, he said he was blocked into a parking lot and beaten in the face by Gurganus. Justice and Wolf stood by his car while Gurganus hit him, he said.Roberts said he didn't intend to file charges until he was approached by a police officer who witnessed the assault. Roberts said the men told him he had made the Renegade nation mad and that he had 24 hours to leave town.Prosecutor Marie Walls said the gang charges could still be pursued on direct indictment.