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Outlaws Motorcycle Club vest. Courtesy of the McHenry County Sheriff's Office
The leather vests worn by the Outlaws Motorcycle Club will by held as contraband, a McHenry County judge ruled on April 17, 2015.
Members of the notorious Outlaws Motorcycle Club are out of luck when it comes to getting back leather vests and badges that were seized after a bar fight.
A McHenry County judge ruled Friday that the items won't be returned because the motorcycle club is a "street gang" and that the vests are "contraband" worn "to facilitate street gang activity."
Club members wore the vests adorned with club patches during a 2012 fight at the Lizard Lounge near Wonder Lake to intimidate others and "to increase their reputation," Judge Sharon Prather said in a written ruling.
An attorney for the Outlaws chapter, Joel Rabb, has sought the return of the three leather vests for months. Rabb has long denied that the Outlaws is a gang, referring to the group, whose formal name is the American Outlaw Association, as a club and civic organization.
Prosecutors scoffed at that notion.
Rabb asserted that Outlaws' reputation as a gang has been embellished by the media, pop culture and Hollywood.
"We are dealing with an article of clothing here," he said. "The patches do not display anything inherently intimidating like a swastika or a burning cross."
But the judge cited past gang activity facilitated by the Outlaws, including a 2010 case involving murder, extortion, arson and narcotics in which about two dozen club members were indicted.
During an earlier hearing, authorities showed video footage from the Lizard Lounge where several people wearing leather vests adorned with club-related patches are seen walking into the bar and attacking other patrons. Several people who were present that night testified that the bikers kicked and punched them without provocation.
Rabb contended that the video "only showed a bar fight. It did not show a pattern of criminal activity."
Members of the notorious Outlaws Motorcycle Club are out of luck when it comes to getting back leather vests and badges that were seized after a bar fight.
A McHenry County judge ruled Friday that the items won't be returned because the motorcycle club is a "street gang" and that the vests are "contraband" worn "to facilitate street gang activity."
Club members wore the vests adorned with club patches during a 2012 fight at the Lizard Lounge near Wonder Lake to intimidate others and "to increase their reputation," Judge Sharon Prather said in a written ruling.
An attorney for the Outlaws chapter, Joel Rabb, has sought the return of the three leather vests for months. Rabb has long denied that the Outlaws is a gang, referring to the group, whose formal name is the American Outlaw Association, as a club and civic organization.
Prosecutors scoffed at that notion.
Rabb asserted that Outlaws' reputation as a gang has been embellished by the media, pop culture and Hollywood.
"We are dealing with an article of clothing here," he said. "The patches do not display anything inherently intimidating like a swastika or a burning cross."
But the judge cited past gang activity facilitated by the Outlaws, including a 2010 case involving murder, extortion, arson and narcotics in which about two dozen club members were indicted.
During an earlier hearing, authorities showed video footage from the Lizard Lounge where several people wearing leather vests adorned with club-related patches are seen walking into the bar and attacking other patrons. Several people who were present that night testified that the bikers kicked and punched them without provocation.
Rabb contended that the video "only showed a bar fight. It did not show a pattern of criminal activity."
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